Between endless questions asking how the bar exam went and when you will see your results, unsuccessful attempts at fixing your sleep schedule after your post-bar hiatus, and exploring new practices you have no prior experience or knowledge in, life as a new associate is full of highs and lows. Prior to our respective start dates, most of us have typed into Google some iteration of "How to be a great first-year." Like many other recent law school graduates who recently began working at their first post-bar exam job, my daily emotions land somewhere on the spectrum of fairly stressed to extremely stressed over a plethora of self-created problems. However, I have been lucky enough to speak with attorneys in my office who have been in our position, understanding the controlled chaos we have been thrown into, and have given advice on simple goals to focus on to succeed early in your practice. The list below is not exhaustive, but the highlights of what I try to remember when trying to traverse the life of a first-year associate.

Be Responsive to Your Assigning Attorney

By far the most frequent advice given is to maintain communication with your assigning attorney, and for good reason. Routinely checking in with your assigning attorney goes a long way regardless of the practice area. In litigation, the practice area I am most familiar with, even a brief call, email, or knock on the door to share your research is always well-received. From my limited experience with Clark Hill, even if the update is directly opposite to what the assigning attorney hoped to receive, the assigning attorney will be grateful to have the information available to them. Routine updates not only notify the assigning attorney that the task is underway but grants them the ability to take the information delivered to them, analyze the possible routes available, and determine the best next steps. If the communication did not exist, you run the risk of catching your supervising attorney off-guard and disrupting their plans, giving them another emergency to deal with. In summation, as long as you update your assigning attorney with relevant information on a regular basis, you are making their lives easier, which is the loftiest goal to achieve.