Lessons learned: Advice to young lawyers | Commentary

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Part One of a two-part column.

Introduction: If you are expecting a list of shortcuts to success, let me save you time: there are none. If there were, someone would have already sold them to you in a webinar for $1,999, with a bonus module on “personal branding” and a guarantee that you, too, can become LinkedIn-famous.

Instead, I want to share the lessons I learned by watching great lawyers, bad lawyers, and a few lawyers who really should have chosen another profession, possibly something involving quiet rooms and padded walls. Some lessons were taught plainly; others were delivered sideways, usually at 2 a.m., often while asking myself the eternal question: what on earth made me think becoming a lawyer was a good idea?

But here’s the truth: I wouldn’t trade this profession for anything. Not because every day is noble, it’s not, but because when we get it right, when we stay grounded in integrity and judgment, we make a real difference.

And that’s worth the price of admission.

I. An honorable profession – if you treat it like one

Let’s start with the obvious: lawyering is an honorable calling, depending on your behavior. Being admitted to the bar does not magically confer character. I’ve met lawyers who could recite entire treatises yet couldn’t muster basic decency.

Do not embarrass your adversary. Not even when they’re practically begging for it by being pompous, misinformed, or wearing a bowtie that belongs in evidence. Be the lawyer who sees the opening but chooses restraint, because you remember the profession is bigger than the moment.

John Speranza, a Rochester legend, once pulled aside a young ADA who was struggling to get an exhibit admitted. He didn’t humiliate her; he helped her. She lost the trial, but she won something more valuable: the understanding that even in combat, grace is possible.

And here’s a corollary: show interest in people. Not the fake, networking-event kind of interest, but real curiosity.

I once shared a snowbound road trip with a senior partner. I tried to engage him in conversation. I aske about his work, life, interests, etc. and he asked me nothing. I was junior to him and I didn’t matter. The way he treated me was not unique. I survived the stormy drive but came away convinced that law is a people business led by too many people who forgot they are dealing with other humans.

Warmth is not weakness. Curiosity is not inefficiency. The most respected lawyers, I know, treat everyone, staff, janitors, clerks, adversaries, and more, with the same level of dignity they expect. When you are working late and the cleaning staff come, engage them, learn their names. You will learn a lot.

II. Skills – The unsexy core of competence

If you went into law thinking brilliant writing and dazzling oral advocacy carry the day, allow me to burst that bubble gently: you also need judgment, stamina, humility, humanity and a relationship with coffee or in my case diet Coke bordering on dependence.

Lawyering requires thinking, constant thinking. Motivation will ebb. You’ll have days when you feel like Oliver Wendell Holmes reincarnated and days when you feel barely qualified to fill out a parking ticket appeal. Expect it. Go for a walk, clear your head and push through it.

A few practical suggestions:

• Never tell a jury or judge to “trust you.” The day a jury thinks, “Oh sure I’ll trust this stranger in a suit whose job is persuasion,” is the day we rewrite the laws of physics. Instead, earn trust through clarity, fairness, and evidence. Your credibility is cumulative.
• Never assume your judge has read your papers. In fact, assume they haven’t. Some judges don’t read; some skim; some scan like they’re reviewing a restaurant menu they already regret. Some have caseloads that are oppressive and are doing their very best to keep up. Give them signposts so they can follow the argument. And don’t take offense when they ask a question answered on page two, they may not have made it to page two.
• Write like you want to be understood, not admired. Yes, you wrote a law review note. No one wants to read it. Technical brilliance without persuasive clarity is like having a Ferrari with no steering wheel, impressive but destined for a wall.
• Teach the factfinder. Opening: tell them what’s going to happen. Evidence: make it happen. Closing: tell them what happened and why it matters. Education is persuasion wearing a tie.

III. Ethics – your legacy in the dark

Now, ethics, the part everyone claims to care about until it becomes inconvenient.

Let me be blunt: your reputation is not what you say about yourself, it’s what others quietly say when you leave the room. And believe me, they say plenty.

When you screw up, own it early. I once had a partner miss a filing deadline and attempt a creative cover-up involving fabricated filings. After a year, a YEAR, it collapsed. They lost their license, the firm paid dearly, and the case wasn’t even worth saving. It was a masterclass in self-inflicted wounds. I was assigned with another partner to clean-up duty. Not fun.

The cover-up is always more expensive than the mistake.

IV. Vanity

Ignore vanity plaques, Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, etc. They mean literally nothing. It’s a marketing scam and don’t feed into it. Even if they name you Lawyer of the Year, or whatever. It means absolutely nothing. The true measure of success and reputation is referrals from former adversaries!

V. Do pro bono work.

It reminds you that people’s lives, not just their balance sheets, matter. It will keep you grounded knowing how privileged you are in this profession. You will remember those people and they will remember you. Some cases will be quick, something the firm bean counters hope for. Others you will be in for a while. I have pro bono civil rights case filed against the New York Depart of Corrections in 2004; it is now the oldest case in WDNY.

VI. Do not ever let a client lie, and challenge lies by opposing counsel.

I stopped a deposition mid-sentence when my client lied. We left the room and I told him I’d withdraw if he didn’t correct himself on the record. He apologized, corrected the record, and yes, we won. But even if we hadn’t, I could still face myself in the mirror.

I had an opposing counsel who had previously been in house counsel at a large Rochester Corporation. I reported to him on matters I represented the company on. He lost his job in downsizing and started his own practice and ended up opposite me in a commercial litigation matter. After some tense negotiation we reached agreement. We were meeting at my office, and I took the revised agreement to my secretary for finalization prior to execution by his client. I was gone no more than a few minutes and when I returned, they were gone. I took my file to my office and noticed a key document was missing, it was clear that he had taken the document. I immediately called him and demanded that he return the document. He claimed innocence. I told him if the document was not delivered within 30 minutes, I would file an ethics complaint that afternoon. Magically, the document showed up by courier.

Tomorrow: Part II

David Cook is of counsel with Phillips Lytle LLP.