Congratulations! You are an associate at your dream firm, doing interesting work for industry-leading clients. Now all you have to do is keep your head down, bill your hours, and enjoy an industry-high associate salary while you climb the ranks to eventual rainmaker status – right?
Unfortunately, it takes more than a great work product and meeting your billable hours to impress the leaders at your new firm and advance professionally. The legal profession, much like the medieval guild system, is based on the passage of knowledge and relationships from the master to the apprentice. Your firm may assign you a mentor to help you develop your skills and get comfortable in the firm culture, but you also need to secure an advocate– someone who will actively help promote you as a lawyer, facilitate client introductions and cross-selling, and support in your professional advancement.
In order to secure the sought-after advocate, associates need to think about developing their personal brands. The personal brand is the image or impression that a person presents to the world. When leaders at your firm hear your name, what do you want them to think?
As a less experienced associate, you obviously want to present yourself as meticulous, dedicated, and highly knowledgeable. However, these qualities alone are not enough to differentiate you from the rest of the first -, second-, and x-year associates at your firm. You need to make yourself useful to the partners – think of them as your clients. If you can become the first call associate for a particular partner, he or she is more likely to invest in your professional advancement. Here are a few ways to deliver excellent service to your partners and become that indispensable associate:
- Be the go-getter – After you’ve proven yourself as an excellent worker, express your interest in expanding your skillset into non-matter related projects. You’ll be more likely to be asked to participate in an article, webinar, or other business development project if you voice your enthusiasm for being involved.
- Be the researcher – Is a partner or counsel working on an article, client presentation, or preparing for a speaking engagement? Position yourself as the go-to associate by volunteering to help with the research.
- Be the wonk – Identify an area that you want to specialize in and make it your mission to know the ins and outs of that practice – the case law, the pending legislation, everything. Be the first to know when a court decision comes out and the first to read a proposal from XYZ government agency. If you can step in and educate someone on the latest case developments they may have missed while on a marathon client call, you can become as asset to their practice.
- Be the editor – Get to know your firm style guide and the writing preferences of your team leader. Volunteer to proofread, cite check, or edit articles, presentations, and client deliverables. These tasks can lead to co-author or speaking opportunities in the future.
- Be the writer – Take the initiative and develop an article, presentation topic, or blog post for your practice area. Share it with a senior team member for their thoughts. Whether you end up as the ghostwriter or with a shared byline, you have established yourself as a strong writer who can be called upon for future writing opportunities.
- Be in touch with your Marketing team – You may not walk away with a hand-crafted business development strategy, but your friendly neighborhood legal marketers can let you know which attorneys are writers, which are speakers, who is in need of assistance, or who is a subject-matter expert in a particular field. It is helpful to the marketing team to know that partners trust a particular associate – it can help get deliverables out the door faster.
Just like client relationships, building relationships with partners takes time. By developing a strong personal brand, being persistent, and continuously delivering good work, you can secure a professional sponsor and cultivate your business development skills. Rainmaker status here you come!
By Ashley Stockwell, Communications Coordinator, BuckleySandler LLP for the May/June Issue of the Capital Ideas Newsletter.