Thread by @Mrpossidez

Legal practice has been revealing. Your skills are very helpful to how you’d be viewed/rated. I’m still learning, but I’ll talk about two EVERYDAY skills which, I’m my opinion are really key:

- Critical Thinking
- Legal Writing

Normal stuff but not so normal. I’ll explain.

Critical thinking is so important because everyone often wants you to think and help solve problems.

My rule is: always believe there’s more to anything. If you get critical, you’ll ask the right questions. They can be occasionally foolish, but you’ll ask the right ones often.

If John tells you he’s 2 years older than a certain James and John is 40, it doesn’t mean James must be 38 at the time of that conversation. James can be 37 or 39 before John turns 40. It depends on whose birthday comes first in every calendar year.

James might have died at 37.

Just an illustration. Doesn’t mean we should start asking foolish questions. The point is, every client or senior is impressed with a further burst of idea. A more critical look. A few further brilliant questions. I just tell myself to assume more to details.

Most of us didn’t attend universities were this was cultivated. We gave only one correct answer to a question in the exams.

In real life, we find it difficult to be critical. This develops slowly and sometimes you we don’t know enough to be critical. Don’t beat yourself always.

You’re given a task and your senior expects something more than you’re probably thinking. Sometimes if you’re not critical, you’d not realize what is really expected of you.

Some seniors assume that you should have thought of certain things yourself. Too important a skill.

2. All outstanding lawyers write really well, I’ve realised. For young lawyers, the ability to convey your thoughts intelligibly is perhaps the easiest way to be noticed by your seniors.

Because all we do involve writing, you cannot be mediocre in this area. I’m still learning.

My hacks: Try to keep the sentences short. Let one sentence lead to the other. It makes the write-up clear, concise and simple. This is easier said, sometimes it takes minutes to compile a single email. But it is also what makes it very key.

Avoid wordiness, unless unavoidable.

Good legal writers can be concise or verbose. They sure know how and when to alternate both.

There are times when brevity doesn’t cut it. More and more convincing may warrant wordiness. It’s all about satisfying the client or your senior. The skill is in the alternation.

Every lawyer already has a pattern of writing. But in coming into a firm, your style may be radically different.

Look into how the firm writes. Law offices usually have a style of writing. You may not like the style but you need to adopt it before you can advance on it.

You’d realise that everything sends an impression to those above you. From the emails to the actual work.

Your knowledge of law condenses into a thought process that must be conveyed in words. Observe how your seniors write. Tweak, adapt, adopt. Learn. Consciously.