Graduate Lawyers starting their careers in 2020 are going to have more than the usual to juggle. Just after unpacking shiny, new phones and tablets in their first weeks in the office, they are likely to be working remotely for significant periods of time in their first year of employment. Consider these three challenges as you kick start your career in law, become a virtual buddy to a graduate or lead a team that includes new graduates.
Professional Identity
University years and the summer clerkships that often follow are a phase known as pre-professional identity where students learn the skills, qualities, culture and conduct of their chosen profession. A subtle yet powerful transition from student to member of the legal profession with it’s status and responsibilities. It’s going to be challenging for 2020 graduates to create their professional identity in the usual way of observing people in their firm or team and identifying role models to follow. Graduates may see the end result of a decision or advice to a client, but they can’t be physically in the same place to hear the discussion, observe the body language and get a sense of the emotion and responsibility involved.
For graduates - ask to be an observer on conference calls and webinars between fee earners or team members as they discuss matters. Even better if you can make a contribution by taking responsibility for documenting ideas and discussion - especially if the sound quality or internet strength is wavering and the person running the meeting is in new territory with online meeting facilitation.
For people leaders - remember to include your graduates in every opportunity to learn and observe how you consider things. This can include the discussion that happens after the client meeting. Use a conference call or group zoom rather than calling your colleague and only discussing with the senior person. It’s this sort of informal learning that will ensure 2020 graduates learn just as much as 2019 we were able to observe you in action. It’s the best way to learn ethical decision making and professional practice.
Supervision, Delegation & Feedback
Resist the temptation to give work to those trusted team members who you have worked with for years. Look for parts of matters and projects that can be given to graduates to build their skills. Beyond the obvious use of technology to communicate what you need include a telephone call that covers their understanding of the task. Give particular focus to ensuring they know how to access resources remotely and find the right balance between a solid attempt to complete the task and knowing when they need to ask for help. Many readers will know I’m not a fan of using track changes as a form of feedback. It’s still a contact sport, however in these days of social distancing it’s a verbal sport over the phone on on a Skype call. Schedule in the time and be particularly focused to understand the context and their experience of doing the work before giving the feedback. You can’t see them finding the work challenging or wiping through it with a smile on their face. It’s also harder for them to casually ask an experienced secretary or their buddy for assistance.
For graduates - it takes time to build the trust needed to have access to interesting work. Complete any tasks you are given to a very high standard and look for ways to help further. The more you can do to assist in these unusual times, the more you will be trusted to be involved in matters and projects. Without becoming one of those crazy people, don’t be shy about asking for work or letting your people leader and buddy know that you can take on new things. It can easily be a case of out of sight, out of mind.
For people leaders - one tip from my years gone by of managing a large global team was to keep their photographs on my desk. Literally seeing their faces reminded me to check in, think about work that could be given to them and was a reminder if I needed to give them feedback. It’s easy to take the great work people do in times of crisis as an expectation however do make the time to call and say thank you, give them positive feedback and let them know they did a good job. Remember they can’t see your face or get a sense of your body language in the same way they would if you were both in the office.
What to do when you aren’t busy
For graduates there are always times where they don't have anything to do. The ebb and flow of legal work and the time it takes to build relationships and trust can result in days where there isn’t anything that needs to be done, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to do. The list below is from groups of graduates I was working with in the weeks before law firms move to remote working:
Reading - legislation, precedents and relevant cases to the practice group you are now working in. An oldie but a goodie - especially if you can summarise they key points for others.
Learning New Tech - all those PEXA online videos can be a great way to extend your knowledge if you are working in property or just curious. There are so many new tech providers with great information on their websites.
Looking at advices and final letters sent to clients for matters you were involved in. If you are reflective learner this can be a great one for you to see the end result.
My personal suggestion to law firm graduates is to use the time to increase your knowledge of the firm, it’s clients and their competitors. All the in-house teams I work with are looking for commercial acumen and practical advice from their firms.
Read the online bio, linkedin profile and any publications by the lawyers you work with. It shows you are interested and you might find you share an interested in a specific client sector or type of matter.
Take a sneaky look at the websites of other firms - this is one way of looking at the broader legal profession. Look for what all firms do and it will help build your sense of community and identity in the profession.
Have a good look around the websites of key clients for your firm or practice group. Learn as much as you can about their business.
Identify other firms in their sector and the competitive forces in the industry. If you have a combined law + commerce degree you are looking for Porter’s Five Forces and Barney’s VRIN.
For buddies - your role just got a little bit harder this year. Look for opportunities where graduates can be involved as observers and remind busy fee earners that graduates still need opportunities to observe fee earners in action. Check in with them in any way that works for you both and invite them to whatever you can to create a sense of inclusion. Finally, share your tips for what you do when you are not busy. A little bit of procrastination is human, but in their first year in the profession they need your guidance more than usual.
For people leaders - as if you don’t have enough to do at the moment, take the time to acknowledge the efforts of the graduate’s buddies. They may be taking more questions and giving more guidance in these usually times - all the while they are dealing with challenges themselves. Just knowing that you see them doing a good job will motivate them to keep going. If you have projects have you haven’t had the resources to write, research or review now is your change. Think about what can be prepared for now and what will be in high demand when things are back to normal.
For graduates - it may feel like all of this is creating work for yourself and you would be right. Your people leaders and buddies may be dealing with a huge amount of usual things at this difficult time. Leading through change is never easy and you can really make a great impression if you can describe what you have been going on with while they have been focusing on other things. It’s a much better position to be in that having to admit that you weren't really using your time as well as you could. First impressions count.
This second blog is part of a set of three designed to support new graduates make a successful transition into the legal profession. The first channelled Winston Churchill to give tips to new lawyers and their supervisors back in March 2019 before we found ourselves in a new type of war. I thought I’d end with another gem from Churchill “Never let a good crisis go to waste”. For the students of history, a bonus point to you if you also knew that Machiavelli was first with “Never waste the opportunity offered by a good crisis”. Graduates may be disappointed not to be attending admission ceremonies this year and the usual graduate functions in law firms are sure to be rescheduled, however you can do these things and others to make the most of the unique circumstances as you start your career. We have been talking about the barriers to “all roles flex” in law for a couple of years and you will be the first group where it suddenly stopped being a choice. Make the most of it.
I’ll be back to running workshops for professionals when we are through this. In the mean time it’s webinars, online learning and Skype coaching. I’ll also be taking my own medicine and creating work for myself. Sign up to the newsletter or connect on linked in - something tells me I’ll be getting more writing out! There’s plenty to do in the office, the biggest change is adding in the supervision of year 10 school curriculum taking place at my dinner table. Keep safe everyone.