How To Become a Good Lawyer: 10 Tips for Career Success

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Legal professions are extremely competitive, even after you’ve gained employment. Though legal expertise and experience are essential in this field, successful lawyers also understand the importance of soft skills, values and relationships.

In this article, we explain what exactly a lawyer does, review ways to become a better lawyer and list the types of paths you can take as a legal professional.

What does a lawyer do?

Lawyers are professionals that use their in-depth knowledge of the law to help businesses and individuals understand and navigate legal matters. Though their responsibilities can vary based on their employer and area of expertise, the job description for a lawyer often involves things like:

Collaborating with clients, police, investigators and paralegals to collect evidence, prepare legal documents and build cases for trials and mediations
Attending legal meetings, like trials and hearings, with clients
Explaining laws, rulings and regulations to clients and advising them on their legal rights
Delivering depositions of experts and witnesses for a case
Helping clients prepare legal documents, such as divorce agreements, business contracts and wills
Reviewing a case to determine a client’s best legal options

How to become a good lawyer

You can become a better lawyer by following these simple tips:

1. Build a personal and professional network

As with most professions, making connections can help you develop professional skills and advance your career. Focus on building a diverse network of personal and professional relationships. This can include people you’ve met through:

Social organizations
Local bar associations
Law school
College

These mentors, professional colleagues and friends can help promote your skills and expertise, resulting in potential clients and referrals.

2. Develop your communication skills

Written and verbal communication skills are essential in this career. Communication is the foundation of this profession, and lawyers are expected to interact with their clients, the court, colleagues and other parties involved in a case.

As a lawyer, you must be able to present cases in a way that is clear, concise and persuasive, explain legal procedures and rights to clients and produce well-written legal documents. You may have to convey important ideas in a variety of environments and settings, such as:

Private conversations
Informal emails
Phone calls
Conference meetings

A great way to develop these skills is by taking public speaking and writing courses in college.

3. Maintain your integrity

There are many valuable skills in this field, but integrity is perhaps one of the most valuable traits you can have as a lawyer. Lawyers have an ethical responsibility to remain honest and operate within the parameters of law. By building a reputation as a legal professional with integrity, you can gain the respect of colleagues and clients in your community and grow your client base.

4. Embrace innovation

Successful lawyers understand the importance of flexibility and creativity. Innovation is key when developing effective solutions, but it also allows you to serve your clients better by discovering cost-effective and efficient processes.

5. Remain persistent

As with most professions, you may face a particularly difficult case at some point in your career. By remaining determined, you can overcome the most challenging cases and help your clients get the positive results they’re hoping for.

6. Adopt a positive attitude

Aside from showcasing your commitment to your career, positivity can inspire faith in your professional abilities. You can ensure that both clients and colleagues enjoy working with you by trying to stay energized and enthusiastic, even when facing challenges.

7. Stay passionate

Remaining positive and persistent is much easier when you possess a true passion for your career. Passion can also make you feel genuinely fulfilled in your role, which often results in better professional performance. You can ignite your passion for the law by:

Choosing a specialty that aligns with your values and interests
Investing in your professional development and continued learning
Creating and guarding a work-life balance

8. Show compassion

Truly effective lawyers are committed to making life better for their clients. By making an effort to understand and empathize with your client’s situation, you can better serve and represent them. Aside from enabling you to become a more successful legal servant, having compassion can also provide you with a sense of professional fulfillment.

9. Listen intently

Though technically a key component of communication, listening skills are equally as important as written and verbal communication combined. Active listening involves paying attention to the speaker’s gestures, expressions and other nonverbal cues, as well as their words, so you can evaluate their feelings and all the information they’re trying to convey.

In order to actively listen to others, you must give those you’re interacting with your undivided attention. A great lawyer understands the importance of listening to clients, the opposing counsel, witnesses and the court because it allows them to better understand the information being shared. As a result, they can respond in a way that is thoughtful and strategic, and it could influence the outcome of the case.

10. Continue learning and growing

In order to become a better lawyer, you need intimate knowledge of the law, especially as it relates to your legal specialty. For example, the legal knowledge needed for family law is far different from what you would need to know as a civil rights lawyer.

Great lawyers are experts in their specific area of practice because they study the law and gain as much experience in their field as they can. If you know what type of law you’d like to work in, it’s a good idea to take relevant classes while in law school.