Each month, ALDC leadership will publish, on this page, practical suggestions on how to achieve success as an young lawyer. Gleaned from seasoned attorneys who have been where you are, the lessons below are intended to help you the very next day. Please email us your comments and suggestions at: aldcsuccess@gmail.com. Sam Matchett, President, ALDC and Partner, King & Spalding LLP.

UNDERSTAND EVERY PROJECT YOU ARE GIVEN AND COMMUNICATE. Always listen very carefully to the project-giver’s instructions. Write the details down. Repeat the project to the project giver to ensure the accuracy of your understanding. Never begin a project when you are confused. Go back to the project-giver early whenever you are unclear. Never wait until the last minute to “get it straight;” procrastination will give the project-giver a “negative” view of your ability. Always talk with the project-giver about the project. It is only through verbal communication that partner or another supervising attorney can really asses your potential. Think about it; what gives you insight or clues about a person’s ability? Sam Matchett.

NURTURE RELATIONSHIPS. Critical to success is having a mentor, or mentors, who will advise, counsel, constructively criticize and support your progress. You are responsible for identifying the person(s) who will fit this role. Additionally, conduct yourself in a manner that commands respect; this tends to help people remember and like you. Reminder: no one respects a whiner or self-absorbed “victim.” If you have not invited two or three of the people to lunch who you have identified as potential mentors, you a few lunches short. Sam Matchett.

PROJECT PROFESSIONALISM. Good grooming is essential and projects professionalism. Observe the attire and style of successful lawyers. Avoid the “fashion-edge.” Clients have lots of choices and are less likely to select someone who is on the outer edge of a professionalism presentation. Sam Matchett.

1. If you make a mistake, admit it and take ownership. Do not blame your secretary or paralegal. Apologize and do what is necessary to correct the error. 2. Compose and submit all written work product as though it is going directly to the client. Proofread your work for typographical errors and grammar mistakes. Do not submit a "draft" assuming the partner or senior associate will clean it up. 3. Do not pass your work assignments to someone else without prior approval of the assigning attorney. If you cannot meet the established deadline, inform the assigning attorney immediately and work together to decide how the work will get done. E. Jewelle Johnson, Partner, Fisher & Phillips LLP. 1500 Resurgens Plaza 945 East Paces Ferry Road Atlanta, GA 30326. Tel: (404) 240-4286. www.laborlawyers.com

Lawyers are word merchants; our currency is logic. A well-written document will add clarity, not ambiguity. We get paid to exploit ambiguities and avoid using them in documents. A lack of specificity can lead to litigation, break a deal, or cost millions of dollars. For example, to poorly define “adverse material effect” can have devastating results. Tom Wardell, Partner, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP.

See article on "Consequences of Bad Legal Writing

Avoid taxing the reader by using ineffective syntax, wordiness, and needless suspense. Pay attention to the most harmless of phrases like “together with” (do you mean “and?”), or “no less than” (do you mean, “within?”). In two actual cases, confusion over the meanings of these terms became a litigator’s dream. Joseph Blanco, Partner, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP

Helpful Resource: The Legal Writing Institute

In New York the penalty for jumping off a building is death.

In Georgia is is illegal to transport an ice cream cone in your back pocket on Sunday

In Wyoming you may not take a picture of a rabbit from January to April without an official permit.

In Louisiana it is illegal to rob a bank and then shoot at the teller with a water pistol.

Hicks White (right) accepts GABWA's Barbara A. Harris Award for Service to the Community on July 18 at the Atlanta Ritz Carlton.

Press Release Hicks-White Award.pdf