Developing Professional Trust as a New Associate

Many new associates will begin their careers at law firms this month. Having run a law firm over the past 16 years, I’ve learned what makes an associate stand out and excel. Here's how it's done: 1. Write concise emails A partner does not want to read a long email analyzing a particular question or issue. The partner does not have time to read and understand it. Your job is to take the issue at hand and distill it into a few bullet points that can be easily understood. 2. Know what you don't know. Feel free to admit it and ask good questions Partners expect that you need to learn. It is a lot easier to be around a humble associate who asks good questions than someone who thinks they know everything and constantly makes mistakes. 3. Always be improving It is noticeable to a partner when you make improvements. It doesn't matter whether your writing advances, you develop your research skills or you just get better at fielding and answering questions. If you make it a mission to learn and improve every day, it will get noticed. 4. Make a partner's life easier When a client sends a long email, if you can summarize it for the partner and even draft an initial response, you've just made their life 10x easier that day. If your draft responses become the actual responses the partner sends, you become irreplaceable. 5. Develop a good bedside manner If people like you and feel comfortable working with you, a partner will trust you to work directly with a client. If you are cold or off-putting you might be kept far away from direct client interaction. 6. Communicate with partners about the turnaround time for your work You might receive work requests from multiple different partners. Make sure you communicate and ask when something needs to be returned. This way here you are meeting the expectations of the partner (who is your biggest client btw). 7. Don't take advantage of work-from-home policies If you are lucky enough to be working remotely, make sure you are working just as hard as you would in the office. You should also always be available to partners during working hours. If you take advantage of the system, people will know. It will affect your career significantly. 8. Be a hard worker and work long hours Yes, I know..."hustle culture" is not cool these days. But, hard work never goes out of style. Partners notice who is working hard and who is on cruise control. This will affect your ability to be promoted and even keep your job. ============= Are there any tips you would add to my list? #attorneys #lawyers #legalcareers

The #1 mistake I see professionals make in their first month at a new job? They try to make a big splash. Suggesting changes on Day 3. Talking more than they listen. Trying too hard to prove themselves. But here’s the truth: Your first 30 days aren’t about proving your worth. They’re about building trust, observing carefully, and learning the game. After coaching 100+ professionals through career transitions, here’s what I’ve seen time and again: 🚫 What NOT to do in Month 1: ❌ Suggest big changes too early ❌ Talk more than you listen ❌ Forget to document processes ❌ Skip 1:1s with key people ❌ Avoid asking “obvious” questions out of fear ✅ What to do instead: 1️⃣ Write down everything, even the small stuff, because it adds up later. 2️⃣ Build quiet relationships before offering big ideas. 3️⃣ Master the tools and systems your team uses daily. 4️⃣ Observe team dynamics, influence doesn’t always match the org chart. 5️⃣ Identify the company’s real language, every workplace has its own code. 🔹 Month 1 Rituals can be: Schedule 1:1s with all stakeholders - Keep a running doc of “how things work here” - Identify informal influencers (the ones who get things done) - Understand how decisions are made. not just who signs them Here’s the secret: The first month isn’t about shouting your value, it’s about earning trust quietly. Do that, and your impact in Months 2, 3, and beyond will be 10x stronger. P.S. If you want more updated strategies and insider insights to ace every career transition, Join my Career Spotlight Group. 👉 Join here - https://lnkd.in/gB22r3_b

When I was a brand-new associate (many years ago!), I spent a lot of time pretending I was fine. I often wasn’t. I was panicked half the time in my early months in Big Law—afraid of making a mistake, afraid of looking clueless, and way too reluctant to ask for help. I thought everyone else had it figured out. I didn’t want to expose how lost I felt. Here’s what I wish I knew at the time: You’re not expected to know what you’re doing yet when you join a firm as a first-year associate. If your firm wanted someone with five years of experience, they would’ve hired that person. What they’re looking for is potential. Work ethic. Judgment. Coachability. So take your work seriously—but not so seriously that you suffer in silence. Ask questions. Take notes. When you’re given a new assignment, don’t just nod along—make sure you understand what’s being asked, what the deadline is, and what success looks like. Then push yourself. Take the assignment as far as you reasonably can. Don’t run into someone’s office the minute you hit a bump. But don’t sit spinning your wheels endlessly either. It’s a fine line—but it’s where the real learning happens. That’s where you start building confidence and sharpening your judgment. Again: no one expects you to know everything—not even close. What matters is that you’re learning how to figure things out. Working through problems. Asking smart questions. Finding creative solutions. That’s what this job is. And the people around you? Hopefully most of them remember what it was like to be you. They’ll help you—if you let them.

How to Build Trust with a New Manager A few years ago, I started reporting to a new manager. Given that principal engineering roles tend to be very open-ended, it's always a bit nerve-wracking to clarify what it is that I do and why it's valuable to Netflix. I'm sharing a few patterns I've had good luck with that I would encourage you all to consider. Many of these patterns I've already shared if you've been reading my posts! 1. Rationalize Your Impact - When meeting with a new manager, you should focus on ensuring you can rationalize your impact (e.g., at least the last 6 to 12 months) and what impact you are going to have over the next 6 months. I tend to do this by keeping quarterly plans that are outcome-focused, which I can distill into talking points. I talk about what work is upcoming, why I'm qualified to deliver it, and the benefit/impact on the business. 2. How You Choose Work - Additionally, it is useful to share not only your impact but also how you choose work and what matters to you. This allows you to walk the leader through your work selection process, demonstrating that you have experience choosing the most urgent and important areas to work on. 3. Ask them how they like to give/receive feedback - A good feedback focused relationship will be essential in working with your new manager. As we talked about last week, we want to get to Level 5 feedback with our managers, but we often start at Level 1. Understanding their preferences gives you leverage to deliver feedback in a way that has the highest chance of landing. 4. Stay flexible - They may have new ideas or concepts that aren't familiar to you. They may ask tough questions about your scope/impact or challenge you on how you choose to work. It's important to be flexible because you may have an opportunity to grow with this new leader. While it can feel a bit stressful, bringing some of these patterns into your first few conversations will help solidify your role and also set up some of the basics needed to build strong trust with your leader. -- Share your favorite tips on how to build trust and demonstrate impact with new managers that I may have missed!

How can I build trust and safety quickly with my new team?!? I was working with a client recently that had taken on a new team. From their perspective, the team was in shock after the previous manager had been let go, but the team was also struggling with overwork and burnout. My client was justifiably nervous and preparing for their first meetings with each member. I shared with them the same tools I use when working with clients the first time. 1. Transparency is key. Acknowledge the situation. Acknowledge the feelings. Share your own nerves. 2. Be non-judgemental. Their feelings and history are theirs. There isn't good or bad in them. 3. Be confidential. Team members may be afraid to share something for fear it will hurt them professionally or that it will be shared with HR or someone else. Make your meetings confidential... with caveats for health and safety. 4. Don't do all the talking. Too often a new leader will use the entire meeting time and do all the talking. Don't. Ask open questions and let them talk. 5. LISTEN. Really, and truly listen. Don't attempt to solve issues. Tame the advice monster. Paraphrase back what you heard to make sure you understand and ask follow-up questions. After trust is built, there will be plenty of time to execute on new tasks, give insights and advice, and give critical feedback when needed. When you're first building trust is not that time. Have you ever had to build trust and safety quickly? If so, what worked for you? Is something missing from this list? #leadership #trustbuilding #psychologicalsafety