This document provides 30 tips over 60 minutes for superstar associates. Some key tips include: taking initiative on cases, eliminating paper files by scanning, calendar all deadlines, follow up with everyone, seek a mentor, treat assistants with respect, know discovery rules, educate clients on litigation, maintain professionalism with difficult opposing counsel, and make time for work-life balance. The tips cover various aspects of legal practice from client communication to time management.

1. 30 Practice Tips in
60 Minutes
YLS Procrastinators’ Program
December 15, 2015

2. Panelists
● Cassie Preston
● Ashley Heilprin
● Scott Sternberg
● Tessa Vorhaben

3. Tips for the Superstar
Associate

4. Tip 1: Take initiative!
● Don’t have a task-oriented attitude.
● Think like a partner: what would you do if this was your case/client?
○ Calendar deadlines when you get the file
○ Review the local rules
● What are the next steps?
● How will your research change based on possible courses of action?

5. Tip 2: Eliminate Paper
Benefits:
● Efficiency
● Accessibility
● Save the environment and money
How to Do It:
● Make a “paperless” plan for your practice
● Purchase a desktop or portable scanner
● Back your files up often
● Commit

6. Tip 3: Recognizing the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls
● This person has it all:
○ Rodman
○ Pippen
○ and Jordan
● They can sing, dance, and act.
● They might not work with you.
● When you find this person:
○ Watch
○ Learn
○ Relax
○ Revere (privately)

7. Tip 4: Calendar Deadlines
● Calendaring helps you stay organized.
● Share your calendar with your assistant.
● Include times when you are planning
on being out of the office on your calendar.
This will allow your assistant or whoever you
share your calendar with to be able to identify
your whereabouts.
● Keep track of discovery and filing deadlines!

8. Tip 5: Follow up
With who:
● Clients
● Partners and Associates
● Your assistant or paralegal
● Opposing Counsel
● Co-Counsel
Regarding:
EVERYTHING

9. Dealing with Bias

10. Tip 6: SEEK AND FIND A MENTOR
● Valuable resource & rewarding experience
● Cultivate relationship either within your firm or other
organization
● If mentor has similar background, ask about his/her
experience and how he/she dealt with diversity/bias
issues
● Your mentor doesn’t have to share your practice area

11. Tip 7: Be Prepared
● Be prepared and your preparation will give you
confidence.
● Confidence is your best asset
for overcoming bias.
● Don’t let someone else’s bias
make you feel inferior.
● Own it and use it as fuel to
surpass negativity.

12. Billing

13. Tip 8: Know Your Client’s Billing Guidelines
● Does your client prefer block billing or separate entries?
● What time increments will you use to bill your time?
● What are common things that you CAN’T bill for?
● What task codes should you and shouldn’t you use?

14. Tip 9: Do Your Time Every Single Day
● If you don’t, you either hurting yourself or the
client
● Don’t leave the office without doing your time.
● You can even do it contemporaneously.
● Use your smartphone billing app to capture .1’s
at home.

15. Tip 10: Focus, Focus, Focus
● Focus on the assignment and turning in a good work product, not how long
it takes you to complete the assignment.
● Focusing more on your billable time than the task at hand can lead to
decreased productivity.
● Focusing on your billable time rather than
your substantive work will hurt the learning
process and cause increased stress.

16. Communicating with Your
Assistant

17. Tip 11: Treat your Assistant with Respect

18. Tip 12: Recognize That You’re The Lawyer, Not Your Staff
● We are all guilty of relying too much
on our staff.
● Good staff members can make your job
easier. Ask for help, and ask nicely.
● Good staff members calendar deadlines and
do everything to keep you on your P’s and Q’s.
● But, at the end of the day, you are the one responsible for calendaring
deadlines.

19. Tip 13: Own your mistakes
● Never throw your assistant
under the bus.
● Address problems immediately
to prevent future issues.
● Balance friendships with being
your assistant’s superior.

20. Discovery

21. Tip 14: Personalize all Written Discovery
● Have forms for each type of claim within your practice
● Personalize those forms to fit the facts of each case
● Send multiple requests as the case progresses

22. Tip 15: Understanding the Basics of Your Case
● What do you need to know to reach most favorable outcome for your client?
● Size of amount in dispute matters
● Experts?
● Video depositions can be valuable

23. Tip 16: Communicate
● Don’t be afraid to ask opposing counsel for an extension. It’s better to be
proactive and ask for an extension when necessary that let your deadline
pass without communicating with opposing counsel.
● Harbor good relationships with opposing counsel.
● Extend professional
courtesies in the same way
that you would expect them
to be extended to you.

24. Tip 17: Calendar reminders - not just deadlines
Calendar reminders to ensure you stay ahead of the Court ordered deadlines.
For instance, you can’t get an expert in 24 hours so your reminder to research
experts for a case should be calendared for at least 1 month before the actual

25. Tip 18: Know the Local Rules

26. Delivering Good and Bad
News to Your Client

27. Tip 19: Know Your Audience
● You can keep your clients as involved as they need to be.
● Routine decisions like discovery and deposition preparation can keep them
involved in the process.
● This makes delivering good and bad news easier.
● It also makes them more invested in your work.

28. Tip 20: Keep Clients Up-to-Date
● Giving a client bad news can be
intimidating, but if you’ve kept
the client up to date throughout
the litigation, their expectation
of the case will be more aligned
with your own.

29. Tip 21: Educate your clients on the nature of litigation
● Do this at the very beginning of every engagement
● Make the client aware of the potential problems associated with their case
● Be clear that discovery and motion practice can and undoubtedly will change
your initial evaluation of the matter
● Make ABSOLUTELY NO guarantees of a particular outcome
● Explain that this may take awhile and you don’t know exactly how long it will
be until there is a final resolution

30. Tip 22:Sometimes, Good News Can Also Be Bad News
● For some clients, even good news means there’s some bad news on the
horizon--a bill from you.
● Consider no-charging certain communications, and make sure that your
client knows that you are respectful of the idea that your time means more
money for them.

31. Dealing with Difficult
Opposing Counsel

32. Tip 23: MAKE A RECORD
● All communications in writing, when possible
● send follow-up communications
● keep log of all phone calls, document requests, etc.
● save all e-mails

33. Tip 24: Be professional
● Maintain professionalism even in the face of difficult opposing counsel.
● Don’t stoop down to his or her level.
● Don’t get emotional.
● Don’t take bad behavior personally.

34. Tip 25: Know the Rules of Professional Conduct
● You will need to know if an actual rule is being broken
● You need to know your responsibilities for reporting if certain rules have
been broken
● You will want to avoid breaking any rules in your response to his antics

35. Tip 26: The Relentless Lawyer
You may encounter this person. They may try to take advantage of your youth
and inexperience.
● Sometimes they want an extension.
● Your partner might not have picked up the phone.
● Your client might owe them some money.
● Inform them of your schedule, specific dates.
● They will call every day anyway.
● Politely pick up or, don’t.

36. Striving for Work/Life
Balance

37. Tip 27: Make time for yourself
● Take time off and unwind!

38. Tip 28: DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR HELP

39. Tip 29: Respect Your Partner’s Contribution, Set Boundaries
● Especially if you have children, your spouse or
significant other must be your partner in all
things.
● Talk to your partner about your extracurriculars,
your work commitments and your family
commitments.
● Consider priorities and discuss them with your
partner.

40. Tip 30: Working from Home
● Working from home is a great
way to balance being a busy
lawyer and having a life. The problem
is, sometimes you can’t turn off work
and enjoy being at home.
● Try something that works to help you strike a balance-- for example, don’t
take your computer home on Friday evening. If you need to work over the
weekend, go back to the office Saturday morning to pick up your stuff.
Leaving everything at the office on Friday evening gives you a chance to
decompress without the pressure of your laptop calling your name.