No Typical Day

What's your typical day look like as a #BigLaw associate?

Law students ask this all the time.

The answer: No day is the same.

This took a while to get used to.

As someone whose strengths lean dramatically toward "executing," the daily variety is often more stressful than exciting.

And yet, there are "typical tasks" that repeat themselves:

⚖ Managing emails;

⚖ Reminding clients and partners of upcoming deadlines (and/or circulating drafts for their review);

⚖ Research and writing;

⚖ Meetings (billable and non-billable);

⚖ Drafting discovery requests and responses;

⚖ Managing discovery (and document review);

⚖ General case (project) management.

I'm still experimenting with ways to bring structure and routine to my work day.

As I transition from an independent contributor to a more managing role on files, the variety (and number of meetings) continues to increase.

When that feels overwhelming, I turn to routines in my non-work hours:

📍 SAVERS method in the morning;

📍 Weekly meeting with my husband;

📍 Exercise and movement;

📍 Hot tea and reading for fun (without a phone nearby) before bed.

These routines--when I have time and energy for them--ground me and help me ride the waves of the work day.

Sometimes, I miss the predictability of the school day and school year (as a student and a teacher).

Even clerking lent itself to predictable routines and work days.

But, the variety of #BigLaw keeps me on my toes.

It stretches me to improve strengths outside the "executing" realm.

And I'm learning to embrace the notion that adult/professional life moves ahead unpredictably and we're all doing the best we can.

#lawyerwellbeing #professionalwomen #bestadvice #law