How to Become a Successful Lawyer
A lawyer holds the responsibility of guiding his client through the legal system with expertise and wisdom. A good lawyer can influence the outcome of a client’s case. There are a number of things needed to become a successful lawyer. However, the success of a lawyer also depends on the way someone judges the size of his success.
Know the Law
1. Know the information. Always know the latest information about your legal field. Get to know new developments, because laws and regulations often change and there are always new cases set every day. Every day the country introduces new legislation that will affect your legal field. State law also changes regularly.
2. Do research if necessary. If you have an unusual case involving a problem that you have never handled before, take the time to do legal research and find the answer. Don’t assume you already know everything, even if you have been practicing law in the same field of law for several years. New problems and cases arise every day, and you need to do research to find solutions to your case. Legal research methods have changed dramatically over the past 20 years. Make sure you are familiar with the most recent electronic research methods. If you subscribe to Lexis-Nexis or Westlaw, which are two of the best known online legal research companies, you can also get extensive training using the application.
3. Attend a seminar on Continuing Legal Education (CLE). Not only are you required to achieve certain hours of participation in CLE each year to maintain your legal practice license, but you will also obtain valuable legal knowledge in these seminars. Often you will hear experts in their respective fields of law at this seminar and have the opportunity to ask questions that you might have. In addition, attending a CLE seminar will provide an opportunity for you to network and exchange information with fellow lawyers in your legal field.
Studying Important Skills
1. Practice critical thinking.
To be a successful lawyer, you must be able to view legal issues from all sides in order to get the best solution. The right analysis will not only help you identify legal issues, but also help you develop strong legal arguments to support your client’s position.
• Make sure you have a clear understanding of all the relevant facts before making a conclusion.
• Don’t always depend on the client to immediately tell everything to you. A client often will not immediately provide information because he does not know what matters and what is not important. Ask the questions needed to find out the information needed.
2. Develop your writing skills.
Lawyers often underestimate the writing skills needed to become a successful lawyer. In fact, a lawyer spends enough time filling out requests and other documents for the court. Almost all of these documents require writing skills at a certain level. You will be far more likely to strengthen your client’s position if you can write effectively. As a general rule, you need to make written arguments like the following:
• Clarify the facts in your case.
• Identify legal issues.
• Determine which law or regulation applies to the problem you are handling.
• Apply the law to the facts in your case.
• Draw conclusions based on the law that you have applied to the facts of your case.
3. Practice your oral communication skills.
All successful lawyers have great communication skills, whether they speak before the court, to other lawyers, judges or their clients. They must be able to convey the client’s position at the trial, ask the witness questions efficiently, argue with the jury, and convince the client to hire them.
• In the case of clients, a lawyer must be able to obtain all the information needed from the client to represent it with sensitivity and wisdom. Lawyers must be able to convince prospective clients that he is the right prosecutor to represent him.
• Prosecutors must also communicate effectively with other lawyers. In doing so, he can seek an agreement that is acceptable to all parties involved and negotiate on behalf of their clients effectively.
• In facing trials, prosecutors must be able to provide arguments regarding the position of their clients effectively and concisely without ignoring respect for the attorney of the other party or the court, which may not always