Brilliant Color

Dear New Lawyer

My good friend Susan Cartier Liebel is hosting blawg review this Monday and she sent out a request that several bloggers post their advice to those who are new to the profession.  So here is my take on the things every new lawyer needs to know.

Dear New Lawyer,

Welcome to the practice of law.  The journey you have just begun is one of the most challenging you will ever undertake. However there are great rewards along the journey.  Hopefully, law school taught you how to think like a lawyer.  Now you will learn how to act like a lawyer.   As a third year lawyer, I am not so far removed from where you sit that I do not understand what you are going through, so I will attempt to share with you a few lessons I've learned along the way.

1. Big law has its place, but it may not be the place for you.

I still remember feeling nearly worthless when October of my third year came around and no big firm had offered me a position.   For three years l had focused so heavily on getting a job in big law that I allowed that to be the barometer of my worth. I never really thought critically about whether I really wanted the big law lifestyle.  When I finally got the job I thought I wanted, I felt as though my existence had been validated.  I was wrong; and what followed was the worst career experience of my life. I learned a great deal at the firm, but it simply was not a good fit for me.   If you find you feel the same, do not hesitate to change your path.

2. Go to court and watch, listen and learn.

Make time to go to court and learn by watching what others do.  You can learn so much by seeing how the process works.  By watching you will learn how the good attorneys conduct themselves and how the court system works.  You will also meet the judges and begin to form relationships that will help you when you do have cases set in court.  Do it.

3. Read the rules, research the law and don’t assume that more experienced lawyers are correct.

One of the most important things you can learn as a young lawyer is that the experienced lawyer does not always win.  A few months ago opposing counsel in a federal court case filed a motion to dismiss against my client.  When I first read the motion I thought all was lost.  It was well written.  It cited to cases and I immediately thought that not only was the court going to grant the motion, the client was going to sue me for malpractice.  Although I thought about just handing the deed to my house over to my client, I knew I had to respond to the motion even if it was a loser.  So I started to dissect the brief. There were three issues largely rooted in confusing bankruptcy law.  I pulled up the citations in the brief and realized that opposing counsel had misread the law completely on all three issues.  I drafted my response, filed it and low and behold, the Court ruled in my favor.

4. Look and act like a lawyer at all times.

I am not telling you to go to the gym in a suit.  What I am telling you is that as a lawyer you are held to a higher standard.  What’s more, your image is a big part of your brand.  Never forget that.  You never know where you will meet your next client or who is watching you.  It should go without saying but particularly when you are in the courthouse, be well dressed even if you do not think you will be encountering a judge.  For attorneys of color and women it is particularly important to be mindful of this advice even if other lawyers take a dressed down approach.

5. Exude confidence around your clients, the court and other lawyers.

There is a difference between confidence and being pompous.  Know the line between the two and never cross it.  Understand that you have a place at the table no matter how new you are or what your background.  Even if you are not actually confident in what you know, being confident in your demeanor will go a long way. 

6. Only associate with reputable attorneys.

This was my first hard lesson.  It is hard to know which attorneys to stay away from as a new lawyer.  Never link yourself publicly with a lawyer who has a checkered past.  Be particularly careful of attorneys who suggest that you bend ethical rules or laws.  If you hear a lawyer saying “I know what the ethics rules say, but this is how it really works.” Proceed with caution. No. Run the other way.

7. Ask questions when you do not know.

No one will fault you for being a young lawyer.  Everyone will fault you for being an arrogant, new lawyer who thinks that they know everything.  Ask the stupid questions and don’t be afraid to admit you do not know.  This advice is particularly helpful when dealing with court clerks, secretaries and paralegals, but will also gain you the respect of your clients and other lawyers.

8. Believe you can do it.

I know it seems like everybody else has some secret book with the answer key and you don’t.  It may also seem like there is a great deal riding on your performance.  You are right about that.  Sometimes you may be so overwhelmed that it may seem like you are trying to drink from a fire hose.  But the reality is that everyone in the room started out just as clueless as you did.  Some of the people who have been practicing for years are still just as clueless as you are.  Give yourself a break and understand that if you are a good lawyer you will probably learn something new every day for the rest of your career.

9. Be honest with people

Hopefully this one does not need an explanation.

Confessions of A "Big" Firm Dropout: Why Women of Color are Dissatisfied in the Firm Environment

I ran across this Law.com article this morning that reports a study of job satisfaction among mid-level associates.  The article explained that a study of mid-level associates at law firms indicated that minority women were less satisfied with their firms than white men and men of color and were less likely to see a future with their current firms. 

Frankly, as a firm dropout, this study did not surprise me at all.  Earlier this year the ABA's Commission on Women in the Profession published its own study that came to largely the same conclusions.  From my perspective, the problems stem from partners' and coworkers' inability to see people as the individuals they are, rather than  stereotype based on physical characteristics.  For a woman of color, this inability can result in a double set of stereotypes that are hard to live down.

It is normal to notice the differences among us as long as we are sure we are noticing real differences and not presumptions based on misinformation and outmoded prejudices.  If firms want to increase the feeling of inclusion among their associates, they have to understand that diversity is about nuance and balance and actions speak louder than words.  It is simply not enough to publish policy statements about valuing diversity and recruit at minority job fairs.  Firms have to think about what they will do with the candidates once they become employees.  That means changing the firm's culture if necessary and confronting partners who refuse to get with the program.  If your firm is having a hard time retaining double minority employees, perhaps the firm needs to take a look at whether there are institutional barriers to success that linger rather than writing it off as just another bad hire.

Reflections on the Genarlow Wilson Case

While I was on vacation, I saw that Genarlow Wilson, a young athlete from the Atlanta area in prison for having oral sex with a younger girl was released from prison by the Georgia Supreme Court.  The Wilson case drew national attention because it arose in the aftermath of the Marcus Dixon Case.  Dixon, like Wilson was a talented athlete who was imprisoned for having sex with a younger girl.  The Georgia law at the time required a mandatory sentence when the age difference between consenting participants was more than two years younger that resulted in injury.  Dixon's conviction was overturned by the Georgia Supreme Court shortly before Wilson's case occurred.

The case came to my attention when I was an intern in the Georgia Governor's office as the Executive Counsel's intern.  I worked for Georgia Supreme Court Justice Harold Melton who at the time was the Executive Counsel to the Governor.  At the time, the case was just beginning to get publicity because video of the incident between Wilson, his friends and the underage girl had leaked to the media. The case was beginning to snowball and I had to give a report to the Executive Counsel explaining how Wilson's case differed from Dixon's. Wilson, like Dixon, was charged with aggravated child molestation and faced a mandatory sentence.  What made the Wilson case legally interesting was that although the Supreme Court ruled in Dixon's case that the legislature's intent was not to subject those convicted of consensual sex with a younger person to felony molestation charges, the precedent did not extend to cases where the conduct involved non-procreative sex.

Both cases drew national attention because of the perceived injustice facing two young males who had done nothing more than have sex with arguably consenting young women.  There was a lot of talk about their promising futures lost to the harsh realities of being a convicted felon sex offender. However what seems to be missing is the discourse on why society allows young male athletes a pass when they take part in denigrating young women.  In Wilson's case particularly his behavior was deplorable.  He not only took part in encouraging a young girl to perform a sexual act on him and his friends, they also videotaped the episode.  Despite this, many people rushed to his defense and demanded his release.  Maybe the punishment was harsh, but what about the damage he did to the young girl he took advantage of?  What about her future?

The Black Attorney and "Hair" - Perception and Power

 

A lot has been said about black women's hair recently, due in large part to the Don Imus controversy.  What many in main stream society may not have noticed is that a debate has been raging for years in the black community over what black women can and should do with our hair.  Throughout most of our lives, many black women have been told that in order to get professional jobs and be successful we must straighten our hair.  Download hair_in_the_workplace.pdf

As a result of that pervasive message, most people who are not black do not see many black women's natural hair on a regular basis, and unfortunately, when we have dared to show our hair in its natural state, we have been branded militant.  Up until recently, I like many others, have chosen to conform to this norm rather than fight the stereotype.  The truth is that I have been conforming to this norm for so long that I am not at all sure what my hair actually looks like.

Recently, I became a solo practitioner, and I began to realize that I now have the ability to set my own rules.  I set my own hours, my rate of pay and I decide what is an acceptable display of office grooming.  I guess somehow drunk with my new found power, I decided to make the transition from relaxed to natural hair.  I did it mostly because I wanted to be more physically active and having relaxed hair makes it difficult to have "wash and wear" hair.  (This problem is so pervasive that Harvard University developed a 24 page booklet designed to encourage black women to work out by suggesting ways to maintain a neat hair style while exercising. Download feeling_fit.pdf ) I didn't make this decision in an effort to buck the system or challenge societal grooming norms, but the perception may be that I did and that could have a negative effect on my career

Consequences?  What Consequences?

The choice to go natural has consequences and I make this choice despite the potential career pitfalls. The consequences of wearing natural hair are numerous.  First, many people in society as a whole have negative images of people who do not conform to societal expectations of their appearance.  Those negative images naturally carry over into professional settings.  Just last year Six Flags Amusement Parks drew scrutiny when it began enforcing a policy that prohibited its employees from wearing many natural hair styles. Download six_flags.pdf While the company apparantly backed away from the policy when it made news, many other companies have similar policies, some more egregious than this one.

However, when the issue is whether a client will retain you or a jury will relate to you, the analysis is somewhat different.  Will my decision to accept my hair in its natural state render me less effective as a lawyer?  Will I even know why they did not retain me?  It may well be that there will be clients who choose not to retain me because of my hair.  I don't know how this will play itself out.  For now, I am going to presume that society is ready to embrace me as I am. I will let you know how that goes.