Paul S. Simon of Hedgepeth, Heredia & Rieder

Editor's note: Last month, the Daily Report offered new lawyers some unsolicited advice about how to start their careers. Here is one more piece.

You've graduated law school, passed the bar examination and secured full-time employment as an attorney. Congratulations, you are already an incredible success, one to be lauded in your hometown newspaper and in your high school alumni bulletin. What's next? How do you keep the momentum going? How does one continue to achieve as so many of the Daily Report readers do on a daily basis? I write this article not only as an exercise in vanity but also to hopefully provide some insight gained over multiple years of trials (dual meaning!), tribulations and successes.

Understand Yourself
On Mondays, I wake up early, get my Starbucks and get to the office around 7 a.m. It's quiet; it's peaceful. The phones aren't ringing, and the office is all mine. I respond to emails, review my calendar and write down my priorities for the day and for the week. I'm an early bird, and it works for me. When are you most successful? Do you get that adrenaline rush at 3 p.m. every day which enables you to work through the night? Do you work through lunch but have a little nosh at 2 p.m. to keep you going and get you out of the office by 6 p.m.? Recognize how you are most effective and communicate that to your superior. I am and have been blessed with partners and senior associates who appreciated my candor and worked with me to maximize my productivity. Your superior hired you for your potential. Help them help you realize that potential.

Recognize Your Limitations and Constantly Seek to Exceed Them
If in the next three years any of your contemporaries from law school or with whom you took the bar exam tell you they “know what they're doing” or they “have it all figured out,” run as fast as you can in the other direction. There is no way you can develop your own style and method of practice in three years (and some would say you never do); you simply cannot experience enough scenarios in that amount of time to do so. Do not think you are ready for everything. Open your ears and (I say this with all due respect) close your mouth. What you studied in law school has very little practical application to the practice of law, and the sooner you recognize that, the better off you will be.

There is the concept of “seeing the whole picture.” Example: Sure, they didn't really respond to that discovery question, but is it worth the Rule 6.4(b) correspondence? What's our client's income situation? Can they afford to go through a lengthy discovery dispute for responses which may have minimal impact on our case? Do you have a specific reason why you are seeking the information? Don't just check the box because the task is done. In the words of my favorite president, President Josiah Bartlett from New Hampshire and TV's “The West Wing,” “What's next?”

Also, one little tidbit: Don't just ask somebody for the answer to a question. Try to figure it out for yourself first. It stays with you that way. For example, next time you see me, ask me about the difference between civil and criminal contempt. I suggest you grab a chair.

Enjoy This
I need to answer my own queries from the first paragraph: Think about all that you've accomplished. The burdens you've overcome. The challenges you've faced and conquered. If this were easy, everybody would get a J.D. and take the bar exam. Be proud of who you are, what you've accomplished and who you want to be—and work to make that desire a reality.

That little piece of paper you receive which certifies your licensure to practice as an attorney is more than just a little piece of paper. It is an obligation. Hollywood often maligns lawyers as liars, con artists and cheats. The reality is quite the opposite. You are a member of a profession which demands candor and carries with it one of the highest burdens of professionalism known on this planet. Demand of yourself that you meet those expectations and expect it from others. Being a lawyer is a matter of respect, both earned and given.

Your chosen profession is neither easy nor straightforward. You will be surprised, you will be caught off-guard, and you will make mistakes. The mistake is not what's important; the important thing is what you learn from that mistake.

I wish you the best of luck and all the good fortune that you may possibly have.

Paul S. Simon is an associate with Hedgepeth, Heredia & Rieder in Atlanta. He has practiced family law for the entirety of his legal career, and, believe it or not, he doesn't question that decision at all.