Article of Interest

Legal Legends Give Advice To New Lawyers
By: Rebekah Steely Brooker, 2014-2015 President, Texas Young Lawyers Association

Do you ever reflect on how you got to where you are?  I do. 

I’ve always been fascinated by how you can usually pinpoint one moment, one action, one person, or one decision that was life altering.  For me, making the decision to become a lawyer greatly changed the course of my life. 

I grew up in a rural area.  My family did not run in the same circles as attorneys.  I knew who the local attorneys were only by what I read in the newspaper.  I knew what attorneys did by what I saw on television.  It was not until I started practicing law that I learned what it meant to be an attorney.  It is impossible to capture that feeling and responsibility on film or in a photograph.  Some days you feel like you got it all right – that you obtained the best possible outcome for your client.  Other days the feeling is just the opposite.  It got me thinking … do the great attorneys ever feel this way?

So we asked them.

TYLA went across this great state and asked some legendary Texas attorneys what made them so great.  How did they get where they are?  What was the life-altering moment in their career?  We asked these questions in the hope that the answers would provide an education of sorts or just satisfy our wild curiosities.  Their responses are fascinating.

These legends do not look back at their careers and regret the mistakes, the loss, or the missed opportunities.  Instead, they learned from those moments, they made some adjustments, and they moved forward stronger from the experience.  Now, in the book – If I Knew Then…Life Lessons from Legendary Texas Lawyers – these Texas legal legends are passing on to you some of the wisdom resulting from both their successes and their failures.

The book will be handed out to new Texas lawyers during swearing-in ceremonies across the state.  If you are interested in downloading a free copy, please click here.