Want to Be a Legal Star? Be Willing to Take Risks, Set Goals and Network
The most successful lawyers aren’t reclusive, and they aren’t afraid to take risks, a legal search consultant says.
Legal recruiter Michael D’Amore, founder of Attorney Career Catalysts, interviewed managing partners, general counsel, lawyers and business executives to develop a list of the 10 traits of the most successful lawyers. He sets out the first five in the first of two columns for the Legal Intelligencer.
Shy, brilliant lawyers hidden in the library aren’t high achievers, D’Amore says. Instead, successful lawyers have “a dizzying matrix of relationships inside and outside of their organizations.” These networks can be a source of work, support and information.
Successful lawyers break free from the naysayers, those “who would complain and find fault with virtually any action, even if, for example, a managing partner handed out an unplanned, spot $5,000 bonus to every lawyer,” D’Amore writes. “If senior management in an organization want to forecast who their super achievers will be some day, they likely will not be found among the cynics; rather, the future stars will be those who are out trying to make it happen.”
Winners also set high goals for themselves, are self-motivated, think strategically, and aren’t afraid to take risks, he says.
Lawyers, D’Amore says, are necessarily careful. “Nevertheless, at some point, it is necessary to actually pull the trigger and move forward, even if there is a risk of failure,” he says. “What is often lost on those whose middle name is ‘trepidation’ is that choosing not to act is itself a decision, and often can entail as much risk as actually taking action.”
