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Dear Summer Law Clerk,

Special Guest Post By:

Martin H. Brinkley, Dean and William Rand Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law, Chapel Hill.

As we roll into June and turn our focus to helping law students apply leadership skills in their summer internships and other opportunities, we reached out to Dean Martin Brinkley at UNC Law School requesting that he share some words of wisdom with all of our law students. We love what he wrote! Please share this letter with your students!


Dear Summer Law Clerk,

Before becoming dean of the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2015, I spent 22 years in private law practice at two large law firms.  I met, hired, and evaluated many, many summer law clerks. 

You might well think that law students, by virtue of their temporary status in the firm, are about as low on the totem pole of “power” in a law firm as it can get.  That line of thinking misses the point.  Seeing whether you have the capacity to be someone powerful in the future is what the firm is doing with you in the summer.

I remember from my practice days how some summer clerks seemed to grasp the dynamics and culture of the law firm naturally, while others – highly competent at law work, but emotionally clueless – blundered over the most obvious landmines.  For some of you, the analytical skills your professors have helped you develop have come easily.  But sensitivity to other human beings in an organization like a law firm, corporate legal department, or government agency is a different, equally important skill.  Years of experience have taught me that the ability to forge ties of sympathy and shared awareness can be learned and cultivated.  And even those of us who think we are “good with people” can improve at it. 

Take my word for it:

  • The ability to work with other people through stressful, challenging situations over the long haul is a core leadership skill in the profession of law
  • This skill has nothing in common with the analytical muscles you’ve been building up in law school. 
  • The ability to work with others is a leadership trait your employer is looking for, at least as much as any traditional “lawyering” skill. 

              Here are a couple of simple observations that apply to every workplace. 

First:  Work hard.  Do great work.  Come early and stay late – if that is what the lawyers you’re working with on a given project are doing.  But otherwise, spend your time forming relationships.  Be enthusiastic about the firm and its clients, but avoid looking like a gunner. 

You have been offered a summer job so that your employer can assess two things about you.  First, can you do the work that clients need done, at a level that will impress the clients and bind them closer to the firm over the long haul?  Second, are you a good long-term “fit” for the employer’s culture, not just now but for many years to come?  In short, will you wear well? 

Trying too hard to impress those you are working with can signal, unintentionally, that you are needy of approval and lack confidence.  Take the compliments you receive graciously, but have the humility to ask the assigning lawyer what you could have done better.  Inviting criticism assures your employer that you are focused less on yourself than on doing a good job.  It suggests that if hired, you will take criticism well and, thus, wear well.

Law firms, corporate legal departments, and other employers, no matter how prestigious, are not law schools.  Competition for grades and short-term prizes like law review slots are not what they are there to foster.  Legal employers are there to help clients to meet their goals and to offer rewarding careers to lawyers and staff.  That’s it.  Nothing more.  Their question about you is:  Can we see you as a person whom we enjoy working with?  Will you contribute to our organization over time?

Second:  Respect, support, and befriend non-lawyer staff members.  A sure-fire way to exhibit quiet leadership in any work setting is to forge strong relationships with support staff. 

Administrative assistants, IT professionals, and paralegals are the backbone of law firms, corporate legal departments, and government agencies.  Without their skills, clients cannot be served effectively. 

Partners and experienced associates in law firms, and senior lawyers in other work settings, know this intimately.  Unless they are dysfunctional narcissists, they approach these vital co-workers with the greatest respect and affection.  Any hiring committee worth its salt will spot the summer clerk who courts only the powerful and ignores the rest.  For their part, support personnel can smell arrogance and self-regard a mile away – and will not hesitate to make their views known to the lawyers they work with.  When I was in practice, I would actively seek out the views of my longtime administrative assistant on our summer clerks.  She knew she had the power to blackball any clerk whose interpersonal skills did not impress her.  She was never wrong.

My advice on this score: 

  • Make the copies yourself, after asking an administrative assistant (“AA”) how to work the machine.  Put in a new ream of paper when the supply is low. 
  • Print your own research and work products, or at least offer to, unless the AA tells you otherwise.
  • Enter your own time unless you are instructed otherwise.  If you are told to give your timesheets to an AA, turn them in on a daily basis.  There is nothing a good AA hates more than a lawyer who leaves all of his or her timesheets til the end of the week, much less the end of the month.
  • If you have a day when you aren’t being taken to lunch by a lawyer, bring your sandwich into the staff breakroom.  Show an interest in the families and lives of staff members. 
  • Call administrative staff by the titles preferred in the workplace you’re in (i.e., don’t call someone a “secretary” if the firm calls him or her an “administrative assistant”). 

If you want to be viewed as a long-term asset to your summer employer, these suggestions should serve you well.  Best of luck to you.

Martin H. Brinkley is Dean and William Rand Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law, Chapel Hill.

Leadership

Student Perspectives on Leadership Development

 Ali Moser (JD ‘19) 

Below, Ali Moser (JD ‘19) and a Baylor Law Leadership Fellow, offers her thoughts on the Leadership class and her experience at Baylor Law.

Benefits of the Leadership Class         

The Leadership Development Program at Baylor Law School helped me gain an extra set of skills to take into my future career. I learned much from the leadership class, but I gained even more from the experiences I had when actually serving as a leader during my time at Baylor Law.

I was fortunate to have two very formative leadership experiences outside of the LEAD class. First, serving as Executive President of the Student Bar Association my 3L year was not an opportunity that I expected to have during law school. However, I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the student body. SBA is the umbrella to every other student organization on campus.  As SBA President I thoroughly enjoyed working with so many ambitious fellow students. I learned a lot about communicating with different groups of people and how to meet the needs of students during a challenging and demanding three years of their lives.

(L-R) Ali Moser; Dean Leah Teague; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, Nathan Hecht; Dean Brad Toben, Dean Stephen Rispoli

My second opportunity to put the skills into practice was when I served as the 2018 Conference Chair for LEAD Counsel’s Making A Difference Conference. As chair, I was challenged as the many moving pieces had to all come together, but it taught me a lot. The class helped me develop skills that I put into practice. I’m thankful for both of my experiences with SBA and LEAD Counsel and I know that lessons learned as part of the Leadership Development Program will serve me well in my career.

The Importance of Relationship Building

In the Leadership Class, there were many opportunities to learn about our own strengths and weaknesses, as well as our peers and other leaders. This allowed friendships to develop with the other students in the class, which does not always happen in law school classes. However, that was an integral part of the Leadership Class, which was surprising to me. I learned about my leadership style and the leadership style of others. It taught me where I was strong, and exposed places where I could improve. This created a unique classroom environment with the fellow classmates, and I hope to cross paths with many of them in my legal career.

Advice to all Law Students: Learn Leadership Styles

I offer this advice to all law students – I encouraged you to discover what your leadership style is whether that is through a class, reading a book, or watching a podcast. It is incredibly value to know before stepping into a legal career. As you learn more about leadership styles, you become more aware of the strong parts of your personality so you can capitalize on those aspects; but also learn where you can improve. As you become familiar with many of the leadership styles, you will be able to recognize different styles which will enable you to work well with others in your future career.

Ali Mosser, JD ’19

Ali Moser graduated from Baylor Law in May of 2019 having earned the distinction as a Leadership Fellow. During her time at Baylor she was involved in various student organizations including Student Bar Association, Inn of Court, LEAD Counsel, Federalist Society, Intramurals. She also competed in Moot Court competitions, volunteered her time as a McLennan County Court Appointed Special Advocate. Ali’s leadership and devotion to Baylor Law School encouraged many students to follow in her footsteps and become not only a law student who goes through the motions, but a leader who impacts lives. After graduation she joined the litigation section of Walsh Gallegos Trevino Russo & Kyle, P.C.

Leadership, Persuasion

Why do you need leadership? It’s all about relationships.

By Stephen Rispoli 

As discussed in a previous post, when people think of the term leadership they often think about what CEOs do. But leadership is about building relationships so that you can rely upon or have conversations with others when you need to. It can be as simple as asking a favor of a friend (“Can you check on my dog while I’m out of town?”) to using your relationship to have a difficult conversation (“I need to talk to you about the comment you made in our meeting yesterday – I know your intentions are good but it can be hurtful to others.”). Or, it may be that you need to convince others in your organization that a particular course of action is the right one (“I want to visit with you on the vote on Tuesday on [X] issue. I believe that [Y] position is the right one because…”). All of these situations will require different approaches, tailored to the person and situation.

Through the study of famous leaders and their styles, skills, and traits, we can learn new techniques to approach different situations. It is through this study that we learn how best to build relationships and achieve our goals.

Stephen Rispoli

If this sounds like you’re “using” your relationship, it’s not. This is what we all do every day – at work, with our friends, and even with our spouses. Leadership is the art of knowing which approach to use for each situation to accomplish your goal. Through the study of famous leaders and their styles, skills, and traits, we can learn new techniques to approach different situations. It is through this study that we learn how best to build relationships and achieve our goals.

To learn more about different styles of leadership, visit: http://www.montana.edu/engagement/organizations/solc/The%20Six%20Leadership%20Styles.pdf

To learn more about different skills of leaders, visit: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/12/27/16-essential-leadership-skills-for-the-workplace-of-tomorrow/ – 3c28614154ce

To learn more about different traits of leaders, visit: https://www.forbes.com/sites/deeppatel/2017/03/22/11-powerful-traits-of-successful-leaders/ – 7d545c13469f

-SLR