Use Law School Skills to Adapt in the First Year

On my first day as a full-time litigation associate, I took 1.1 hours to "enter appearances in Bucks County Court of Common Pleas." If I had not retrieved my old reports, I might not have believed spending such an inordinate amount of time on this task was possible; there really is nothing to entering an appearance. That first day, however, I didn't know what the rules of civil procedure had to say about entries of appearance, who had to sign the entries or what a certificate of service was, what format the entries had to be in, or even what constituted acceptable practices for mailing documents to court. So perhaps that time entry perfectly captures the sense of bewilderment that all first-year associates experience when they finally start to practice law.

With so many questions to answer for every new task, it's not surprising that many first-years question the utility of their three-year law degree and ask how (if at all) earning that degree prepared them to practice law. This feeling is completely valid because, truthfully, first-years really don't know anything about practicing law. Despite this harsh truth, young associates grinding through their first year at a firm should be aware that law school has, in fact, equipped them with valuable tools to help conquer many of the inevitable uncertainties of practicing law and ease the transition from student to full-time attorney.