As I enter my third year of litigation practice (and end a long Friday with some cider), time for some ~reflections~ (keeping in mind that a large portion of my following is law students or new calls)

1. The first year is hard. (I didn’t article at a firm, so not sure how that factors in, but I’ve also heard this from others.) Everything is new and takes forever and you don’t know how to set boundaries. But trust me, that gets better with time.

2. It’s wild how quickly you start to build expertise! One minute you’re lost and flailing and then suddenly you’re like “well the last time I did it this way and it worked quite well”. Subject matters start to come up again and people might even seek out your expertise. Wild!

3. That being said, learning litigation inside and out takes forever. At a discovery, senior counsel were discussing how a litigation career peaks around age 50. I made no efforts to hide how deflating that was to hear (i.e. I told them directly how deflating that was to hear).

But the real takeaway is that you can’t wait for mastery. Throw yourself in, seek advice if you need it, get experience when you can, develop your instincts and do your best. You can do more than you think.

4. You will get to know the legal community faster than you expect. Hot tip: always read the counsel list at the top of the case. Names will start repeating. Maybe opposing counsel, your colleague or even the judge was counsel on the leading case. Soon you’ll be listed too!

5. You will quickly start to develop bizarre, strongly held opinions about word choice, and you will be willing to go to bat for your preferred synonym. I think this is normal and a sign that you are starting to think strategically. But you will wonder who you have become.

6. Allies are everything! Find them everywhere, especially at work. Assemble your squad so that you can ask your questions and vent your problems. I strongly believe in the power of complaining! But also a safe sounding board is always nice.

7. The counterpoint of 6 is that you need to be an ally for others. Honestly, in law you only need to be a little bit nice and tiny bit chill and people will think you’re the coolest (truly, what does that say about lawyers?!) Be the person you wish you met as a first year.

8. Above all, be yourself. You’ll be too tired to do anything else.

But you didn’t work this hard and overcome all those barriers just to pretend to be someone else doing your job.