The Complete Lawyer

When junior associates hire me as a coach, I almost always recommend they read Mark Herrmann’s The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law, a short and entertaining book that lays the groundwork for how an associate (any lawyer, really) should approach practice. One paragraph encompasses the time-tested introduction to practice: “You have one main job as a beginning associate: Be a sponge; soak up the law. You will have only a scant year or two when you have the luxury . . . of time—time to read many cases closely. This is your short opportunity to learn the law.”

Today’s associates must do more, however, beginning with their first days in the firm. Expand Herrmann’s advice to include learning practice skills that will be the foundation of the way you will serve clients and develop new business. Consider yourself an apprentice of the lawyers with whom you’re working and study how they interact with clients. What do clients like, and what raises their ire? How do these lawyers approach business development?

Don’t stop with the lawyers you work with regularly; seek out mentors who will guide and encourage you—and also serve as resources for the questions that you may not want to ask the lawyers who will determine your career advancement. Some firms have started to create programs that treat junior associates as apprentices and invite them to observe how legal work is done. If you’re not working at one of those firms, though, search out your own opportunities.

What to learn from these lawyers? Excellence in client service and rainmaking requires a range of skills and attitudes, of course, but three skills underlie all of the others:

1. Ask Thought-provoking Questions

To serve a client well and to become the kind of advisor to whom a client will turn repeatedly over time, you must know the client’s goals. The same is true in business development: understanding the client’s concerns is a prerequisite for getting the business. Don’t, however, get caught up in asking a brilliant question or a question that reveals how much you know. Instead, aim for open-ended questions that focus on the matter at hand and provide space for a client to move into broader business concerns.

Asking expansive questions allows the client to guide the conversation as he prefers; follow-up questions draw out the necessary information. Depending on the context, the following questions serve as good conversation-starters:

• What are your ultimate objectives?
• How does this matter fit into the broader business context?
• What are you most concerned about?
• What do you need from this situation and what would you like?
• What are the biggest obstacles you see?

Follow-up questions can be as simple as:

• Tell me more?
• What else should I know?
• What’s an example of ___?

Create the opportunity for your client (or potential client) to share what’s on her mind with you. Your goal is to get the facts, understand her concerns, and draw out as much information as possible. Simple questions are usually best. To make the most of this skill, however, you need to master the next one.