The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/96072
with me their knowledge of the firm's culture and processes. Being receptive to the advice, even if I ultimately decided not to follow it for some reason, often resulted in more advice, and at times provided me with opportunities that I'm not sure I would have otherwise been afforded. As one example, my conversation with the legal secretary led to breakfast with a former managing shareholder of the firm. My mentor and friend felt this shareholder would be a good person to learn from. He wasn't in my practice area of labor and employment law, but, to this day, I remember pertinent advice from that breakfast: "Never become complacent in your professional endeavors." I credit this advice not only to him, but also to my trusted office culture advisor who made the opportunity possible. 2. Efficient Retrieval of Sample Work Product Is Important Law school was very helpful in teaching me how to write and research in an effective manner. What I did not learn, however, was how valuable sample work product can be to efficiently handle a client's matter. While lawyers might at times feel compelled to spend considerable time to get a sentence just right, the reality is that doing so inevitably increases costs and often provides little added value to the client, depending on the type of work product. For routinely generated legal documents, having sample work product increases associate efficiency and might even help promote quality. With this said, and at the risk of sounding obvious, no one should become complacent in their practice and look to sample work product as the final "ready to send" document to a client or the "ready to file" pleading with the court. Finding sample work product means getting a leg up in getting the final work product finished. And, to quote one of my mentors, when practicing, "do nothing by rote." Even though sample work product might exist, does it fit within the strategy of how the team is handling a particular matter? Was it authored by the assigning attorney? Is it up to date? Is it fact- or situation-specific? If not, then the simple reality is that it might not be a good sample. In efficiently retrieving sample work product, I learned that it was imperative for me to understand the search capabilities of the firm's document management systems and other search tools. Irrespective of the technology a firm might use, assisting attorneys in learning how to competently search prior work product is one area in which IT and/or KM professionals can greatly assist practitioners (both seasoned and fledgling) who are new to their firm. At my first firm, I used our document management system to find sample work product, which then needed to be updated using Lexis or Westlaw searches. While this system proved to be helpful, it was not always the most efficient. As my practice group was relatively small, I often found myself requesting a sample to consider directly from the assigning attorney or his legal secretary. In transitioning to a larger firm, I was afforded the ability to search against the firm's document management system using a Peer to Peer 107