Tips for Young Lawyers: Round 2

• Pages: 26-26

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26 || ABA JOURNAL DECEMBER 2018

Tips for Young Lawyers: Round 2

Approach generating and

maintaining clients like dating:

1) Be confident

in yourself first.

2) Mingle

where singles

congregate.

3) Don’t solely depend on your

online presence (your LinkedIn

profi le).

4) Flatter, but don’t be needy.

5) Mention what you do, but

mostly let them talk.

6) Take it slow (building client

relationships takes time and

patience).

7) Have them meet the parents

(if you are part of a larger firm,

arrange a meeting with your

more experienced bosses to help

you get a contract signed).

8) Celebrate your anniversa-

ries and show your appreciation.

Kevin Pe ek

Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard

St. Louis

If you are joining an establishe d

firm, determine quickly wh o your

“trusted associate” should be :

They’ll be your best asset if you

are having a dicult time with an

assignment or if you have questions

that you are too embarrassed to ask

your supervising partner.

Stephanie Thompson

Department of Justice

Salem, Oregon

Never stop learning. The ABA has tons

of free webinars for Business Law Se ction

members with great information to keep you

up to date in your current practice area, to

help you expand your practice or to put n ew

things on your radar. Given the relatively high

price of many legal publications, this has been

an incredibly cost-eecti ve way of keeping

myself educated.

Brent Kampe

Fuller Theological Seminar y

Pasadena, California

Understand how the

business works so that

you can understand

what needs to be in

the documents, and so

that you do not waste client time and

money with irrelevant clauses, provi-

sions and negotiations. Clients don’t

like lawyers who kill their deals but

appreciate lawyers who understand

their business and help them miti-

gate real risk.

Rochelle Friedman Walk

Aegis Law

Tampa, Florida

Know where the bathrooms are. You’re a

litigator, which means you will be going to

court. Chances are you will have a clie nt

with you. Your client will ask you where in the

courthouse the bathroom is lo cated. If you

don’t know, the client will assume you don’ t

practice in that court an d will never hire you

again. However, if you say it’s down the hall

and to the right, your client will know tha t you

know your way around. That

means more business.

Lee Mendelson

Mendelson Law Firm

Bridgehampton, New York

You will be working

on multiple deals—use

a dierent pad of

paper and file system

on your desk to keep

track of each deal. List the law yers

you are working with on the front. If

one calls, you can quickly g et your

brain around the relevant deal. This

way, you won’t confuse facts of vari-

ous deals.

Jennifer Coon

Thomson Reuters

New York City

While repre-

senting major

investment

banks and

broker-dealers,

the first question I

always asked my client when

I learned of a potential wrongdo-

ing was, “How do you want this to

read on the first page of the Wa ll

Street Journal?” Your client needs

to fall on the sword and reach out

to the appropriate regulatory

body or SRO as early in the pro-

cess as possible.

Kathryn Natale (retired)

Rye Brook, New York

When you conduct your due diligence

on the new client (small business), not only

should you research the legal requirement s

for the engagement but more importantly

understand the culture of the cli-

ent to ensure you provide not only

the best product but also one th at

they will gladly utilize and be com-

fortable with.

Frank Steiner

Frank Steiner Law

Nashville, Tennessee

Build trust with your clients and

colleagues. As the chief legal

ocer for my company, I hire

lawyers who I trust—I tr ust them

to do the job with excellence and

integrity.

Courtn ey Fong

Com pTIA

Chicago

TOP TIPS FOR BUSINESS LAWYERS

SUBMITTED BY ABA MEMBERS

Last month, the

ABA Journal

published a series of tips for young lawyers from senior

lawyers who participated in the ABA’s Briefly Speaking contest. This month, we’re shar-

ing the next round of advice—this time aimed at litigators and business law yers. The

contest winner in the litigators category was Tasha Blakney with Eldridge & Blakney in

Knoxville, Tennessee. Jacob McBride of Weinstein Radcli Pipkin in Dallas won in the

business lawyers category.

To gain perspective on

potential pitfalls in any

transaction, ask a litigator.

Jacob McBride

Weinstein Radcli Pipkin

Dallas

Practice