Young graduate, employee or collaborator, you are keen to develop your activity as a lawyer.
This pressing idea comes up more and more, but you don’t know where to start.
In this article, discover 5 tips from experienced colleagues for getting started with a lawyer.
Note: these are mainly corporate and business law lawyers Law Notes.
You have chosen a very complex profession and developing your activity when you are a lawyer is not an easy task.
The following five tips should clarify your situation. It will be about mindset, strategy and even network.
Some recommendations may seem obvious, you may have already applied one or two, however, an update doesn’t hurt. Without further ado, discover the five tips for getting started as a lawyer, followed by an exclusive bonus.
Tip #1: Have the right mindset
Your university career has allowed you to experience motivation, determination and hard work. However, and I think you are aware of this, the time to rest on your laurels has not yet come.
Getting started as a lawyer requires substantial effort. To grow your business and ensure a thriving future, you will need to start by conditioning yourself.
As in any progression, you will experience hazards, without an overtrained mind, discouragement, exhaustion or obstacles could slow down your ascent. On the contrary, with the right mindset, you will welcome them as the steps that lead to success.
Forging a foolproof state of mind is therefore the essential prerequisite for any lawyer who wishes to develop his professional activity.
Tip #2: Develop your expertise
At another time, young graduates had to complete two years of collaboration in a firm before being able to take the oath at the bar of their choice.
Today, this rule has been abolished, however, the collaboration stage remains an almost obligatory step. Your training has given you the essential foundations to practice.
The complexity of your profession requires a high level of technicality, and it is only by working in real conditions that you will be able to acquire it. As a collaborator, you will hone your expertise with one or more seniors.
Thus, you will benefit from the experience of your colleagues to assert yourself. You learn to handle a file from start to finish and you sharpen your practice.
The mandatory collaboration period was set at two years and this is probably no coincidence. Indeed, few young lawyers would be ready before. The procedures can be long and complex, so it is not uncommon for a file to last beyond this period.
Tip #3: Plan your career
Whatever your profile, collaboration should be seen as a springboard. Indeed, if it offers the advantage of perfecting your expertise, the instability of the status can end up being uncomfortable. This stage represents the extension and finalization of your course, it lays the first milestones in the development of your career. Quickly, think about what’s next and plan. A quote from the American evangelist, author and speaker, Robert Shuller perfectly illustrates these points:
Depending on how long it has been since your oath to the bar, ask yourself how much time you need to complete a file with ease. You are the only person capable of assessing whether it will take another 3 years, 5 years, or 7 years. Once this question is resolved, what direction would you like to take your career?
Perhaps you have considered becoming an associate. The option is attractive, however, it is likely that you will wait a long time for an ideal opportunity. By thinking about getting started early, you protect your back.
If the dream match never presents itself, you will be equipped to bounce back. The opportunity to think about setting up your own firm with colleagues with complementary specialties to yours. In this case, the rest of the article will definitely interest you.
Tip #4: Expand your network
You have the right mindset, expertise and a well-thought-out career plan, now is the time to develop your network. And both the professional and personal network!
No matter how you exercise today, this advice remains valid throughout your journey. In fact, the regulations of the legal profession prohibit you from any canvassing. In these conditions, how can you find customers?
In collaboration, you handle the firm’s files. You give the best to the firm in the hope of being suitable to keep your place. You accumulate hours of hard work and you have little time to expand your address book.
Keep in mind that the sooner the better, therefore, take every opportunity to approach prospects and communicate on your job. People you meet should remember you in times of need.
This tip: register on a professional networking platform like Alexia (www.alexia.fr). This offers to put you in contact with potential professionals and/or individuals looking for legal advice.
Don’t hesitate to surround yourself as much as possible. After all, you are paving the way for your future career.
Tip #5: Add strings to your bow
When you decide to launch yourself as a lawyer, independent or partner, you become a business manager.
There is therefore a facet of your profession that you have neither learned nor experienced yet: versatility. You are an outstanding technician and know all the tricks of your trade, that’s so much the better. Because from now on, you will need to add certain skills. Indeed, as a business leader, you take on all the roles: expert lawyer, salesman and manager.
If you don’t have the right to canvass, you will have to learn how to sell yourself. That’s the subtlety of the thing. How to promote your activity, with finesse, with an appropriate speech?
Even for the most sociable among you, client prospecting is a real subject, for lawyers as well as other independent professions Besides. Likewise, collaborators and employees are rarely involved in the finances of the firm. Once launched, it will be nothing more than a distant memory. In the legal profession, income and taxation are not linear and calendars are, obviously, not coordinated. You will experience prosperous and busy months, others much calmer. As a true manager, it’s up to you to organize the machine so that it runs in the most harmonious way.
With all these avenues for developing your activity as a lawyer, you are best prepared for the adventure that awaits you.
Before you let yourself get back on track with your life, let’s recap the five tips for getting started as a lawyer:
Train and prepare your mind, it must be your ally.
Become an expert in your specialty.
Plan your career path.
Network as early as possible and whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Develop the skills essential to entrepreneurs. To go further on this subject: “5 essential sales skills for every entrepreneur”.
This article was written with the participation of two senior lawyers who practice independently.
We took the opportunity to ask them what recommendations they would make to their newly graduated doubles. Also, we offer you these two additional tips:
Work hard to achieve your goals.
Use digital tools.