'Beer At Law' Tells All

One of my favorite parts about being on social media is how people connect with people they never expected to meet. That was the case when I ran into an Instagram meme account called Beer At Law (BAL). Most of the lawyers I meet on social media are relatively junior or have gone on to pursue alternative careers.

But BAL is different. Because he’s actually a successful equity partner in Biglaw. So I thought I’d take the chance to ask him some questions I’ve always wondered about what life is like on the other side. That conversation (over beers, of course) made me think: Hey, this would be a pretty cool article for Above the Law.

I’ve read a lot of articles from partners giving advice to associates. They often contain platitudes. No one actually tells it like it is. BAL, on the other hand, had all this great insight, and was willing to speak with me candidly (anonymously) about what it’s like being a partner, how to actually generate business, and common mistakes made by associates.

So without further ado, here are four of the key takeaways from the interview:

Being Known For A Specialty Will Help You Generate Business

“The era of the service partner is over,” BAL said. You can’t just grind out hours and expect to be promoted to the partnership. Instead, you need to add value by bringing in business for the firm. To me, as an outside observer, this is the hardest and most valuable part of being a Biglaw partner. So how did BAL find a way to originate clients?

It all started when BAL was right out of law school. One of his earliest cases involved a ton of doc review, but there were two key differences from the typical slog. First, the opposing firm proposed using complex keyword searches and a new technology called “predictive coding” for discovery. Second, the client was interested in knowing what was happening in discovery and being able to see important documents and cross reference them with other documents to see how they could tell the story of the case. But it wasn’t just a search for “hot docs.”

The client wanted to be able to see the story developing. So like any good partner, BAL’s boss said “no problem” to the client. Which was quickly followed by “I don’t want to do that; you figure it out” to the associate.  And having no Chill Paralegal on that case to save the day, BAL was left to do just that.

And that’s how he developed expertise on e-discovery.

Now at the time, e-discovery wasn’t exactly the most sought after specialty. But BAL leaned into it. And importantly, learned how to translate the technical aspects of electronically stored information (ESI) to lawyers and clients. Over time, as BAL helped on more varied cases, lawyers from different practice groups and different offices in BAL’s firm started sending “quick questions about ESI.”

As he moved up in seniority, BAL started to speak on panels and write articles about e-discovery and e-retention, which was becoming a hot topic, not just in litigation but also in data management for several industries.

Shortly after BAL made partner, there was a major case involving an allegedly mishandled ESI production. After some “creative” allegations from the other side, BAL’s firm was called in as co-counsel to assist. And through an unexpected series of events, BAL became the “tip of the spear” for the team. In the end, the firm was happy with the work, the client was happy with the outcome, and lead counsel was happy BAL’s firm solved the problem.

Then something completely unexpected happened: E-discovery became a hot topic. And at that precise moment, very few lawyers had that expertise. BAL had such a strong reputation and expertise that a partner from — get this, a completely different Biglaw firm — referred some e-discovery work for their own clients to him!

This part of the story almost melted my brain. Why on earth would a partner refer a matter to another firm? Well, as it turns out, it was because that partner wanted to look good to his clients. Giving away a piece of business to make sure the job — managing e-discovery — would be done well would raise the referring partner’s reputation with his other clients.

BAL ended up doing a great job with this case and built a name for himself. After that, he became a known expert on e-discovery, which led to other referrals. Business also came from law school friends who were no longer practicing. “One day all of your friends will be the ones in charge,” BAL said. “And they’re going to need advice.”

But what if you don’t have the expertise these friends, or potential clients need? Well, you can always refer them to other experts (just like that partner referred that e-discovery matter to BAL). In fact, one of BAL’s sources of business is a series of referral relationships inside BAL’s firm, but also with smaller firms. What I took away from all this was that the value of a lawyer isn’t just their expertise, it’s also their knowledge of who can help.

Creating Value By Understanding Who The Experts Are

BAL emphasized how important it is to understand what I’ll call the ecosystem of helpers. When you’re an associate, you don’t see this part of the practice. “If you’re managing doc review and you’ve never done it before, it’s not like you can refer it to some other associate,” BAL explained.

“But when you’re a partner, you can do stuff like that. Be an expert in your space, sure, but it’s equally important to find the experts in all the other spaces that can help when you can’t. And not just lawyers. Know the experts, know the vendors. Clients are always happy to hear, ‘I have just the person for that’ when you can say it with certainty. And then those clients will tell other industry leaders they know the same thing about you.”

This is the flip side of BAL’s story about how he became known and gained visibility for e-discovery. It started small, with a random matter that he handled, but led him to get deeper into this world of vendors, how to search for documents, etc. That expertise got him invited to speak on panels and conferences, and enabled him to write substantive “think piece” articles. That got his name out as an expert for partners at other firms.

Incidentally, this opened my eyes to why so many Biglaw partners have reached out to me directly to discuss Ironclad. Even though we’re a contract management system that doesn’t typically overlap with their client engagements, Biglaw partners are still interested in referring us out to their clients. Because we are part of that “ecosystem of helpers” and referring us out makes them look good to their clients. The firms don’t even want a referral fee — they know that the trust and goodwill generated more than outweighs short term financial gains.

It makes a lot of sense. Being a Biglaw associate is similar, BAL explained. Except instead of the broader ecosystem, it’s the ecosystem within your own firm. Where is the form bank or brief bank? Do you know who the best writers at the firm are? How can you tell which template to use? Which paralegals or support staff are best to work with?

Understanding the internal “structure” of the firm helps you get things done. Which is just one of many under-recognized skills of a great associate. As BAL put it, “My favorite question to get from a partner was ‘do you know anybody who …’. Sometimes the answer was me, sometimes it was somebody else. But being asked was a boost just because it validated that there was a level of trust from those above me. And being able to say ‘yes’ to that question and provide a name was instrumental in advancing up the ranks.”

Your Role As An Associate

According to BAL, there’s often a disconnect between what associates think the job is about versus what it’s actually about. Even though firms hire smart law grads to be associates, a big part of the job is to follow instructions and do what you’re told. “Don’t try to show me how smart you are. I already know you’re smart or the firm wouldn’t have hired you. Don’t get me wrong; I like smart people who disagree with me, because that’s how the big ideas about strategy develop.

“But that’s the ‘invite-only’ part of this job. Every new associate, even those that worked in law firms before or whose parents are lawyers, starts at the level of total unconscious incompetence — we don’t know what we’re doing and we can’t even see the full breadth of how much we don’t know. To overcome that ignorance requires listening with humility, unembarrassed to not know everything already.” Which, incidentally, is most challenging for new associates who graduate from the best law schools.

For example, if you’re an associate who’s told to draft a settlement agreement, don’t reinvent the wheel. BAL recounted a story where a junior rewrote an entire client template to “fix the issues.” And even though some of the changes seemed  good in the abstract, they weren’t required for the matter, and that defeated the purpose. “The template had already been vetted through multiple cases and firms,” BAL explained. “Making changes created more problems from a client-management perspective. And we didn’t have time for all the lawyers and business folks to review everything.”

That problem could’ve been avoided if that associate understood the assignment and, more importantly in BAL’s view, the client’s goals as they relate to the assignment. That’s the other part about becoming a great associate. Don’t be afraid to ask questions early on when you get assigned work. Partners recognize that they might not give the clearest of instructions.

“When you ask me good questions, it tells me what you understand or don’t understand,” BAL said. “Let go of the imposter syndrome and ask me whatever you need clarified. Better to do that up front than to spin your wheels for a week and then give me something I don’t want. For all intents and purposes, the partner is your client when you’re an associate. And when I know an associate will ask good questions and understand the assignment, that’s an associate I can trust. That’s an associate I will want to call on for future matters, introduce to my clients, and help promote to other partners inside the firm.”

Is It Worth It Being A Biglaw Partner?

At the end of the day, it’s all tradeoffs. Yes, the money is good, BAL said. “Seeing the clearer connection between the value I provide and the extra comp I receive does settle a lot of the questions I used to let gnaw at me as an associate.” But there are significant drawbacks that involve more than just a high volume of work. As a partner, one of your main roles is to ensure there is more work coming down the pipe. Which means you have to spend a lot of time out there selling, pitching, on top of your “day job.”

The success of a partner is also heavily numbers driven. And often that success is outside of your control. In that way, the job of a partner reminds me a lot of that of a salesperson. You’re accountable for bringing in a certain amount of revenue, and have some control over it — but often macro factors can swing you one way or another. You also spend a lot of your time asking clients to pay their bills.

Still, BAL loves what he does. “You get to think about the big picture more as a partner,” he said. “Where do I want to go with this matter strategically? How do I translate the client wants to legal solutions? Do I even want to deal with this at all?” Part of this is the increased autonomy and freedom where you get to pick and choose what you work on. He says no a lot (OK, maybe not a lot, the reward for good work is still more work, but he says no more often than he did as an associate). And even when he doesn’t, he’s able to lean on other people by referring matters to others inside (and outside) the firm.

Just by hearing BAL talk about his work it’s clear that he enjoys what he’s doing. At the end of the day, I think that’s what it’s all about. Yes, the money can buy lots of things — including the craft beer and occasional “crispy bois” as would befit a meme account like BAL. But if you’re going to spend your days working, it might as well be on something you truly enjoy.

BAL had one last piece of advice for balancing everything when the job gets stressful: “Never forget to enjoy your Friday happy hour, whatever that means to you. For me, it’s a little sushi and a large Asahi (or Orion if they have it). For you, maybe it’s totally different. But regardless, don’t ever skip it if you can help it. We work enough and whatever is in that email notification can certainly wait a couple hours on a Friday night.”

Alex Su is currently the Head of Community Development at Ironclad, a leading legal technology company that helps accelerate the contracting process. Earlier in his career, he was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell and clerked for a federal district judge. Alex graduated from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, where he was an editor of the law review and the student commencement speaker. In his free time, he writes about his career journey and legal tech in his newsletter Off The Record. You can find Alex on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and yes, even Tik Tok.