WHAT THEY DON’T TEACH YOU AT LAW SCHOOL II: PARETO, PARKINSON AND YOU’ll BECOME WHAT YOU THINK YOU’LL BECOME

The first post in this series looked at a number of writers who had given guidance to the tyro lawyer. Here I want to recommend a specific article by Susan Carter Liebel written on “Solo Practice University”.

“9 Things I (Really, Really) Wish They Taught Me In Law School”

The aim is, as always, to encourage you to read the full post yourselves.  The nine points are:

1. The Pareto principle

   “80 percent of the value you will receive will come from 20 percent of your activities.”

   There is, I am certain, much more to be said in relation to the Pareto principle and lawyers.

2. Parkinson’s law

“… an assignment or obligation will not only expand into the time allotted for completion but                 will also seemingly become more complex.”

Again there is much to be said here.  Many of the posts on this sight relate to procedural issues because lawyers         have run up to deadlines and missed them.

      3. Batching

      “Put all your mundane tasks into one part of the day.”

The most successful practitioners are often not the ones with the best knowledge of the law but those who                      best manage their time.

     4.  Do not have a scarcity mentality.

           ” If you want to increase the value you receive in this life, whether respect, love,                                             friendship,opportunities, even  money, you have to increase the value of what  you give. You                 cannot have a scarcity mentality. It’s that simple.”

   5. Be proactive. Not reactive.

       ” While you’re reacting to what you now have that you never wanted you will miss the                                   opportunities you could have  reached for that you did want. And that happens to the                                 majority of people. Be in the minority. “

6. Mistakes and failures are critical to success.

This is something that could be said more openly and more often.  We have seen recent examples of young lawyers getting into serious trouble after attempting to hide mistakes,   Virtually all of the mistakes could be dealt with if there had been a larger degree of openness and willingness to admit that problems had occurred.

7.  Don’t be Intimidated.

8.  Every lawyer is unique.

9. You become what you think you’ll become.

Every part of this post is good, however this is my favourite (not least because Mohammed Ali is quoted).

“Muhammad Ali said, “What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming”. “

I hope this whets your appetite. Read the entire post. 

RELATED POSTS

• What they don’t teach you at law school: turning the other cheek
• Litigators: what do you do when things go wrong: 10 key points
• Being a litigator – when it all gets too much.
• Litigation: what is an appropriate case load and is it important?
• Litigators, litigation and the appropriate case load 2: “It’s nuts”.
• Litigation and workload 3: insurers
• In litigation, as in life, things will go wrong: having a strategy in place.
• Stress, litigation and litigators: useful links to avoid and deal with problems.
• Dealing with fish files: overcoming procrastination.