How to Get Hired Back at a Law Firm

This episode breaks down what actually determines whether law students get hired back after a summer, articling, or internship position.
Susan cuts through three persistent myths that mislead students from day one: that good work is enough, that mentorship will be structured and consistent, and that someone else is responsible for your development.
Instead, she explains how law firms really operate. Time is scarce, expectations are implicit, and the students who succeed are the ones who take ownership early. This episode gives you a practical framework for standing out in an environment that can feel unstructured and unpredictable.
If you are heading into a law firm role or trying to secure a return offer, this is essential listening.

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Transcript

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Some of the smartest law students don't get hired back. Not because they're not capable, but because they misunderstand how law firms actually evaluate them. And the frustrating part, no one explains this clearly enough. Students are told, do good work, be professional, you'll be fine. But that's incomplete. And in some cases, I'm going to say it's actually misleading. So let's unpack what's actually going on inside a law firm. Let's get into it. Welcome back to the next episode. I'm so glad that you are here. Today we're going to talk about what's the real reason that some summer students, Articling students, and interns why they don't get hired back. And I believe if we understand what's expected of us and you understand what the end goal is, we can all get on the right path, get the resources we need, have more clarity, have more intention about how we're working. So today we're going to talk about a number of things. One's going to be the myths students believe, what they're led to believe or what they, you know, learn that they need to believe. We're going to talk about the economic reality of what it is to be a law student, what the expectations are, and just give you that mindset of the position that you hold within a firm and what that means from the economic standpoint. We're going to talk about the real evaluation criteria, what firms are really looking for. And I've done surveys on this and I've worked with dozens and dozens of law firms on what they're expecting from their students and from their associates. And sometimes they don't always communicate that as thoroughly as they plan to or as they mean to. We're also going to talk about why strong students don't get hired back. And that might be shocking to some people, but you can have a really strong student in law school who's getting top marks, really popular, doing really well, and is the person who's expected to really soar in their career. Why don't they get hired back? So we're going to talk a little bit about that. We're also going to touch on the AI emerging differentiator. It is impacting law students. It's impacting early associates and everyone in a law firm, increasingly so. I know you've probably heard a lot about it. We're talking a lot about it in the legal field. Let's talk about how it's impacting law students. So I'm going to touch on it very briefly. And then finally, we're going to talk about what signals hiring this person. What are the signals that partners get to hire you into one of those positions, those coveted positions within the firm? So we're going to get into it. We're going to unpack a lot of stuff. And uh I hope you enjoy the episode. Thanks for joining me. Welcome to the Lawyer Launcher Podcast. Hello, friends. I'm your host, Susan Van Dyke. If you're a law student or a new lawyer eager to launch a successful career, you're in the right place. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience, I'll demystify the business of law and help you understand just what it takes to succeed. We'll empower you, help build confidence, and reduce anxiety. Our experts will share tips and advice, and I can't wait for you to hear from them. Now, let's dive in. Let's dispel some myths. Let's start here. And I have three myths I want to talk about. Three common myths. Things that you might have heard from law school, from well-meaning friends and family, or people within the field. And I'm going to say these are three of the most common myths that I hear and need to address with law students and other new associates. And the first one is good work will always get you hired back. It's not true. And we're going to talk about each one of these. The second one is you'll get all the mentorship that you need. Also not true. And the third one is someone else will take responsibility for you and your work. Nothing could be further from the truth. Good work is the cost of table stakes. It's the cost of where you are. And you're going to find that all kinds of people around you, students and others around you, are also doing good work. So that is not in and of itself a way in which that's going to qualify you to stand out. It's going to keep you in your lane for sure. It's the ante, it's the table stakes of being in the position where you are. But it's not something that's going to set you apart. It's not something that's going to necessarily get you hired back. What's going to get you hired back, and we're going to talk a little bit about this during this episode, are things like making sure that you're building relationships in the firm, that you are well organized and that you are managing your deadlines and your workload, that you're communicating clearly, you understand instructions, you are looking for work, you're taking initiative, those kinds of things. So the work product alone is just one part of it. So don't rest there if that's um if that's your intention. The second myth I want to talk a little bit about is that you're gonna get all the mentorship that you need. Maybe in some firms, maybe in some firms they have an abundance of mentorship, but it is really not common. I'm gonna say probably 95% of firms can't give students all the mentorship that they'd want to give them or that a student would want to receive from their firms, from their principal, or from their mentors. Why? There is just not enough time. There's just not enough time between the billable time of client work and then what we call the non-billable time of work that is working with you as a student, looking at your work, talking you through changes, talking you through the file, et cetera, et cetera. So you'll find a lot of that work and then mentorship is the kinds of things that you're gonna have to do on your own, like looking at files, reviewing work yourself, asking people where to go and look for material or resource information. It's gonna help you complete the task that you need to do. So it's not necessarily gonna be mentors that support you in a way in which you're hoping. Someone else being responsible for you is simply not what I've seen in any firm that I've worked with, and I've worked with dozens of firms. It's really important that when you come in, you have a mindset of taking responsibility for doing great work and doing the work that's expected of you and doing it really, really well. So I want you to change that mindset just like you do in school. You have to take responsibility for yourself. No one else is gonna write those exams for you. Nobody else is gonna write the papers for you. You have to do it on your own. So I want you to take the same mindset when you get into your first law firm that take responsibility for making sure you're organized. Ask for help, certainly. Ask for help. But somebody else is not taking responsibility for you. It's really kind of like coming into the big leagues, right? You got to really lean in and uh really care about how you are conducting yourself. Law school tends to run on a schedule, right? It rewards individual performance. Everything is set out for you. If you study hard, if you understand the legal concepts, you research well, um, you're going to get the marks that you need. You're gonna do very well. Conversely, a law firm is like the Wild West. It really is. It's, you know, they don't run on a schedule. You never know when a client's gonna drop a matter on a lawyer's desk. You never know when a file's gonna blow up. You just never know when an opposing counsel is gonna pull a stunt. You just don't know. So you can't be prepared. It's not possible to be prepared for absolutely every scenario. So you'll be responding to the needs of your lawyers within the firm as they are responding to client demands. So it is the wild west. And what you'll be looked upon for is speed, good judgment, and being super reliable in a team environment. That's what's gonna get you noticed. Um, so the skill sets in a law firm and a law school are actually really very different. Law schools giving you that baseline of concepts and technical skills to a point. And then it's when you step into a law firm, that's when you're gonna get really good technical depth and practice management experience. And there are just so many things that are just hard to train without um experience and having a guide. So these are the kinds of things that I want to share with you. So students think that if I'm gonna um prepare good memos and research all stand out, but the real reality is most students produce good work. So I want you to just keep that in mind. So the good work isn't what's gonna differentiate you, it's gonna help you stay in the conversation and it's gonna keep you in um in the game. So, law school, there's not as much time pressure in the same way that there is in a law firm. And there's no client consequences, right? The consequences are for you to bear. You don't get the mark you want, um, you don't pass a course, you don't get the grade that you want. That's a consequence only for you to bear. While in a law firm, um delays can cost money. Mistakes affect clients, time is constantly being evaluated. Um, and you are being evaluated for how you are conducting yourself in all of those scenarios. So it's a very, very different um environment. And you're not being graded anymore. You are looking to be trusted. So how you show up in this environment as a trusted advisor is really what's going to set you apart and start to position you well for that treasured hire back opportunity. So it's not just about good work. So, what is it then? Let's talk about that. Interrupt this a second because I need your help. This podcast takes a lot of energy, a lot of resources, a lot of time. And I need something small from you, please. I need you to subscribe to this podcast either on YouTube or your podcast platforms. I would love for you to like, I'd love for you to comment. And I'd also really appreciate if you share this podcast. We want to reach as many people as possible, help as many new lawyers, law students, interns, summer students, the whole bit. I want to just get this podcast far and wide as much as possible. And if you're watching from a law firm and maybe you're having your lunch and you're listening in as a group, that's fantastic. And I hope you get all the CPD credit that you need from this episode and from future episodes. So before we carry on, please take a moment and share this episode, subscribe, like, comment. I need your, I need your help, and I really, really appreciate it. Thanks for listening. The economic reality of a law firm. So one of the things I talk to my clients a lot about as I still am working in my consulting capacity, and I do a lot of strategic planning, which simply means business planning for law firms. Where are they going? Where are they growing? What practice areas are they expanding? How profitable are they? Are they opening a new office in a new region, et cetera? Those are all the things that I work on regularly with dozens of law firms. So the economic reality is part of how a firm can operate and grow and hire people and get good talent and get the best professional development and attract really great work. That is what allows us to do when we are expanding our profitability and our economics of our firm. So as you join the firm, you are actually a cost before you are an asset in the firm. And you will be a cost to the firm for a few years in your practice. And that is pretty much well understood, or it should be very well understood by every partner of every law firm. Students and junior associates are a cost. There is a tremendous cost in time, mentoring you, supporting you, correcting mistakes because mistakes are going to happen, and teaching and helping you grow. There's a tremendous cost to that, along with the cost of having extra people in the office and salaries and technology, et cetera, et cetera. But really, it's the cost of mentorship that is really so very expensive. As firms invest very heavily in students, salaries, training, and lawyer time. But clients increasingly now are refusing to pay for junior inefficiencies. So they don't want to see a lot of time on a bill for a really junior lawyer in some cases, in some matters, in some firms. So more senior lawyers are being a little bit more sensitive to that and thinking about how bills are being received from a client perspective and where there is value. Sometimes there's value. So as a student, and as you're recording time and posting time, that it took you so many hours to work on a task, when it goes to the senior lawyer before it goes to the client, they're gonna look, they're gonna evaluate how much time they can actually bill the client, what's fair to the client. And that's not really for you to concern yourself with. You would still record all of your time because everyone knows you're learning, everyone knows you're gonna take more time than what can go to the client, and that's part of the cost that's associated with students and juniors being in a firm. So it's important to know that firms are investing heavily in their students. They're covering salaries, they're covering training, and they're also applying a lot of lawyer time to your benefit and to the ultimately to the firm's benefit. So just keep in mind that every student hire is a risk calculation. So the economic reality is every firm is looking at students as an investment in the future of the firm. They are now calculating the cost of training students, and it is a tremendous cost to bear for a small firm. For larger, mid-sized firms, it's something that most of them are still very much committed to doing because they see it as part of the legacy of their firm. And I know a lot of firms they hire students with the intention of seeing them through to partnership, to them being part of the succession plan of the firm, to becoming core members of the firm, whether you're a partner or not. So a lot of firms are hiring students with that intention, which is fantastic, but there is an economic reality to what it looks like to support you and invest in you for the years that it does take before you become profitable. So every student hire is a risk calculation. Firms are hiring fewer students than they used to, and higher back rates can look high, but that's often because firms are more selective at the front end. So where they might have hired 10 students and looking to keep, you know, eight to ten students at the end of their that period, that summer period or that articling period or internship, now they're they're pairing that back and looking to hire perhaps less of those students. So they're getting a little bit a little bit more selective. So the funnel is tighter even before you get in. So that's an important reality for you to keep in mind. So some of the things we've talked about already on this podcast is, you know, the partners are gonna be looking at all students as to, you know, how quickly can this person ramp up? How quickly, you know, is this person coachable? How quickly are they learning and adapting in this Wild West environment? Um, are they building relationships, et cetera, et cetera? So they're gonna be evaluating you while you're in the office to look to see um how quickly they can manage and reduce the firm's risk of hiring a student for the long run. And that's why the evaluation criteria looks very different from what students expect. So let's take a look at the evaluation criteria. I want to talk a little bit about what is exactly being discussed about you within a firm. How are they evaluating you? What are they looking at exactly? One of the things that's really important, and we talked about speed early on in this podcast, is do you reply quickly or do you disappear for hours? Do lawyers need to follow up with you, or are you taking initiative? So we want to build trust within the law firm environment so that you can be dependent on and people don't have to worry about you and spend extra energy chasing you and managing you and following up with you. It goes back to that responsibility we talked about earlier that it's time for you to now take even more responsibility for yourself than you ever have, perhaps, in your whole life or your whole career. So, this is where the responsiveness that you're gonna show really does signal reliability. Being organized signals trust, following up and having um follow-through is really gonna start signaling trust. Judgment also starts to signal trust. Do you ask questions at the right time? Do you filter through what matters and what doesn't matter? Are you asking too many basic questions and not getting enough of your own, um, doing enough of your own research before you come and ask questions? Are you escalating things too quickly without, again, doing your own research or using your own resources? These are some of the things that lawyers are gonna be looking for. And so this good judgment is what will start to turn a student into a future lawyer. Manageability is super important. Are you easy to work with? So the lens in which your lawyers now are gonna look at is what will it be like for an external client? Of course, the lawyers are your internal client. Those lawyers are thinking about what would be the experience for an external client to work with this student. So that would be one lens that they would see and evaluate through. So are you easy to work with? Do you take feedback well? That's a really important point. I talked with Megan McAllister at our last podcast, I think it was number 13, about feedback and how important that is. And she talked about being coachable. So that's really important. And you want that feedback. You really want to grow and to learn and to evolve over time. And so don't be afraid of feedback. Feedback is a great signal that somebody's investing in you. So lean into the feedback and uh and take it to heart, make a note of it. Um, if you don't understand it thoroughly enough, ask for clarification and good feedback as well. Good feedback is important. Make sure you understand what you're doing well, in addition to where you need to grow and improve. Manageability also means do you adjust or are you repeating mistakes? So when you get that feedback, not only receiving it well, making a note of it, thanking somebody for the feedback, but also making sure that you are adjusting your work style and your workflow, whatever the case may be, you're drafting, that you're actually immediately making those adjustments. Don't second guess the feedback you're getting. Go ahead and implement the feedback you're getting right away so that you can, the lawyers that you're working with are seeing real-time adjustments in your in your in your work product. And I think it's fair to say that most lawyers that you're working with are comparing notes with one another and their experiences working with you. So where you're making great improvements based on research from one lawyer, that lawyer may share it with another lawyer. And so you might start to find you're getting more work from other lawyers. And that actually can become a bit of a problem for some students where they are hitting their marks so well and they're growing and adjusting so quickly that they're attracting work from a lot of lawyers. And then that becomes a different challenge. It's a good challenge, but it is a challenge that needs to be managed, which we can talk about at another time. But that's the kind of thing that you're looking for, that you're starting to get work from other people. That's a really good signal. But conversely, I will say if working with you starts to feel hard, that will quietly work against you. So I want you to turn on that self-awareness, if you can, about what it might be to work with you in terms of do you require a lot of management? Do you require a lot of follow-up? Are you repeating the same mistakes, et cetera, et cetera? So, really important that you have that perspective of yourself. And if you don't ask for feedback, go ahead and ask for feedback. Where are some areas that you can improve? What are some things you're doing well? What's an insight that somebody can give you? And it doesn't need to be formal, it can certainly be informal, but you want to get that feedback so you continue to grow. The next thing I want to talk about just briefly are optics. Optics are the things that people see, and it is what they judge where they're looking at evaluating you. So before anyone evaluates you on your legal ability, they're forming a view of you based on what they see every day. And it comes back to that reliability. Where you show up reliably every single day starts to form an impression of who you are and how you're going to show up as a full-time employee, as a full-time lawyer. Law firms are a high trust, high-stakes environment. So people are constantly asking themselves subconsciously whether they tell you this or not, can I trust this person? Do they understand this environment? When I put them in front of a client, optics are not superficial. They are interpreted as signs of judgment, and they're starting to form an impression of who you are and how you're going to show up, not as a summer student, not as an articling student, not as an intern, but as an associate lawyer. And can they trust you in front of clients? Can they trust you in front of prospective clients, et cetera? So some of the specific things they're going to be looking for or observing is your phone use. I have clients that who are of a certain generation, they don't understand how the younger generation are actually using their phone for research. They're using their phone to perhaps text a senior lawyer in the firm. There may be some really legitimate uses for your phone. I would express those and I'd be really open about that. I would absolutely avoid anything that doesn't look like work. But if you can avoid using your phone at work, I would absolutely avoid using your phone at work. It shows that you might. Be disengaged and not interested and paying attention to the work that you have in front of you. And it also might trigger some concern about slow response rates. So important that you know what the optics look like if you are using your phone. So if you're looking distracted, people will assume you're not taking the work seriously, even if that's not true. We're only talking about optics. And the optics might tell a totally different story, but they are still optics. And we want to ensure that all of your optics are positive because chances are somebody may not come to you and say, Hey, I've seen your phone open and you're looking at your phone a lot today. What's going on? Chances are they're not going to tell you that. And one line I heard when I first started in law 30 years ago was no news is good news, which is unfortunate because we want that constant validation, that positive validation that we're on track and doing well and we're valued. But it's still true to an extent that no news is good news. However, I'll also say that our environments are not great for giving constant and good feedback, especially to students. With optics as well, how you dress and how you present yourself is also important. So take a look around at the culture of your firm, how they dress, how they present themselves, how you know what is the professionalism in your office, and try to mirror where you are. You don't want to stand out for your um for your outfits, for your hair, for anything. You want to blend in as best you can while respecting your own identity and the way that you like to show up in the world. But your best course of action is to blend in and look like the you know the environment in which you belong. Of course, you there's lots of room for self-expression. I would just, if you do that, it might um it might not work in your favor. I'll say that. So dress um is is read as your awareness of your environment and it signals to people that you have good judgment, that things things are um important to you that you're fitting in. We also want to see you in front of clients dressed appropriately. So even you know, if you're in a firm that has casual Fridays, I would say, you know, don't be too casual. Even if you're a little bit tressy than everyone else, I would say be mindful of those casual Fridays because I've seen things go sideways with some students where they've come in in, you know, school sweats, you know, things are, you know, ripped bottoms and bottom of their pants are ripped or their shirt might be ripped or just way too casual, not for a professional environment. Professional environment is still polished, it just may not be a full suit if that's the environment that you're from. So dress a little bit nicer than the most casual group of lawyers in your firm, is what I would say. Time discipline, too, is another area of optics. How quickly do you get in the office in the morning? How late are you staying? Are you disappearing for hours? Um, and again, looking for consistency. Are you one of the first ones in in the morning? Are you somebody who takes an efficient lunch? Are you somebody who sits in the lunchroom and has lunch with whomever you can sit with? That's these are great optics that you're a team player and you're chatting with anyone who comes into the into the um into the lunchroom. I back in the day when I worked in law, there was a lawyer's lounge and a staff lounge, and the two didn't mix. And um, and that was unfortunate. We don't see that as often anymore. Maybe in some firms, I don't see it very often anymore at all. And it's really nice to see staff and lawyers mixing so they get to know each other. And then, you know, it isn't about um hours, but it is about awareness of expectations. So be mindful of um of your hours and when you show up and when you're departing the office. I'll also just talk briefly about um socialization in the office. Um, again, important that you keep in mind it's not law school. Law firms are a place of business. Of course, there's time to say hello, how was your weekend, good morning, all of that, especially when you're getting a coffee or standing in a lunchroom and grabbing a snack. But by and large, catch yourself if you're standing and chatting for more than I would say maybe five minutes, 10 minutes. I think once you've had a chat and you've you've gotten to know somebody, it's time probably to start moving on and getting back to your desk and getting to work. You don't ever want to be seen as talking too much, socializing too much, not reading the room well enough, because whoever you're talking to also needs to get back to work, whether they're staff or other lawyers, except maybe if it's your principal or your or your mentor and you're talking to them, and that's gonna probably start to turn into a work conversation. But anybody else, you know, time to get back to work after a couple of minutes. And also lingering in other people's offices can be an issue if you're there too long, because you're essentially trapping that person in some respects in their office. So read the room, ask them if they have time, say, you know, I should probably let you get back to work and see how they respond. But after five, 10 minutes, it's time to probably start backing away and getting into uh getting back to your own desk. So being personal is a great asset until it becomes a distraction. So something to keep in mind. Being physical in the office is really great. Um, not being visible is not so great. So if you are an in-person office, be in person. Um if you need to talk to a lawyer or you have a question, a great habit is to actually walk down the hall and ask the question. Don't depend on email, don't depend on the phone. Physical presence is really valued. Go and dark on a doorway, ask if somebody has a minute, if the door is closed, you can always ask the assistant if they're on the phone or if they have a minute, or is this a good time to interrupt? So just check in with people and see what the status is, and then ask your question and then and then get out as soon as as soon as it looks like you've kind of overstayed, you might have overstayed your welcome. So stay physical in the office. You want people to see you, you want people to have confidence in you, you want to have a quick hello, and uh you want to move on with your day. So none of these things on their own, of course, are gonna cost you an offer, but collectively they're gonna start to shape how people are seeing you, how they're experiencing you. And all of those things start to build what will become a really great reputation, hopefully, for you. So these are really important things. They're small things, but they're things that may not be expressed openly to you. So I'm gonna mention here. So again, on optics, we're talking about manageability. How do you manage yourself? Does somebody else have to manage you? Are you taking responsibility for yourself? Good judgment, are you showing good judgment? Are you reading the room well? Are you asking the questions you need? And trust. Are people trusting you? Are you reliable? Are you showing up? Do you have good emerging good practice management habits? So the optics are how people decide whether working with you will feel easy or it will feel difficult. So we want it to feel really easy and natural. But I have to add that some students will dismiss some of the small things and that they shouldn't matter. But in a professional services environment where perception equals trust, it absolutely does. And here's why. External clients can't always evaluate their legal services, the quality of their legal services, unless perhaps they're general counsel in another in another company or counsel on another firm. Chances are if you're working for a lay person who's not a lawyer and they don't have expertise in your area of law, they can't really evaluate if you're a great lawyer or not. That's just the reality. But what they can evaluate are the intangible things, how you show up, are you prepared, are you transparent, et cetera, et cetera. There's I have a lot to say on that. There's too much for this particular episode, but these are the kinds of things that you're guiding towards to try to make sure that clients see you as a trusted advisor. And I'll say you don't get to control how people interpret your behavior, but you do get to control the signals that you send. So you want to ensure that you're sending the right signals. So as we're talking about evaluation criteria, I'll just also add that your internal reputation is really going to matter here. Law firms are highly networked internally. They are really interesting ecosystems that are very unique to one another. And feedback is often informal, not formal. And it can include asking an assistant, how is it like to work with you? It can be listening to associates talk after a file, and if your name comes up and how you, you know, how you did on that file and how helpful you were. It could have two partners asking, how were they? That was a new assignment. How did they do? And it's not to say that you have to hit it out of the park every time, but to show that you're trying to follow through and some of the things that you can control will be really important to that internal reputation. Your reputation is built in rooms that you're not in. It's where partners meet, they will talk about how the students are doing, they'll do updates on their students in a group setting and compare notes, and um and that's where that's where reputations are starting to be formed. Commercial or economic understanding and awareness is gonna really serve you well here. It's gonna serve you well in terms of your the urgency that you bring to a client matter. It could include the client sensitivity, um, how you're calibrating relative to the needs of the client and the type of matter that you're working on. It can include billing realities, again, knowing that you're gonna end up having a lot of time written off, and don't worry about that. Your role right now is to accept work, to try new things, to get really good instructions, to take responsibility for getting really good instructions, that kind of thing. So don't worry about the time, but do record all of your time and understand that a lot of it's gonna get written off. But you do over time want to minimize the time that's written off on your work. Important for you to know that if you treat every task like an academic exercise, you're going to miss the mark. It's important for you to really understand how much time something should take, how efficient you should be. You don't want to, you know, you working to 100% may not be necessary. That client might think 60% is good enough. They're only willing to pay for a good enough job, a 60% effort on something, as opposed to it is a high-risk situation, there's a lot on the line, it's got to be 100%, it's got to have precision. So know the difference. And if you don't know, always ask. Is this a high-risk situation that I've got to do 100%? Or is this a cheap and cheerful research task which can be done in just a couple of hours? So knowing where to scale and calibrate your response to things will really start to improve your reputation and show that you really understand how to vary your work. So, why don't strong students get hired back? Sometimes it's a massive surprise when somebody who was a rock star in school for all kinds of good reasons just, you know, things just went sideways in their firm. And it can happen. And I'll tell you why, in some cases, it happens. Some of it can be getting trapped in perfectionism. Some of those students, I'm not saying all of them, but what I've seen is some students have are A-level students, they're getting really top marks in their in their high school, their undergrad, they go to law school, they continue to really do very well. They're competing in MOOCs, et cetera, and they're doing really, really well. And they bring that same level of perfectionism and high, high, high expectations into a law firm environment, and they are overworking a file, they are trying to be perfect, they are over-researching, and they are not calibrating to the task that we just talked about. And that effort is not always valued by the lawyer or by the external client. Maybe it is, and if it is, be really clear on what you're supposed to be doing and meet those expectations. Um, but what it can also do is perfection, which Beana Stock talked about in episode one of the Lawyer Launcher podcast show. And if you think that you struggle with perfectionism, go and look at that podcast episode, number one with Bina Stock. It's fantastic. Um, but perfectionism can be a trap and it can be a systemic problem in your practice years to come where you start to miss deadlines, you're overworking things, you are paralyzed to pull the trigger on work, et cetera, et cetera. I I used to, I can tell you that I used to write for the Canadian Bar Association many, many years ago, and I had a column, and it took me one week to write a 3,000-word column. And it was so hard to hit the send button to the editor because I was getting trapped in that perfectionism because my audience are perfectionists, and I got myself wrapped up in that trap, and I spent a lot of time in those one-week periods and I was writing my column. It spent a lot, a lot of extra time drafting, redrafting, and painstakingly going through those columns. So I know what that's like, and I'm gonna ask you to try to avoid it because what's gonna happen is you're going to be late on delivering your work product to the lawyer that's assigned you the work. So perfect but late is worse than good and on time. Let me repeat that. Perfect but late is worse than good and on time. So, you know, make sure that you're on time and make sure you know that how to calibrate your work to what's expected of you. What happens with these strong students is they wait instead of anticipating. They wait for full instructions, they're not thinking ahead, um, they might be worried about taking that next step, that there's a risk in doing so. And I'll say that firms reward people who think one step ahead and they're not just completing tasks. If there's something easy that you can do for the next step, go ahead and do it as long as it's within your baile wick to do, and make sure you're getting full instructions. And in those full instructions, you can ask, okay, so I'm to do this, it will take me four hours to complete this. If I have time and capacity to take it to the next step, what does that look like? And are you comfortable with me taking that next step? So don't wait for the next instruction, anticipate what's new and keep the ball rolling. If you can do that on an ongoing basis, that's going to be highly valued because, as we know, your lawyers don't always want to be managing you. They want you to start taking responsibility as much as you can for your own work. Communication gaps are another area of concern for top students or all students, but this is an area that some top students have found themselves going sideways where they're not confirming instructions, they're making assumptions, they're used to an intellect curing them at a certain level. So they're filling in the gaps and instructions that they actually haven't received. So they walk out of the office or they finish a call and they don't have full sum instructions. Really important that you're stopping a conversation, you're getting full instructions, don't leave a meeting until you know you have full instructions. Or ask if you can come back and get clarity later. And so go away, give it some thought, do your own research, talk to others, talk to an assistant, talk to another associate, and then go back and get confirmation on what you believe the instructions are before you start. The second thing within a communication gap is not updating progress. If the lawyer is expecting you to come back after a few days or a week and provide an update so they know the cadence of your work is going to meet the deadline, that's really important. So make sure that you're updating and giving a reporting memo or might be standing in a doorway, however, it is best for the lawyer that you're working with, make sure that you do exactly as they're asking you to do, whether it's in writing in a memo, a quick email, a voicemail message. I know some lawyers like to have a piece of paper left on their on their chair, literally. Um, so when they come in in the morning or back from lunch or what have you, there's something waiting for them. So make sure you understand what is the style of the lawyer you're working with. Equally important is sending unclear emails. Make sure your emails are set up very clearly. And it might state with, you've asked me to do this, you know, last Tuesday, your instructions were this. Here's my conclusion, again, very brief, and here are the details. So structure your emails very clearly and unfold it very clearly so that don't bury the lead. Put your findings up at the top, at the very beginning of the email. Remind the lawyer what the instructions were, and if they want the details, they can be below for their for their further review. But silence, staying silent because you're stuck on something is going to start to create anxiety and it will start to erode trust. And we want to build up the trust, not erode the trust. So that's another area that can get um can get challenging for lawyers working with top students. Low visibility, keeping your head down, not building relationships is really problematic. If people don't know you, they can't advocate for you. They can't discuss you amongst others, they don't really know you. So again, if you're sitting working on something and you have an opportunity to get up from your desk or if you're working from home remotely, get on a Zoom call, make sure you're interacting with people and don't be afraid to share your thoughts and your thinking and your assumptions. Make sure you get clarity on your instructions. But make sure above all else, you are visible because you're going to want to be visible with clients. Clients want to see you, they want to hear from you. So this is where you're practicing some of that visibility in the office in your current environment. Speaking of environment, misreading the environment can be problematic for some students. We've talked a little bit about optics. Make sure you're not treating the law firm environment like a school environment and that you're focusing too much on tasks and not on outcomes. So you are not there to complete assignments. You're there to move files forward. You're there to anticipate needs. So try not to get too rigid. Try to be a little bit fluid and trust some of your instincts and try things out. It is in many firms okay to make a mistake. Just be build in enough time so you can course correct as need be and still meet your deadlines. Um, try things out and make sure you're working with somebody, the lawyer, where you can actually try things out and make sure that you're in an environment where you know you don't have to have high anxiety about getting everything right every single time. So now we want to layer this into something new. Now that the landscape is changing very quickly in law, we need to start talking about AI and the emerging differentiator in in-law firms. And this has been, in some cases, very rapid, very sudden. In other cases, firms have been emerging in this area. Big law has been emerging in this area for quite some time. Mid and small firms are emerging to different degrees depending on the practice in the firm, uh, perhaps a little bit slowly, slower, but some are also really embracing AI and really letting it take it by storm. So it's not optional. AI, as we know, is here to stay. Um, and you're probably already using AI in your student work anyway. And some firms are experimenting. Make sure you're following the policy of your firm in use of AI. That's going to be really, really important. I think we may all know some lawyers and some students who have gotten themselves into a lot of hot water using AI inappropriately, where it's hallucinated and they've submitted materials. So be really careful with AI because you need to be the, you know, you need to bring your good judgment to all of the work that you're doing. This I will say that the students who stand out will not be the ones who avoid AI, but they'll be the ones who use it intellectually and also responsibly and in alignment with their firms. So I know some new associates who are leading the charge in AI and their firms, and they're really showing leadership in that area. It's fantastic. Conversely, I know some students who are coming into firms expecting to have a full assistant, and uh junior lawyers who are expecting a full assistant. Those days are changing, and in some firms, they're changing really quickly because AI can now do some of the work that an assistant used to do traditionally. So we're all roles are evolving, things are changing, so make sure that you're staying fluid and staying on top of all of that. So, with all of this, what actually gets somebody hired back? They'll say that the students they're working with have proactive communication. They'll come and drop by their office and say, here's where I'm at with that last assignment, and here's what I think I'm gonna do next. Does that make sense? Does that work for you? They have speed and good judgment. They're not rushing blindly, they're not overthinking, but they're also not overthinking. So they have the right cadence relative to the assignment, relative to the lawyer they're working with, and the type of matter that they're working on. They're taking ownership, they're following through on things, and they care about the outcomes. So when there's a win, where there's something that goes sideways, they're actually emotionally invested in the client's matter and in the assigning lawyer's state of mind relative to that client and their matter. Awareness, they're understanding the urgency, and they're reading the room well. These are all excellent signals for a hire back offer. It's important to keep in mind firms are hiring students that they Trust, not just people who perform. Okay, so let's put this all together now. So it might have felt mysterious in the past, but actually it's really very consistent. So once you understand how firms think, what they're looking for, you can then step into your firm much more strategically and with greater intention of delivering on what's expected of you. So it's not about being the smartest student. It's not about being the fastest. Um, it's not about being the most perfect. It's about the cadence of being reliable, being organized, taking an interest in the files, really the work really mattering to you, that you are not guessing, you're asking and seeking clarity and transparency. Um, and that once you start to see all of how this works, your whole approach starts to change. And it can be really very exciting to see how this evolves for students. And I've I've seen it inside firms, and you see the lights starting to come on, and things start to gel, and alignment starts to happen, and they start to get really busy with work. And then, you know, we'll talk about that at another time. Um, the workload and how to manage the workload, because there are ways to manage that, but that's one signal you want to look for that others are starting to send you work because they hear good things about you. So, with all of that, putting that all together, you have the basics of what you need to start with your firm and be extra aware of what's being expected of you and the hopes and dreams of partners who support you and uh who may even see you in the firm as a partner in the future. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. I'm so glad that you joined us. It was a pleasure to have you. I look forward to seeing your comments and uh don't forget to subscribe and come and follow me and engage. I love to hear from students and others who have value for law students. Thanks. We'll see you soon at the next episode. See you there.