Getting Started

Dear Rookie Advocate,

Your name has been entered on the roll, the sherry has been drank, the pictures have been taken and possibly already framed. It’s Monday morning, the files are piled up and the to-do lists are full. Breathe, welcome to the rest of your life.

Remember the phrase ‘a good lawyer is one who knows where to find the law’? It’s not just a thing we say to sound fancy. You already know where to find the law, I mean, you just got admitted to the freaking bar!

So what’s my big piece of advice for you? Resource, human resource, fellow legal practitioners and those who work in fields related to yours. Make use of your phone, email, your alumni whatsapp group, your networks. Establish relationships well enough that you can easily pick up the phone or send an email to request for a meeting, or some help.

Do not be afraid to ask questions. Have people you can easily call up or text for anything and everything. Senior Counsel, peers, juniors, they all come in handy.
But don’t just ask your entire client’s problem, people are busy. Do your own research first, put in some effort yourself.
Your questions should almost always be in the lines of “this is my issue, I have checked this law and that statute. What I still don’t understand is this”. Or ‘this procedure will not work because my case is distinguishable from such supreme court judgment in this way, how do I proceed?’

I recently learnt that a former classmate is now a Research Advocate and from the short chat we had, I concluded that I need her on my speed-dial list. As a neutral person in the court room, observing both Counsel and the Judge, she has a great deal of insight for us on the other side. Hopefully she’ll agree to write us a Dear Rookie Advocate post.

One of the ways to build your networks is to attend the various Law Association activities. I’ll do a separate post on getting involved. But get involved and cultivate and nurture your relationships; it’ll help a great deal on your journey from a Rookie to a Rock-Star advocate.

Regards,
Summer