CONNECTING STUDENTS
WITH LAWYERS: WORKING
WITH TODAY’S SENIOR
ATTORNEYS
Shannon Burke
Associate Attorney, Schiller DuCanto & Fleck LLP
Adjunct Professor of Law, DePaul University
College of Law
burkeshr@yahoo.com
What we will cover
today
• Reminding students what senior
attorneys expect.
• Discussing ways we can teach students
how to meet and exceed those
expectations.
• Giving the students a confidence boost.
•
Expectations
What do senior attorneys
expect of new(er)
associates?
What to do at the first (and often only)
meeting with the senior attorney
•
•
Bring a pen and paper
Understand the assignment
•
•
•
•
•
•
Repeat what you hear the senior attorney asking
you to do (which may be different than what the
attorney thinks s/he is asking you to do).
Learn the substantive goal of the assignment.
Learn how the senior attorney will use your
assignment (ex: copy and paste your boilerplate
language, have you find cases that support our
argument or that the other side might use, make
“out of the box” arguments, etc.).
Demonstrate client-cost awareness: How much
time should you spent on the project?
When is the assignment due?
Request and/or obtain the required
documentation (ex: if you are drafting the
Response to the Motion for Summary
Judgment, you will want to get a copy of the
Motion for Summary Judgment).
Expectations
What do senior attorneys
expect of new(er)
associates?
• Performing quality and cost-effective
legal research
•
Cases that are in your favor
•
Cases that need to be distinguished – and
then distinguishing them
• Drafting basics
•
Include the question the senior attorney
asked you to answer
•
Include a clear and precise answer
•
Then give the legal support
•
Draft documents that need minimal
substantive revisions
•
Draft documents that require NO
grammatical revisions
Expectations
What do senior attorneys
expect of new(er)
associates?
• Many times, the senior partner will call
the new(er) associate from court and
need caselaw, statutes, or court rules –
quickly!
•
Should you email the information as an
attachment from Westlaw/Lexis?
•
Should you draft a short email with the one
word/sentence answer?
•
Should you draft a lengthy explanation?
• Orally communicating your results
•
Expectations
What do senior attorneys
expect of new(er)
associates?
Repeat what the senior attorney asked you
to do.
Explain your research results (positive and
negative).
Clear, concise, precise
•
•
• Following-up with the senior attorney
•
Before the assignment is due:
•
•
•
•
Clarify your assignment
Explain pitfalls, tangential issues that you found
that may be relevant, etc.
Be sure you are researching/drafting what is
required
After the assignment is due:
•
Ask if you will need to draft a reply in support of
your motion (or other similar document) so you
can budget your time appropriately
• Displaying “professionalism”
Expectations
What do senior attorneys
expect of new(er)
associates?
•
In the office
•
At court
•
Bar association functions
•
Community involvement
•
Exchanges with clients
•
Formal writing
•
Emails
•
Texts
Incorporating
lessons into the
classroom
• Mock “initial” meeting
• Orally give students the assignment
• Gentle critique
• Hand out written assignment at the end of the
meeting
• Mock “presentation” meeting
• Have your student orally present his or her
research to you.
• Have your students email you!
• Different formats
• General, every day, professional interactions
• Short emails (i.e., sending a partner an email while
s/he is in court)
• Lengthier emails (i.e., thoroughly but concisely
answering a question)
Something “extra”
that new(er)
associates bring
• Although the new(er) attorney has much
to learn, s/he also has much to teach!
• Our students have grown up with home
computers, the internet, email, texts…
• Senior attorneys will want to capitalize on
new(er) attorneys’ high comfort level
with these technologies
• Ex:
• Firm website creation
• Linked In
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Blogs
• Articles
• Short videos
• Other forms of social media marketing
THANK YOU!
Shannon Burke
Associate Attorney, Schiller DuCanto & Fleck LLP
Adjunct Professor of Law, DePaul University
College of Law
burkeshr@yahoo.com