Story Time Monday – Attorneys Who Taught Me Valuable Lessons

Many of the attorneys I worked with pushed me to excel, to work smarter – not harder. Those are the ones that made a true impact on my life, to be sure.

I think it’s natural to Google attorneys we’ve worked with in the past, just to see what they’re up to, if they’re still practicing law, have they moved on from the law firm they were with, etc. But it was quite shocking to find out, as I searched several names this weekend, that 3 out of the 4 have passed on.

So today I’m going to share a little about each of one of them…

“D” – He owned a thriving law firm in the center of a fairly large city.  I not only worked for him but 3 other attorneys. Up to this point in my career, the attorneys I worked for felt it was their responsibility alone to become familiar with the Civil Rules of Procedure, Local Rules, etc.  Then one day “D” looked at me and said “Leslie, you have to get your head inside the rules.” That came as a bit of a shock, but I took it on. We worked primarily in the lower courts, so there was no need to dive into Federal Rules at that point, but his push expanded my knowledge and I’m forever grateful to him for that.

“S” – She was one of the nicest attorneys I’ve ever worked for. While going over our active cases, she asked me if I could create a notebook containing a rundown of each case on separate sheets of paper, indicating which deadlines were met and which ones were still open. This attorney worked many late nights and weekends and didn’t want to call me at home, so the notebook worked great. Knowing how to manage my cases and their deadlines began with this attorney’s request.

“D2” – This attorney was brilliant on his feet in the courtroom but truly needed a Paralegal who was highly organized and a true case manager. During the interview, he explained how a former employee lacked the expertise in managing deadlines. I explained how I would handle it and he hired me on the spot. He truly did not want to be in the office and preferred to work from home. Because of that, I had to develop a way to provide a snapshot of where we stood on each case in very fast-paced phone calls. This case management style was not only utilized here but in the next firm I moved to.

“S2” – One of the first attorneys I worked for and one of the most important. Why? He allowed me to prepare for trial alongside him even though I had had “0” legal experience. He simply taught me the process, step-by-step.  I’m forever grateful for the chance he gave me.

And finally “R”.  “R” came onboard as a new attorney with our law firm, but a highly experienced one. On one project, I was more than swamped! I had to create several complaints, make copies and send certain copies via certified mail, return receipt. All of this takes so much time to complete. I was more than disappointed when all of the staff disappeared instead of pitching in to help. “R” came to the rescue! He stayed until every single package was ready to go and in fact, dropped them all off at the post office. A very selfless, considerate attorney.

I’m grateful to all of them. They taught me how to step up, how to be a self-starter and so much more.