"No one is coming to save you. No one other than you is responsible for your career. Not your supervisor. Not the managing partner. Not your firm. What you make of yourself is entirely in your hands. The decisions you make. The effort you put forth. The money you spend. What will separate you from other lawyers, what will allow you to break ahead of the pack, is your time, energy, and money, not your firm's."
"A mistake I see some young lawyers make is to entrust their careers to their law firms. In their eyes, the law firms will be primarily, and even exclusively, responsible for making them great lawyers with huge books of business. Do law firms play a role in your development? Yes. Should they? Yes. Do good firms spend time, energy, and money making you a better lawyer and improving your hard and soft skills? Yes."
Individual lawyers must take full responsibility for their careers, as supervisors, partners, and firms are not ultimately responsible. Time, energy, and personal investment determine differentiation and advancement. Firms can and should support development through mentoring and training, but firm offerings vary widely and have limits. Mentoring may be formal, informal, strong, weak, or absent; associates should actively seek mentors both within and outside their firms. Training options like deposition and trial bootcamps, writing courses, and business development coaching exist unevenly across firms. Lawyers must proactively pursue training and use external resources such as writings, podcasts, and videos to grow.
Read at Above the Law
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