SPECIAL EDITION FOR NEW BAR MEMBERS

New Associates' Survival Guide
Work Assignments

It is important that you develop a reputation early on for producing quality work. Only by developing a good reputation will you continue to receive interesting and challenging work assignments. Follow these suggestions for quality work:

• Get the facts. Take detailed notes of the assigning lawyer's instructions. Be sure you understand the context of the question, the question itself, the desired work product, the amount of time the assigning lawyer wants you to spend, and when the desired work product is due.
  
  
• Get a roadmap. Ask the assigning lawyer where you should begin. This sort of open-ended question may prompt an assigning lawyer to mention research materials and useful forms.
  
  
• Do your homework. Take advantage of any firm resources, including brief banks and form files.
  
  
• Work hard but don't spin your wheels. Do your best to answer the question and/or create the desired work product on your own. If you are still having trouble after exhausting your current leads and resources, let the assigning lawyer know.
  
  
• Keep the assigning lawyer informed of what you are doing and your progress. If it is likely that the assignment will take more time than he estimated (which is almost always the case), let him know.
  
  
• Proofread. Once you have completed your work product, proofread it carefully. Do not solely rely on the spell check function on your word-processor. If possible, set the document aside for several hours and come back to it. Do not underestimate the impact of even the simplest of errors. At best such errors will be taken as a sign of carelessness; at worst they will be taken as a sign of indifference or ignorance.
  
  
• Seek feedback. After you have turned in your work product, ask the assigning lawyer for feedback.

Excerpted from the New Associates' Survival Guide, prepared by the North Carolina Bar Association.

For more info on the New Associates' Survival Guide, contact the North Carolina Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division at (919) 677-0561. The Guide was showcased at the ABA/YLD Affiliate Outreach Project 1997 Spring meeting. For more info on other affiliate projects featured at the Spring meeting, call the ABA Young Lawyers Division at (312) 988-5626.