Savvy Associates Disdain E-Mail, Probe Firm’s Economic Underpinnings

Associates

Savvy Associates Disdain E-Mail, Probe Firm’s Economic Underpinnings

Posted Oct 2, 2008, 06:33 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Associates should learn about their law firm’s economic underpinnings, according to a lawyer who helped create professional development and training programs at his prior firm.

Writing in Legal Times, Jenner & Block partner Eric Jackson says savvy associates ask their firms about the strength of regional versus home offices, their growth and retention strategies, and their ratios of partners to associates.

Associates also would be well-advised to follow these professional development strategies, Jackson writes:

• Provide top-notch service to clients and the lawyers supervising your work.

• Exceed minimum expectations. Beat deadlines and be proactive to make sure you will meet billable hour requirements.

• Don’t send an e-mail when you can meet in person. “One of my pet peeves is this habit that many lawyers, most of whom are new to the profession and have never known a world without the Internet, have developed of sending an e-mail instead of walking down the hall to address an issue in person,” Jackson says.

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Associates