TIPS TO BE A SUCCESSFUL LAWYER.

The goal of this piece is to provide 25 ways to do just that.

You have reached where you are by doing whatever you have done so far. If you need to leapfrog and succeed beyond dreams as a young lawyer, continuing to do whatever you have done in the past may not be the answer. You need to think and be different. In other words, you need to distinguish yourself!

Here are 25 ways to do just that.

1) Dress well and Nice
Don’t let anybody fool you; you are going to be judged by the way you dress. Matter of fact, the first impression people are going to have of you will be based on your appearance. So if there is anything you should be taking seriously as a young lawyer, it is the way you appear.

As a young lawyer, I’m sure you already have a mental picture of the kind of lawyer you want to become. You already have people in the profession that you admire and want to be like. One of the ways you can achieve that dream of being like them is to start looking like them. I bet they look and dress smart. There is a reason why they do that. They don’t dress like that because they have become successful, they dress the way they dress because they have the understanding that people are addressed the way they are dressed. Dressing shabbily is not one of the ways to distinguishing yourself as a young lawyer, at least not one of the best ways. 

You can set yourself apart from the lot by taking more thoughts into your dressing and making sure that you leave nothing to chance. Whether it is the dress you put on, or in your accessories wear, you must always make sure that you don’t just look good, you have to look exceptional. It is no longer enough to look good, you have to look exceptional. 

Your appearance has a way of communicating certain messages to others. There is a way you dress, and you will communicate competence, and there is a way you will also dress and you will communicate incompetence. I’m saying that in order to distinguish yourself you should at all times make sure that you are communicating the right messages to people with your appearance; messages like-competence, excellence, skillful, ingenious, industrious, and not messages like –lazy, incompetent, uncouth, shabby etc.

2) Be resourceful.  

Another way you can distinguish yourself as a young lawyer is by being a resourceful person. You must be a problem solver. Wherever you find yourself, you must establish yourself as someone who provides solution to problems. This goes beyond just being a problem solver in the area of law. In fact, it is being a problem solver outside the scope of law that is going to distinguish you from others. In your firm, be the go-to-person whenever there is a situation or difficulty. You have to be that person who happens to be a hand on many pies. Be that person that solves that little computer issue. Be that person that will suggest that right software that will be beneficial to the firm. Be that person that knows little about anything and everything; because that’s the way to become a resourceful person and standout from others.

3) Build strong relationships

You have to learn the skill of building strong relationships; and not just building them, but also learning how to maintain and keep them. There is the saying that your network is your net worth, and it is true. If you are really serious about distinguishing yourself as a young lawyer, then you should be taking the business of building strong relationships very serious, because one of the quickest ways to get to the pinnacle of your dreams as a young lawyer and distinguish yourself is to ride on the shoulders of those who have gone ahead of you. And one of the ways to build these relationships is to always be a person of value. You have to always add value to people that matter, for that’s the easiest way to establish a good relationship with them, especially one they will not view as being parasitic. Get good at doing this, and you will be on the path of distinguishing yourself as young lawyer.

4) Always ask for help when you need it

You are just a young lawyer, so do not assume that you know all there is to know about the path you are on, and do not be proud or afraid to ask for help when you need it. The truth is that there is so much help out there that you can leverage on to distinguish yourself, but you can’t access it if you are not ready to ask for it. There are people out there that are more than willing to be of help to you because they know what it feels like to be a young lawyer having been there themselves, but you first have to ask for such help in order to get it. They know things you don’t know, so do not get stuck because you wouldn’t venture to ask. If you really want to distinguish yourself as a young lawyer, get into the habit of asking for help when you need it.

5) Learn to appreciate small gestures

As you get into the habit of asking for help and you start getting such help, please also get into the habit of appreciating such gestures, no matter how small they are. If you want to keep your tap of help running at all times, then you have to consistently be a person who appreciates small gestures.  When your colleagues do you a favour, please do appreciate them, for by doing so, not only will you be coming off to them as somebody who is well groomed, but they will also not be seeing you as an ingrate. If you want to distinguish yourself as a young lawyer, having the right attitudes is very key, and being a thankful person is one such great attitudes you will need as you journey on this path of distinguishing yourself.

6) Have high standards

Set high standards for yourself. Go beyond what your contemporaries are doing and always stretch yourself. Work longer hours. Be a person of great discipline.  Always be on time for meetings and appointments. Having high standards will set you apart from others quickly. If we want outstanding results that distinguish us from others, we need to operate at higher personal standards than what others expect of us. Let’s take an Olympic event as an example. We remember the gold, silver and bronze winners, but not the person in fourth place. The difference between the gold, silver, bronze winners and the person in the fourth place may be very small but the person in the fourth place is rarely talked about. Most times the difference between good and outstanding is just a little more effort. Adding that extra in your work and in everything you do, could be that little difference between good and outstanding that you need to distinguish yourself from others.

7) Be a Person of Values

Values are important whether we want to believe it or not. You have to run your life and your career based on values. People have to know that you have certain values that you operate with, and you must endeavour at all times to live your values for people to see. You must not live your life and run your practice just anyhow. Anything must not go for you. Until people begin to see you as a person of values and respect you for that, you will just be like the bulk of lawyers out there who have no values and run their lives and practice just anyhow. And what better time could there be for you to start building and establishing your values than now that you are still young at the bar.

8)Pursue Right Associations 

Seek out associations that are relevant to your career path or the dreams you want to pursue and join them. Being around the right people and building relevant relationships will help you a lot as a young lawyer. Being in the right associations will give you access to information and contact that ordinarily you may never have access to. Sometimes all you will need to distinguish yourself is being in the right place and with the right people.

9) Be a Reader

It is said that readers are leaders and that’s true. From what I have seen so far, it is true that most successful people read a lot. Most people don’t read, and so one of the ways of easily distinguishing yourself is to be a reader as a young lawyer. What would definitely work for you is to have a reading plan for the year. Let your reading scope go beyond just reading law materials. Let me share with you the advice of Frank Ramos on this point: “A lot of what we do as lawyers requires imagination and creativity. To foster that, be an avid reader. Read books outside your comfort zone and explore different genres. Business and Leadership books are good for the practice, but also explore books on current events, biographies, and read your share of fiction and even poetry. And don't be shy to talk about the books you're reading with others and ask them for book recommendations. You may learn of a book that deeply affects you that you may never have heard of otherwise.”

If you choose the right books, there will be enough that you can take and apply in your life that will distinguish you from other young lawyers.

10) Dream Big

As a young lawyer, you have to dream big. Don’t ever settle for less. There is so much you can achieve out there. There are great opportunities waiting for you to tap into, but you have to be prepared for it before you can benefit from them. And one of the ways you can get yourself ready for such opportunities is to believe that you can have them. In other words, don’t limit yourself by yourself. Let your dreams be big, for there are big things out there waiting for you. A lot of people out there are afraid to dream big, but don’t be like them. Whatever you want to amount to in the profession you can; and if you don’t believe in yourself, then don’t expect anyone else to believe in you.

Watch people who have achieved significant milestones in this profession; they were men and women with big dreams. So dream big and go for your dreams, for by so doing, you will be on the path of distinguishing yourself from others.

11) Think long term

We can distinguish ourselves as young lawyers just by refusing to give in to the temptation of short-term results, and short-term thinking. Most young lawyers will be tempted to only engage in activities that can immediately produce results for them, but don’t do that. Great achievers are not short-term thinkers, but rather long-term thinkers. They look beyond the present and see into the future, and are ready to make sacrifices in order to make it to the great future ahead of them. Distinguish yourself by being a long-term thinker, for at the end of the day, it is what your career will be like in years to come that will matter, and not necessarily what it is right now.

12) Don’t be afraid to take risks

You may never amount to much as a young lawyer if you are not willing to get out of your comfort zone and follow your heart. A lot of young lawyers like you would follow the path of playing it safe. They will do what everybody is doing. They will go where everybody is going, and they will only engage in activities everybody is engaging in. Don’t be like them. Always follow your heart even if it is telling you to go the opposite direction of where everybody is going. Follow your dreams even if it means moving into an unfamiliar terrain. Doing all of these will require some courage and taking of bold steps. It will involve taking risks, but that’s the only path to follow if you really want to distinguish yourself from other young lawyers out there.

13) Ask the right questions

Questions have great power. One right question asked at the right time can change the direction of your life as a young lawyer. Hence, the quality of the questions that we ask ourselves is very important.

It is for the same reason that we need to choose our associations and company very carefully. If we are surrounded with the right people and for some reason we miss asking the right questions, someone in our group might ask the right question for us.

If we are not going in the direction that will ultimately lead us to being distinguishable, one of the problems may be the questions that we ask ourselves. It may be time to reframe some of the questions. Here are a few examples:

Original question: What am I going to get?

Reframed question: What am I going to become?

Original question: Why is this happening to me?

Reframed question: What can I learn from this?

Begin to look at some of the common questions that you ask yourself and see how you can reframe them to make them more effective; and then begin to reposition yourself to be distinguished from other young lawyers like you.

14) Have a mentor

One of the fastest ways you can stand out as a young lawyer is to learn fast and grow fast. And one of the ways you can achieve this is through the process of mentorship. The path you are walking, many have walked it, and many have gotten to the very future you are aiming at. The future you are aiming at is already somebody’s past, so why try to do it all by yourself. Getting mentors early enough in your career as a young lawyer will help you to avoid certain mistakes that you would have made without the direction and leadership of mentors. Having mentors will help you in your decision making process as a young lawyer because you will be properly guided by your mentors who are well experienced. Following this route will help you distinguish yourself fast enough from your contemporaries.

15) Be relevant

If we are not relevant, people will tune out on us. Relevancy is a key factor to increasing your likeability. Striving for relevance in every key interaction (with your clients, colleagues, employers, etc.) can make a big difference in your life as a young lawyer.

A few months ago, I got a mail from a law student. He is an avid reader of this blog. He wrote to make known to me certain observations he made with regards to some of the things we are doing here and how we can make it better. He gave me a detailed solution to the problem he had identified. Now you don’t need anybody to tell you that I took interest in him and wanted to hear more from him. I replied his mail and a relationship started. One key reason why I tuned in on him was that the information he sent to me was very relevant to my project.

The point I’m making here is that if you really want people to take notice of you, which is very key if you really want to distinguish yourself from others, then you must constantly find ways that you can be relevant to them.

16) Get back on your feet fast 

You are going to make mistakes and fall at times as a young lawyer, but it wouldn’t be so much about how many times you fall as it will be how fast you are to get up when you fall. One rule that has been time tested in life is, “sometimes you win and sometimes you lose”.

However smart you are there are times when you will goof up or fail. How fast you recover from a goof up or failure will be a key factor in determining whether you are part of the statistics or an exception.

17) Be Innovative 

Be an out-of- the-box thinker in your approach with your job, assignments and projects given to you. Always try to make things better than the way you met them. Be somebody who challenges the status quo at all times, having the mind-set that things can always be better. This is one of the ways you are going to stand out as a young lawyer.

18) Learn to sell  

You have to know that we all are in the business of selling. You are either selling yourself positively or you are selling yourself negatively. By the way you talk, you are selling yourself, so you better watch the way you talk and the manner with which you talk. The way you dress and your appearance is also one of the ways you sell yourself. If you want to sell yourself as a competent and resourceful young lawyer, then sell yourself by dressing like one. If you want to come off as a bold and confident young lawyer, sell yourself by talking confidently and carrying yourself with panache and poise at all times; and you will be getting yourself noticed among your peers.

19) Work harder than anyone 

This is a no-brainer. You have to be that person who goes the extra mile at all times. This is one of the easiest ways to distinguishing yourself as a young lawyer. Go beyond your assignment and make contributions whenever you can, and you will be noticed.

20) Be focused

The power of focus is one of the greatest tools you will need in this pursuit of distinguishing yourself. There is going to be lots of distractions for you as a young lawyer, but you have to learn how to stay focused on your goals and on the path you’ve chosen for yourself and continuously keep on working towards it.

21) Be decisive

You have to decide early enough what you want with your career. You have to decide what area of practice you want to go into and go into it. You have to decide what kind of lawyer you want to become and start working on it early enough. If you really want to distinguish yourself as a young lawyer, you must not give room for indecision. It is better for you to make a decision early enough and make adjustments along the way, than to be indecisive and allow anything and everything to keep on riding over you.

22) Develop a staying power

Once you have decided on what you want as a young lawyer, you have to develop the staying power to see it through to the end. Don’t be like most young lawyers who can’t stay on a thing for a reasonable time before they jump. At any slightest discomfort, they give up and call it a quit. The truth is that you will be facing lots and diverse kind of challenges as a young lawyer, but what’s going to distinguish you is your ability to stick it out to the end.

23) Don’t stop growing

You have to keep on developing yourself. Whenever you see an opportunity, as they will always come, please do not hesitate in taking advantage of it. Keep on building your CV, Keep on adding to your skill-set. Let your knowledge base keep on deepening. Go for further studies if you have to and if you can. Get certifications if you have to and if you can. Always be on the lookout for new trends in the industry and stay abreast of it as much as possible. Don’t be left behind, and don’t always be playing catch-up. Stay on top of your game.

24) Become an authority in a field. Be known for something

One of the easiest ways you are going to stand out is to be known for something. Do not be a jack of all trade and master of none. Pick out a particular niche of law and master it. Develop yourself in it until you become an authority and a go-to- person in that niche. You will be noticed easily when you adopt that approach than when you are everything for everyone.

25 Be a person of good character

This is the very thing that will speak for you even when you are not present. You have to know that people are always watching you. Your colleagues are watching you. The judges are observing you. The court clerks are taking note of you. At the beginning it might seem like you are not being noticed, but the truth is that a record is being kept about you, and sooner than later, your book will be opened and you will be shocked to know that all the while you were being watched. Your duty is to make sure that when the judgment day arrives; that what will be said of you will be something good, and not something bad. And one of the ways to ensure that this happens is to make sure that you exhibit good character at all times. Show respect when you are supposed to. Be courteous at all times and to all men. Be a man of truth and integrity. Be humane and considerate in your dealings with whomsoever you come across. A young lawyer who display such good character will always stand out from the rest and will surely reap the reward in due time.

So there you have it, 25 ways you can distinguish yourself as a young lawyer. If you found this information useful, use the social media buttons below and share it with others who might need it too.