Views from the Bench

• Jurisdiction: Utah,United States
• Citation: Vol. 10 No. 9 Pg. 34
• Pages: 34
• Publication year: 1997

Views from the Bench Vol. 10 No. 9 Pg. 34 Utah Bar Journal November, 1997

Ten Tips for New Attorneys

G. Rand Beacham, Judge

This article will be published near the time that the Utah State Bar announces the names of those who have successfully run the gauntlet of the 1997 Bar Examination. Scores of new law school graduates will then take the formal oath and be added to the ranks of practicing attorneys. This article is addressed to those new attorneys.

As a relatively new judge, I sincerely sympathize with you and anyone else who is faced with new responsibilities and risks. Your immediate future may be difficult. Many of you have acquired or perfected a considerable ego during law school but, unless your ego has entirely overcome your senses, you will begin practicing law with a genuine feeling of insecurity. No one can give you any immediate comfort; you should fee insecure, because you now have demanding professional responsibilities, but virtually no experience in real-world legal practice. Some of you will become litigators and will soon find your way to the courthouse door, even without having been taught to do so. Until you have more experience, your litigation and courtroom work will be fraught with potential for embarrassment or humiliation. Consequently, I offer the following tips for new attorneys who want to avoid some of the typical mistakes of the inexperienced litigator.^[1]

1. FIND A MENTOR.

Law school has taught you much of the subject matter that you need to know, and some subject matter that you may never need to know. Law school has taught you little about the actual daily practice of law, however, in spite of more progressive curricula adopted in the twenty years since I began law school. You should not try to invent every wheel by yourself. You need to learn from the experience of some trustworthy practitioner who has successfully done the things you are learning to do.

If you are lucky enough to have a job in a firm or office with experienced attorneys, do not blithely assume that you will give the help you need; some law firms provide good mentoring, while others may give you the proverbial Viking swimming lesson - they will throw you out of the boat to see whether you can swim to shore on your own. If you are starting a practice and hanging out a shingle, you especially need a good mentor. In any event, you must find an experienced attorney who will commit to being your mentor. Take advantage of mentoring programs if they are available, or take it upon yourself to find someone. Even an attorney with whom you will be competing may appropriately feel flattered by your request for his or her advice, direction and form documents.

2. LEARN THE RULES.

If you intend to litigate, you must learn to apply the rules of procedures, evidence and appeal to real-life situations. Do not expect judges and other attorneys to waive the rules just because you are new. Regardless of the extent of his or her experience, the attorney who knows and follows the rules always has a great advantage over the attorney who tries to...