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[00:00:07] Scott Benton: Hey everyone, Scott Benton here. How are you? I’m the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast, where we help you easily transition from a law school student into your professional career. As a fully licensed attorney and where we make the practice of law fun and today we’re going to answer the very simple question of what is your job as an attorney what is your job as an attorney that is a simple enough question i’m sure it has a simple enough answer But since this is a podcast about transitioning from a law school student into a professional attorney, we’re going to focus on where you start and where you’re going to go, and what needs to change along the way.
[00:00:46] Scott Benton: [00:01:00] So to answer the question of what is your job as an attorney is your job is to service your clients and deliver high quality legal services to reach their legal goals.
[00:01:46] Scott Benton: But when you’re still on the student side of the fence, is that what you’re really seeing when you’re attending law school? probably not. At least not firsthand like you will once you become an attorney. So when it comes to law school, [00:02:00] and by the way, I’m not knocking law school here. Not at all. Law school is incredibly important, as I’m sure you know.
[00:02:07] Scott Benton: But when it comes to law school, you’re not being taught what it means to practice law as an attorney. You’re studying theory and you’re getting familiar with how the court system works and you’re exploring different legal fields to try and settle on the direction that you’re going to want to go in.
[00:02:24] Scott Benton: You’re trying to understand how to conduct legal research and you are going to be developing all of these skills, but it’s not like you go to your first year. First day of law school and during the first hour of your first class, the professor assigns you a client that you’re going to help with their legal matters.
[00:02:43] Scott Benton: That just doesn’t happen. Working with clients directly is likely probably going to show up three or maybe even four years later when you finally make it over to the attorney side of the fence. So there’s going to be a significant mindset shift that you’re going to go through when you start your first job as an [00:03:00] attorney.
[00:03:00] Scott Benton: You need to be able to internalize the idea that law school really doesn’t have much to do with your career as an attorney. The bar exam, doesn’t teach you anything about working with clients or practicing law as an attorney. I mean there’s no questions on the bar exam about preparing a to do list or performing legal services and then billing for your time and getting paid and starting all over again on the to do list.
[00:03:25] Scott Benton: It’s just not going to appear anywhere in law school or on the bar. But that’s what you’re going to do when you’re practicing law as an attorney, but those really aren’t going to be very exciting essay or multiple choice questions.
[00:03:37] Scott Benton: Even the work you do at law firms as you make your way through law school, it’s largely still going to keep you in the law school student mindset. So if you’re working as an intern or you’re working as a law clerk, you’re still waiting for an attorney to show up and give you assignments.
[00:03:53] Scott Benton: You’re passively waiting for someone to ask you to do something. Then you’re doing the [00:04:00] research or you’re filling out the form or you’re writing the letter. And you’re giving it back to the attorney. So in essence, the attorney is your client.
[00:04:07] Scott Benton: Now, this is certainly a good step towards becoming an attorney because you’re working with attorney. You’re able to observe how that attorney practices law themselves. But you yourself want to begin to make that important shift into the law firm mindset.
[00:04:23] Scott Benton: Carrying with you what you learned in law school into your legal career is not going to help you move forward as an attorney as quickly as you possibly can.
[00:04:31] Scott Benton: It’s going to take a long time if you do it that way. A lot of times you’re going to hear advice from attorneys that once you’ve graduated law school and once you’ve passed the bar that you want to leave law school behind.
[00:04:44] Scott Benton: You’re going to need to transition from a learning and more passive environment into an environment where you are actively providing legal services. And that’s a completely different idea altogether. It’s different because you’re not sitting there waiting for another attorney to give you work [00:05:00] assignments.
[00:05:01] Scott Benton: You are the attorney giving yourself work assignments. Meaning, you’re the one looking at a case, you’re the one putting the to do list together, and you’re the one that’s going to complete those legal tasks. You’re going to Bill for the time, you’re going to get paid, and you’re going to start all over again on the to do list.
[00:05:18] Scott Benton: So you no longer have that security blanket to buffer your work that you’re going to deliver. The training wheels are off, so the gravity of the work that you’re doing becomes much, much heavier. You need to make sure everything is done correctly, and that there are no mistakes, and that the tasks you’re performing are on target to the needs of the case.
[00:05:38] Scott Benton: Your mindset must shift, because There’s just simply more at stake when it comes to the quality of your work and the effectiveness of your ability to consistently show up as a highly valuable asset, not only to your client, but also to the firm that hired you and they put your faith in you. Remember, law firms are in business in order to [00:06:00] generate a profit so that they can pay you for your work.
[00:06:03] Scott Benton: So I hope that’s been helpful information and better understanding the critical mindset shift that needs to take place in between law school and starting your professional career as an attorney so that you can fast track your advancements and so that you can demonstrate your value from the first day on the job and so that you know exactly what it is an attorney does.
[00:06:24] Scott Benton: I’m Scott Benton. I’m the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Now if this is material that you are enjoying and you want to get an alert every time we put out a new episode, you can go to our website. Our website is classroom2courtroom. com. That’s classroom the number two courtroom.
[00:06:41] Scott Benton: com. You can leave us your contact information. We will send you an alert whenever we put out a new episode of this podcast that I hope you’re enjoying. And if you are Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. That will also help you stay on top of all of our newest episodes. And until next time, we hope you’ll join us in making the world a better [00:07:00] place, one client at a time.
[00:07:01] Scott Benton: Thank you so much.
