In 2023, my most recent book in the Best Friends at the Bar series was released by Full Court Press, an imprint of Fastcase, Inc. New Lawyer Launch: The Handbook for Young Lawyers is a self help book to keep young lawyers from tripping over themselves on their way to success. With chapters like “You’re a Lawyer Now — What Does That Mean?” and “Developing Strategies for Survival and Success”, the book did the important business of familiarizing recent law graduates with the pragmatic Do’s and Don’ts of law practice — the thing law schools have never done well.
The advice in the book is straight forward, honest and helpful according to readers. However, in today’s world, it turns out that I omitted some very important things. Maybe I did not think of those things because the publication date was two years before our country inaugurated its 47th president and entered into a litany of unexpected events impacting lawyers and law firms.
So, what would a handbook for young lawyers look like if it were written today? Looking back, here is some of the advice I wish I had known to include in the book:
Do not make open-ended deals with the devil to save a few law firm bucks;
Do not promise to do pro bono work for clients chosen by the White House;
Do not continue to work for a firm that participates in the above;
Do not pursue civil service unless you are prepared to lose your job within the first few months at the hand of a chain saw “genius”;
Do not expect an informative debate with the Administration on issues of constitutional law (especially anything to do with the Emoluments Clause or Due Process) unless you enjoy hitting your head against a wall and setting yourself on fire;
Do not anticipate a presidential pardon unless you have “connections” and/or millions of dollars to sweeten the deal; and
Do not abandon your values and beliefs even if you become unemployed and homeless due to one or more of the above circumstances.
Of all the advice I could have offered, that may have been the most important. But, I did not have a crystal ball — and, if I had, I likely would be writing this blog from an island somewhere in the Caribbean, far from the madding crowd, waiting for a resurgence of respect for the US Constitution and a return to government for the people.
So, if you purchased the book, please make margin notes in the Table of Contents to include those additional words of wisdom. Who knows, that book might end up in a time capsule one day, and you will want to be remembered as prescient. That would not be such a bad legacy —- but it will not be mine.