Sometimes we have the impression, after half a life dedicated to the professional practice of law, that new lawyers begin this activity without advice, either because they do not ask for it or because it is not given. They may not ask for them for various reasons: shyness, insecurity, unconsciousness, ignorance, laziness… even arrogance ; and it may be that they are not given to those who can offer them (experienced lawyers) because the pressure of deadlines and client issues displaces what is important (training young people) for what is urgent (due date and the Internet), not to mention that Sometimes we older lawyers may also simply forget to do that important mentoring work to help younger ones Law tutoring.
So we have decided to stop the clock for a while to reflect on this and see what we could say to a person, who is beginning to take their first steps as a lawyer, about what they can or what they should do for their own interest or well-being in the world. practice of law, which will obviously benefit their professional career and the social service that it entails.
In any case, and to avoid frustration, any lawyer should internalize that the lawyer usually combines days of glory and passion for the profession, those days in which everything goes well, with unpleasant days , whether due to feeling misunderstood by a Judge, a client or other professional colleague.
- Enjoy the profession
At this point, we understand that the reader of this article will be a lawyer or will be on the path to becoming one. Well, whether you have chosen this profession by vocation or by elimination, enjoy it . The law is present in everything we do in our daily lives, it offers the possibility of helping many people resolve their conflicts, thus providing them with greater well-being, and it can allow you to reach a high cultural level and meet many people, professional colleagues. , companies and various industrial and commercial sectors.
If you approach the profession with optimism, enthusiasm and effort, success is guaranteed.
- Review the General Statute of the Legal Profession
The first and most basic recommendation that should be made to a new member is to read the great book of advice for lawyers. This book is neither a novel nor an essay. It is a law, the General Statute of the Legal Profession ( Royal Decree 135/2021, of March 2 ). Here are almost all the advice that a practicing lawyer should take, and put into practice, because it is not in vain that they are rules, and it is already known that the rules are mandatory.
There they talk about things as fundamental and elementary for this liberal profession as professional secrecy, something that we must keep in mind, since we Spaniards have a very pronounced defect, incompatible with the duty to keep secret the matters entrusted to us by clients: gossiping. We are not exaggerating if we say that gossip is a national sport that usually leads people to speak in an indiscreet (even malicious) way about a person or their affairs. A lawyer cannot afford this luxury, because if something characterizes us as lawyers, it is honorability , that is, we deserve the respect or esteem of others, not just because, but because our behavior is expected to be exemplary.
It is appropriate to mention, at this point, the words of another illustrious figure in our literature, Don Quixote of La Mancha , who once told his companion in fatigues, Sancho Panza, in addition to telling him to be clean, something that I came very close to. case of professional secrecy: “ be temperate in drinking, considering that too much wine neither keeps a secret nor keeps its word .”
And, to cite some basic aspect of these regulatory councils, special mention deserves the provisions regarding relations between legal professionals, with clients and with the Administration of Justice . It indicates the pattern of behavior that is required of a lawyer when he deals with other lawyers, with his clients and with the Courts.
- Organization
It is common for a lawyer who begins to work to be more lost than Lieutenant Colonel Custer in Little Bighorn. They attack you from the four cardinal points . There are Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians. They are bosses, judges and clients. To not succumb you have to know how to prioritize. And this requires organization. Starting every morning with a notebook in which the daily tasks are listed and those completed are crossed out, is essential to get the work done while controlling the situation. But the order of these tasks is important so that the proposed organizational method is not ineffective.
The judicial term is at the top of the pyramid. Its observance is unavoidable. So at the top of the order of tasks this should always be first. Then come the deadlines committed to clients. And then everything else. But there is something very important that the lawyer must keep in mind. Common sense . If we do not put it into practice we will fail in the execution of our work, no matter how many notebooks we have with written down tasks. And although common sense is not taught – you have it or you don’t have it -, with time and experience it can be sharpened, so you must always do an exercise of reflection and analysis before making any type of professional decision ( and by the way, also personal).
- Communication
As in any team sport, it is essential that the lawyer communicate with his colleagues, bosses, equals or subordinates. On some occasions, misunderstandings may arise due to poor or poor communication in an office… or with a client. You should never take anything for granted. If in doubt you should always ask. Questions are asked by the brave. Phrases such as “I thought that”, “I thought that”, “it is that” or “but” are fatal. - Don’t look for problems, find solutions
The lawyer must solve problems, or at least try to. By this we do not mean that it is bad to identify problems, especially in the analysis of legal matters or in daily work. Knowing how to identify them is a good diagnostic exercise. But we should not stop there because knowing that a problem exists without knowing what its possible solution is is a waste of time, energy and people’s mood. Any problem detected must be accompanied by a proposed solution. And the more difficult the problem, the greater the challenge for the lawyer. You should never get discouraged . There is always a possible solution, as I heard one day from a colleague: “the solution to a problem in a lawsuit can be in Document 46, Annex 8, Page 12, in the footer . ” This means that you have to be persistent and hard-working because there are always loopholes through which to attack the problem… that is why there are always two parties and they tend to defend completely opposing positions with a certain degree of wisdom.
In other words, the lawyer should always be part of the answer to a problem, and not part of the problem.
- Read to know
Lawyers who are digital natives, that is, born in the digital era after 1995, are more accustomed to consulting the Internet for any immediate doubt that arises than reading a book to resolve it. What’s more, they may even think that it is not necessary to read a book because any information they need is just a click away on the Internet. Big mistake. This thought vulgarizes the lawyer, who stops adding value to his work and becomes one more of a horde of practicing lawyers.
We must not forget that the lawyer is a jurisconsult , a now obsolete word that means legal expert: “ a person who deeply knows the science of law and is mainly dedicated to resolving legal queries ” (emphasis ours).
The most successful lawyers are those who speak and write best. A few surely have that natural gift, but the vast majority have earned that skill through time and effort, reading and writing ad nauseam. Therefore, it is highly advisable to dedicate some time at the end of the year, which is very long and contains many things, to read the classics of law and “real” doctrinal articles, on our specialty or on related subjects that help us. They will help increase our legal heritage, as well as improve our way of expressing ourselves both orally and in writing.
- Less is more
On many occasions the lawyer tends to extend himself more than necessary, both when writing and when expressing himself orally. This is an error that we must try to face as soon as possible for two reasons.
First of all, because no amount of writing makes you more right nor does it prove that you have worked harder and better. On the contrary, it is much more difficult to synthesize and get to the point of the matter, exposing the problems and offering solutions, than to extend and repeat yourself constantly without contributing anything important. Each sentence or each paragraph must contribute something substantial to the issue being studied or must have a specific purpose. Everything else is left over, either because it is redundant or because it is unnecessary.
Secondly, because when we go to court, we have to know how to put ourselves in their shoes. They receive hundreds of procedural briefs a day, each one done with their own style, both in form and substance, and we must recognize the very difficult work that they often have to do to scrutinize the brief and know what exactly is being requested. or what is meant. Let us have mercy on them, let us empathize with their laborious work and try to make things as easy as possible for them, which will undoubtedly result in a more agile process for everyone.
- How to act in the Courtroom
In reference to the above, we believe it is essential to learn how to behave when we act before a Court. It is surprising that, with the importance that this work has, practically no lawyers are trained either during the degree or during the master’s degrees for access to the legal profession , many of which are a repetition of the content of the degree and which They seem to be more focused on passing the exam than also trying to train law graduates in the arts of the profession.
Logically, this question goes beyond the scope of this article, but we can give a couple of tips in this regard: the first would be to try to empathize with all the people who are part of the judicial procedure, treating everyone with the utmost respect but also with the naturalness of those who are colleagues and are working towards Justice (lawyers, judges, assistants and attorneys); The second, always try to get to the bottom of the matter , focus on what is important, what is controversial, what is complex… and not get lost along the way moving words or papers as if there were no tomorrow… Time is money.
- Take advantage of any opportunity to learn
There is little to add to this advice which, by generic nature, is still relevant. New threads of knowledge can emerge from the study of each issue. Pulling them, untangling them and studying them, is a habit that shapes legal knowledge and, as our teacher told us many years ago, “it fills the hard drive of the brain so that, when we are older, we have a legal vision as much as possible.” as wide as possible.” Every issue, every conflict, every query raised by a client is an opportunity to learn. We learn from everything, even when we make mistakes, because we already know that that was not the path we should take.
It is true that many times we have a lot of pressure to study and respond to a topic, but having a notebook where we can write down all those new topics that arise so we can review them when we have the opportunity is a good habit.
- Work each client or matter as if they were unique
Finally, we must be very aware that when a client goes to a lawyer, like when they go to a doctor, it is because they feel they have a problem and need help. It is essential to put yourself in his situation, adapt to him , try to understand him as best as possible and work on the matter with maximum dedication and effort.