Advice for New Lawyers

Do you ever wonder how you'll go from the classroom to being a practicing lawyer? If you're starting to think about practical issues, here are some sources with advice:

• Lawyer Assistance Program, Washington State Bar Association, Getting There: Your Guide to Career Success (130 pp.)
• Survival Guide for New Attorneys in California (2011) (64 pp.). This is a special issue of Los Angeles Lawyer, produced with the Los Angeles County Bar Association Barrister's Association. Although it's aimed at California lawyers, most of the advice is helpful to any new lawyer.
• Mark Herrmann, The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law (2006), KF300 .H47 2006 at Classified Stacks. Written by a partner in a large firm and published by the ABA, this little (138 pp.) book wittily offers advice particularly aimed at associates in firms but applicable to any practice environment. Click here for links to an interview with the author, a sample chapter, and more.

No time to read anything as long as what I've just listed? Try this: Wendy L. Werner, Tips for the New Law Graduate, Law Practice Today, April 2012—it's just four pages.