“He told me think about it . . . you’re fungible” – this is a mentor of mine telling me what a partner once told him when he was a junior associate – “and I thought about it and I realized he was right . . . so the only way to protect yourself in this job is to have your own clients and your own book of business.”
I thought about this part of the conversation for a while after that meeting with my mentor. He is a smart, successful attorney and he is ultimately right - clients, books of business, “rain-making” are what make law firms tick and those attorneys who can make “rain” are indispensible to a law firm.
Nonetheless, that doesn’t necessarily mean that, as a junior associate, you’re “fungible,” freely exchangeable with other junior associates until you bring in a paying client. There are things that you can do as a junior associate to prevent yourself from becoming “fungible” and to make yourself stand-out in the crowd, much like a rain-making partner does when he or she lands new business for the firm.
And with the upheaval in the legal market over the last few years, and talk of “lost generations” of young attorneys, pro-actively setting yourself apart from the crowd has become more important than ever. Therefore, below are some tips that can help you be unique.
You will have your own clients the first day you arrive at your firm.
That’s right, even on day one you will have your own clients and begin to form your own book of business. Not external clients, but internal clients – your work producers in the firm. Just as “rain makers” win the attention and trust of external clients, you need to work to win the attention and trust of your internal work producers. Moreover, just as the reward for good work on behalf of external clients is more work, and fees, good work on behalf of your internal clients will bring more work your way, and, depending on how your firm’s bonus is structured, may result in more pay for you at the end of the year.
By being an outstanding associate, doing great work, being responsive to requests from your internal clients, taking a meticulous approach to your research and writing, asking for more work, going the extra mile and leaving no stone unturned, you will be a success at generating your own book of internal business. The relationship with internal clients that you form by providing this type of work product will grow and prosper and those internal clients will choose you for new assignments time after time.
If you think about it, this kind of excellent and responsive legal work is what leads external clients to choose a particular firm, and give repeat assignments to a rain-making partner who forms strong external client relationships. Therefore, ultimately, whether, internal or external, clients want the same thing, somebody whose work they can trust. By recognizing and building such internal client relationships, you will make yourself stand-out in the crowd and be less fungible in the eyes of the senior attorneys you work for.
Your reputation is everything.
Every attorney you work with in your firm has a reputation, and a good reputation is key to success. As a junior associate, reputation killers include not being responsive to requests, being unavailable, doing sloppy work, treating secretaries and paralegals poorly and not pulling your own weight on a team. A great reputation makes you unique and prevents you from being fungible in the eyes of your superiors – but conversely – having a bad reputation makes you unique in a bad way.
Examine the reputations of other attorneys in your firm, and determine what makes them good or bad. Then, emulate the behavior of those with good reputations and seek such people out as role models. By doing this, much like a rain-making partner that builds and protects his external reputation, you will set yourself apart.
Do the partner’s job for them.
Whether you’re a first year associate or the most senior partner, one thing is true, you are bombarded with raw information you need to digest, prioritize and evaluate. For a supervising attorney, his or her task is to identify issues, use junior associates to gather information and do preliminary analysis of that information, and then take this information and analysis and identify additional issues that need to be addressed.
To prevent yourself from becoming fungible, go beyond being merely a raw information provider. When a supervising attorney gives you an assignment, do more than just provide an answer to the questions asked, identify additional issues.
There is nothing worse, though, than identifying problems without also posing solutions, so think through ways to resolve the additional issues, and pose those solutions to the supervising attorney. Even if the supervising attorney disagrees with your solutions, you will stand out to him or her and you will show them you are conscientious and understand the bigger picture. Most importantly, they will appreciate the fact you are making their job easier and begin to see you as an indispensible member of the team. By showing this initiative to your supervising attorney, you will go from being a simple service provider to a trusted member of the team. You will have set yourself apart from the pack and will have built a new internal client relationship.
Take ownership.
One of the great arbiters of junior associate success appears to supervising attorneys within the first few months of each junior associate’s career. It may be subtle initially, but all supervising attorneys recognize it –"
does this associate take ownership of his or her assignment?" You must take ownership of the assignments you get to set yourself apart from your fellow junior associates.
Supervising Attorneys don’t want to micro-manage an assignment and tell an associate every next step. Therefore, become the manager yourself. When you’re given an assignment, start managing it, get organized and create a checklist of action items. Reach out to other attorney’s working on the matter and start coordinating efforts. This way, the senior attorneys can focus on the high-level issues. By doing this, you will establish yourself as an indispensible member of the team and set yourself apart. Once again, you’ll win yourself an internal client.
Be all things to all people.
This may sound draconian, but the point is this, simply billing a lot is not going to prevent you from being fungible in the eyes of the partners. You need to become a jack of all trades and get involved in more than just billable work. For example, keep your eye out for a new law or rule and volunteer to write a firm publication on it, mentor summer associates, do pro bono, join an associates committee - make time in your schedule to take on these additional activities.
Taking on these extra activities sets you apart from other associates and will prevent you from becoming fungible in the eyes of your superiors. Ultimately, by going the extra mile in this regard, you make yourself look more like a partner and less like an associate. You will become the total package and be a shining star within your practice group.
By doing these things you will be on your way to setting yourself apart in the minds of your superiors and you will become a unique part of the team long before you bring in your first paying client.
Jonathan Moyer is a member of Reed Smith's Corporate & Securities Group. Jonathan concentrates his practice on mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, public and private equity and debt offerings, securities law compliance, public-private partnership infrastructure investments, commercial loan transactions, work-outs, foreclosures and bankruptcy-related transactions, corporate governance issues and general corporate law.