It’s law firm arrival season. The postbar adventure vacations have been tucked into Instagram folders. The first law school debt payments loom. And visions of all-night doc reviews now dance feverishly across imaginations that only a year ago were wooed for their high-performance potential. As they start down this road, here are seven things I’d like the new group of first-year associates to keep in mind:
For Most, This Will Be Short-Term Employment. If the past is prologue, about one-third of the starting class will have left by the end of their third year; two-thirds of your class will be gone within six years. This isn’t personal; the structure relies on regular departures of associates, sometimes voluntary, sometimes not. For the new lawyers, this means that you’re in charge of your careers. The old paternalistic, just-excel-and you-shall-be-automatically-rewarded game is over. Now you have to decide what you need to learn while you’re at the firm and manage your time accordingly. This regimen is a neat fit for our ironic age: Put down roots and expect to be uprooted.
