On the last day of class, one of my professors took the final ten minutes of his class to give us some advice. He is a successful lawyer, a senior partner at a firm with a good reputation in Florida, and he is often in the courtroom. He only teaches at the law school as an adjunct. The professor called this talk, "Things I Wish Someone had Told Me When I was in Law School." This little lecture was among the most valuable I have received in law school. In no particular order, here are some of his tips:
- Do not let winning and losing in the courtroom define who you are.
-You have to be willing to lose. He has personally lost many cases, and it is just part of being a good litigator. Do not believe any lawyer who tells you they have never lost a case. If it is true, then they haven't tried many cases.
- Become active in your local bar association. Get to know the lawyers you litigate against and the judges you appear before. Try not to spend all of your time behind your desk, doing research at the office. Judges and opposing lawyers will be more willing to work with you if they know who you are.
-Save your notes from your law school classes. You may be surprised at how useful these are once you begin practicing.
- Take advantage of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) materials and seminars. The end of law school is not the end of your legal education. Listen to the CLE CDs in your car. He still does this himself, after being in practice many years.
- Casual Fridays. . . Do not do them. You may think you can dress casually on Friday because you don't have anything on your schedule. But you do not control your schedule. An urgent situation will come up where a client needs to see you that day, and then you will have to go home and change. Invest in a professional wardrobe. Look the part of a lawyer, and it will make a difference to your clients and fellow lawyers.
- In dealing with lawyers on the other side during litigation, be courteous and professional. But do not be a wimp. The goal is to win your case while making everyone like you. Sometimes this is not possible, but that should be your goal. Playing hardball 100% of the time is not as productive as being courteous.
- Treat the partners of the law firm just like you would treat a client.
- Always remember that the loyalty of partners is to the other partners in the law firm. Their goal is to make money. What you say to one partner will make it to all of them. Never think that you are "off the clock" with a partner, even if you are on a plane ride or at a social with them.
Universal Health Care Now,
Nathan Marshburn
Showing posts with label Advice from Elders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Advice from Elders. Show all posts
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Exam Advice from the Professors
I thought I would use this entry to pass along some exam advice that my class received from a couple of professors...
One instructor told us before the exam to relax, that the exam we were about to take was worth just three hours of credit. We need 88 hours of credit to graduate from law school. In the scheme of things, one exam is not going to greatly impact our lives. We've studied and prepared, he said, but there will be exams where we don't perform as well as we should, and other exams where we get a better grade than we deserved. Our results should even out over the course of three years. There was nothing we were going to do over the next three hours of the exam that would greatly impact our legal career, he said. "Nothing, that is, unless you cheat."
Another professor echoed this advice when she said, at some point over our law school careers, we will probably have to take an exam when we are sick.
I thought both of these were good efforts on the part of the instructors to try and keep things in perspective as the class readied itself for the tests.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
One instructor told us before the exam to relax, that the exam we were about to take was worth just three hours of credit. We need 88 hours of credit to graduate from law school. In the scheme of things, one exam is not going to greatly impact our lives. We've studied and prepared, he said, but there will be exams where we don't perform as well as we should, and other exams where we get a better grade than we deserved. Our results should even out over the course of three years. There was nothing we were going to do over the next three hours of the exam that would greatly impact our legal career, he said. "Nothing, that is, unless you cheat."
Another professor echoed this advice when she said, at some point over our law school careers, we will probably have to take an exam when we are sick.
I thought both of these were good efforts on the part of the instructors to try and keep things in perspective as the class readied itself for the tests.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
"The Talk"
One of my professors found out that our section had not been given "the talk" yet, and so yesterday she performed that service.
Right now, my classmates are running for student government positions such as "1L representative," "Transfer representative," etc. Posters are up all over the law school, and one student has even draped a tarp from the stairwell with a life sized photo of himself.
In all my classes, I've made a point to sit on the front row and take an active part in the class discussions.
"The talk" related to these things.
You as students need to be careful, my professor said. Your legal career does not begin in three years. It began one month ago when you showed up for orientation.
You will remember some of the people in your 1L class for the rest of your life, she said, whether the memory is a fond one or not. Some of you may also work together for the rest of your professional lives.
She used her own experiences as a 1L to illustrate. One lady in her class was always fighting for seats at the front of the class, always had her hand in the air to ask a question. This lady ran for a position as a 1L representative, and one day went to the front of the class and asked who else was running. When she saw who raised their hands, she turned to her friend and said, "I'm all right."
During the second semester, everyone noticed that this classmate had lost a considerable amount of weight. Our professor heard her say in a conversation, "I don't know why my boyfriend was so upset. I mean, I was just doing a little blow in the bathroom."
Our class sort of gasped and laughed. The professor said this classmate of hers is now a lawyer in a specialized field. But if someone asks the professor for a recommendation of a lawyer in that field,
"Guess whose name I am not saying."
The point is that we are making an impression with our professors and our cohorts, and we don't always get to choose what professor talks about us to a prospective employer.
"The talk" is something I well certainly keep in mind.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Right now, my classmates are running for student government positions such as "1L representative," "Transfer representative," etc. Posters are up all over the law school, and one student has even draped a tarp from the stairwell with a life sized photo of himself.
In all my classes, I've made a point to sit on the front row and take an active part in the class discussions.
"The talk" related to these things.
You as students need to be careful, my professor said. Your legal career does not begin in three years. It began one month ago when you showed up for orientation.
You will remember some of the people in your 1L class for the rest of your life, she said, whether the memory is a fond one or not. Some of you may also work together for the rest of your professional lives.
She used her own experiences as a 1L to illustrate. One lady in her class was always fighting for seats at the front of the class, always had her hand in the air to ask a question. This lady ran for a position as a 1L representative, and one day went to the front of the class and asked who else was running. When she saw who raised their hands, she turned to her friend and said, "I'm all right."
During the second semester, everyone noticed that this classmate had lost a considerable amount of weight. Our professor heard her say in a conversation, "I don't know why my boyfriend was so upset. I mean, I was just doing a little blow in the bathroom."
Our class sort of gasped and laughed. The professor said this classmate of hers is now a lawyer in a specialized field. But if someone asks the professor for a recommendation of a lawyer in that field,
"Guess whose name I am not saying."
The point is that we are making an impression with our professors and our cohorts, and we don't always get to choose what professor talks about us to a prospective employer.
"The talk" is something I well certainly keep in mind.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
Thursday, August 14, 2008
The Advice from My Volunteers
Very soon I will head down Interstate-95 toward Florida.
This summer, I ran concessions for classical music concerts at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. A number of volunteers worked for me on the days of the concerts, selling the items we had set out.
Talking to them was my favorite part of the job. Most of my volunteers were retirees, and they told me great stories about their life experiences. One couple, the Taylors, have a son who is currently a lawyer specializing in intellectual property in Seattle. He went to law school at the University of Virginia. Mr. Taylor said that after his son had been at law school about three days, he called home and said, "Dad! These people are smart! I don't know if I can do this!" But Mr. Taylor assured his son that he was intelligent as well and just to keep going.
I imagine similar feelings will hit me once I start at Florida State.
Another volunteer who worked with me had practiced law for 40 years in Indianapolis. He earned his law degree from Northwestern University. I especially enjoyed hearing his stories. To my surprise, he said that he actually enjoyed law school more than his undergraduate years.
I asked him what kind of law he practiced, and he said he was a "door" lawyer.
"A door lawyer?" I asked. "What is that?"
"That means I took whatever came in the door," he replied.
He told me to expect some strange things in law school. When he was at Northwestern, sometimes a professor would assign a special reading to be done in the library, and he would find that the book had disappeared.
He also went to school with a student derisively nicknamed "Razor." The student earned this nickname when someone saw him using a razor to slice cases out of a law book in the library.
I asked him what mistakes he made as a lawyer that I should strive to avoid, and what things did he really do right that he would emphasize to me.
After some thought, he told me that he once was sued for malpractice because he misunderstood the timeline for filing an appeal and subsequently went past the statute of limitations.
"I guess the moral of that story for you is to be darn careful," he said. "Know what the deadlines are and don't wait until the last minute. File your paperwork three or four months before the deadline."
As far as successes, he told me to give my clients proper attention and great service. Work late hours for them, he said, and keep them informed of what you are doing. If you provide them with good service, they will come back to you and recommend their friends to you as well.
I appreciated the advice of the volunteers this summer, and if I ever get back to Brevard I hope to see them again.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
This summer, I ran concessions for classical music concerts at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. A number of volunteers worked for me on the days of the concerts, selling the items we had set out.
Talking to them was my favorite part of the job. Most of my volunteers were retirees, and they told me great stories about their life experiences. One couple, the Taylors, have a son who is currently a lawyer specializing in intellectual property in Seattle. He went to law school at the University of Virginia. Mr. Taylor said that after his son had been at law school about three days, he called home and said, "Dad! These people are smart! I don't know if I can do this!" But Mr. Taylor assured his son that he was intelligent as well and just to keep going.
I imagine similar feelings will hit me once I start at Florida State.
Another volunteer who worked with me had practiced law for 40 years in Indianapolis. He earned his law degree from Northwestern University. I especially enjoyed hearing his stories. To my surprise, he said that he actually enjoyed law school more than his undergraduate years.
I asked him what kind of law he practiced, and he said he was a "door" lawyer.
"A door lawyer?" I asked. "What is that?"
"That means I took whatever came in the door," he replied.
He told me to expect some strange things in law school. When he was at Northwestern, sometimes a professor would assign a special reading to be done in the library, and he would find that the book had disappeared.
He also went to school with a student derisively nicknamed "Razor." The student earned this nickname when someone saw him using a razor to slice cases out of a law book in the library.
I asked him what mistakes he made as a lawyer that I should strive to avoid, and what things did he really do right that he would emphasize to me.
After some thought, he told me that he once was sued for malpractice because he misunderstood the timeline for filing an appeal and subsequently went past the statute of limitations.
"I guess the moral of that story for you is to be darn careful," he said. "Know what the deadlines are and don't wait until the last minute. File your paperwork three or four months before the deadline."
As far as successes, he told me to give my clients proper attention and great service. Work late hours for them, he said, and keep them informed of what you are doing. If you provide them with good service, they will come back to you and recommend their friends to you as well.
I appreciated the advice of the volunteers this summer, and if I ever get back to Brevard I hope to see them again.
Until Next Time,
Nathan Marshburn
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