Abstract
I will open with a confession: I have very, very little to contribute to legal scholarship. My day-to-day work as a lawyer and a parent keeps me busy. My career to date as a generalist has not led me to develop any great substantive expertise in a particular area of the law. Even my war stories are boring because they cluster around briefs, procedural defaults, and oral arguments. But I do have one thing to offer. I have been lucky in my career to work in “Biglaw,” then at a medium-sized firm of about fifty lawyers, and most recently at a small firm of just three lawyers. I made my share of mistakes at each stop—some routine, some painful, and almost all avoidable. For the most part, I have been paying attention along the way. And so what I have to share with you is a set of five tips, in no particular order, that could have prevented about eighty percent of my missteps as a young lawyer.
Recommended Citation
Jay O'Keeffe,
You Could Have Told Me That in the First Place: Five Tips That Might Have Saved a Young Lawyer a Lot of Trouble,
52
U. Rich. L. Rev.
53
(2022).
Available at:
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/lawreview/vol52/iss5/7
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