Tips

Things They Don’t Teach in Law School
By:  Tennessee Walker

Law school exam questions do not involve the human interaction component.  Real world legal issues have that component in spades, and it throws new lawyers for a loop.     

Although cliché, the saying “if I knew then what I know now” carries a lot of truth—especially for young lawyers.  We leave law school knowing the law, but knowing almost nothing about being a lawyer—a professional.  Texas A&M University Law School (“A&M”) is working to address this issue.  A&M recently teamed up with the Tarrant County Young Lawyers Association (“TCLYA”) to offer a Professionalism Program for Aggie law students. 

What is professionalism?  Google defines professionalism as “the competence or skill expected of a professional”—a circular and useless definition in my book.  To me (and other young lawyers with whom I have discussed the matter) professionalism is (1) preparation, (2) the ability to respectfully and effectively communicate, and (3) having the common sense to recognize that the legal solution is not always the right solution.  These things are intuitive, right?  Maybe in the abstract, but we all know that transitioning from law student to young lawyer is stressful and stress tends to cancel out intuition. 

So how do you teach professionalism?  I don’t purport to know the answer.  But, A&M and the TCYLA are teaching professionalism through a “learn from the experiences and mistakes of those who came before you” platform.  Seeing that most of us learned to be a professional by screwing things up along the way, this platform seems to make a lot of sense.

A&M’s Professionalism Program kicked off on November 17, 2015.  The initial event was a panel discussion on the topic of dealing with the stresses of being a young lawyer.  The panel was composed of five TCYLA board members—Amber Altemose, Martin Garcia, Andrea Palmer, Adam Simmons, and me.  As a panelist, I am inherently biased.  But, I left the room wishing that law school me could have sat in on a similar panel discussion roughly 10 years ago. 

Effective communication entails knowing your audience.  Thus, the panel discussion touched on law student stresses as well as young lawyer stresses.  On the law student front, the panel advised the Aggie law students to treat law school like a job—putting an emphasis on time management.  Efficiency is paramount in the practice of law, and properly managing your time increases efficiency.  Thus, law students who focus on time management while in school will find the transition to practice a little easier. 

On the young lawyer front, the panel focused on the common mistakes made by new lawyers.  We tried to arm the law students with the information needed to avoid repeating our mistakes, such as:

          Be honest with yourself.  Yes, you are a lawyer.  No, that does not make you the smartest person in the world.  Admit what you know and what you do not know, and ask questions on the front end.  This will help you be efficient.

          Learn to say no.  You can only burn the midnight oil for so long before it will make you miserable.  When your plate is full, say so.  Taking on too much work will lead to missed deadlines and subpar work-product. 

          Manage expectations and face your problems.  Make the phone call you are dreading, tell your boss if you made a mistake, and be honest with your clients—even when that means telling them their case sucks.  Leaving things unaddressed compounds problems.

          See the big picture.  A legal win is not always a win.  Indeed, a win at the courthouse that costs your client $50,000 is not better than a business resolution that costs your client $20,000.  Think like a business person, not just a lawyer.

          Don’t make the law your life.  Make time for you, your family, your friends, and your hobbies.  Doing so will keep you sane and make your work hours more enjoyable.       

A&M is planning to continue the Professionalism Program with quarterly events covering different practical issues.  Will the program be effective?  Will it enable students to leave law school knowing something about actually being a lawyer?  I don’t know.  But, I do know: (1) the goal of A&M’s Professionalism Program—to better prepare law students for the practical aspects of law practice—is commendable, and (2) there is no harm in trying to achieve that goal.

Tennessee Walker is a shareholder at Harris, Finley & Bogle, P.C. in Fort Worth, Texas, where his practice focuses on the areas of civil and commercial litigation.