Most Important Skills For A Partner At Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Some of the important things I'd mention might sound cliché because they're important in every industry. However, I think there are particular ways they're important in the practice of law.

The first is organization. It's essential, particularly for those involved in litigation. Our work lives are driven by deadlines set by judges and by state and federal statutes.

If deadlines are missed, it's not just about an unhappy client. You could do something catastrophic to the matter you're handling. Organization and having a good handle on all your cases are critical.

This is oriented towards litigation, but it applies to transactional work too. For multimillion or billion-dollar deals scheduled to close on a specific date, you must manage document preparation properly. You don't want to fall behind schedule, as this impacts partners and puts clients in a bad position.

The other critical skill, perhaps more so for litigation, is good writing. Legal writing differs from college or grad school writing. In academia, you might be verbose to meet word counts.

In law, the pressure is the opposite. We have maximums on briefs filed in state, federal, and appellate courts. The courts don't want more than is absolutely necessary.

Being able to say things concisely is important. This means not only having an expert command of language so readers understand your sentence structure and punctuation, but also communicating extremely concisely.

This is important for work provided to courts and to clients. For attorneys in big or mid-size firms, clients are typically organizations, and you'll often communicate with in-house attorneys. They don't have time for lengthy explanations in emails.

You need to get to the point quickly and be succinct. This is a skill not heavily used in academic writing and takes time to develop in legal practice.

Another important aspect, true for most but not all areas of law, is collaboration. You need to collaborate both internally and externally. No one in a law firm functions alone.

You'll work with associates, partners, and potentially multiple team members, especially on larger matters like class actions or big deals. Each person may handle a different part, so being a team player is essential.

This isn't just internal; it's external too. You'll communicate with clients about their view of the project and their ideas. You need to work collaboratively with clients to incorporate their desires into the final product, whether it's a brief or a contract.

The ability to work well with others is really important, even if it sounds simple.