By: Bailey Bartel
Top Three Tips for Effective Communication at a Law Firm
Communication is important in every profession but particularly in the legal field. The abilities to speak and write effectively are some of the most important skills a lawyer can possess. Law school teaches foundational communication skills, like how to compose yourself in a courtroom, how to draft a memorandum, and how to form a coherent legal argument. However, communicating in a firm environment may feel like learning a new language. The day-to-day practical communication skills that law students develop while working at a firm are much different than the academic exercise of speaking in a courtroom or classroom at law school.
There are several communication hurdles that law students face when they begin working at a law firm. Partners and associates are busy people, and sometimes there are problems encoding or decoding the message they convey to you. To make matters more complicated, incomplete information—from missing facts to unprecedented law—gives rise to a game of telephone between you and the assigning attorney. The purpose of this Article is to share what I have learned about communication from my experience working at a commercial litigation firm.
Tip #1: Put it in writing.
My number one tip is to put all of your assignments in writing. Always carry a notepad and pen with you. Jot down everything the assigning attorney says, even if you do not think it is important. Some assignments take weeks or even months, and chances are there may be important information that you will eventually forget if you do not write it down. Plus, writing down your assignments prevents misunderstanding during the encoding and decoding processes. As the saying goes, “Put it in writing.”
Tip #2: Determine appropriate communication styles.
Another tip is to figure out the communication style of the assigning attorney. One partner at my firm always wanted “hard copies” of assignments, including memos. Other partners were satisfied with a memo or assignment attached to an email. One attorney almost exclusively gave me assignments over the phone, while other attorneys and partners stopped by my office to give me assignments in person. Everyone has a different communication style, and it is important that you understand how attorneys want their assignments delivered.
Moreover, a particular communication style may be appropriate in one circumstance but not another. For instance, suppose you had a bunch of questions about an assignment. A quick phone call or face-to-face conversation with the assigning attorney would probably be more effective than an email thread. On the other hand, suppose the assigning attorney needed the prima facie elements of a claim quickly. An email may be appropriate in this situation. By understanding the nuances of different communication styles, you can deliver assignments more effectively.
Tip #3: Ask informed questions.
The saying, “There are no bad questions” may be true in an academic setting but is not always true in a firm environment. Of course, you should ask questions, especially if you are confused about the assignment or need more information about the facts. The assigning attorney would rather you complete an assignment correctly the first time than have to fix it later on. However, assigning attorneys are busy people and may not have time for a bunch of questions. You should first ask yourself, “Can I answer my question with a quick Google, Westlaw, or Lexis search?” If the answer is yes, you should conduct a preliminary search rather than ask the partner or associate giving you an assignment. Informed questions lead to great work product.
An important question you should try to answer is, “What is my role in this particular assignment?” Once, I received an assignment to fill out an application for a client using information the assigning attorney gave me. I filled out the application and flagged fields where there was missing information. After submitting my work to the attorney, they asked me to make some edits. After making the edits, the attorney asked follow-up questions about empty fields, to which I did not know the answers because I had not thought to research what certain words in the application meant. The assigning attorney explained to me that they wanted me to take initiative of the project rather than merely filling out empty fields. Before that conversation, I thought that I served a perfunctory role of copying and pasting information into an application. The realization that my role was much larger than I had initially thought changed the way I perceived the assignment entirely, and I learned to discern an attorney’s overarching goal in giving me an assignment to better understand how I can be helpful.
Communication is a skill that one must actively practice to reap its benefits. Like reading a case or writing a memo, effective communication is not always intuitive when you first start. You may struggle adjusting to the communication hurdles that accompany the fast pace of a firm environment. That being said, taking initiative to develop effective communication skills will not only lead to better work product but also stronger bonds with the attorneys you work with.