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In light of the other thread...

What have you done to become / what makes you (or someone you know) the star associate? Especially for lit associates?

hlss09 wrote:In light of the other thread...

What have you done to become / what makes you (or someone you know) the star associate? Especially for lit associates?

1- Don't mess up
2- Repeat
3- Be likeable to partner
4- Be likeable to client
5 - Make client your client (if you want to become partner)

There's lots of other threads on this, but these leap to mind:

* take ownership / understand the next steps in a matter (e.g. anticipate)
* manage up and down effectively
* be efficient but not too efficient and not too slow
* understand the law and be up on the latest
* never miss deadlines
* turn in impeccable work
* make your client and your partners look good
* be pleasant / not a complainer
* work hard not smart
* mentor juniors enough that they want to work for you, but not so much that it's a time suck
* set an example in every way
* manage your moods and burnout
* depending on the firm, make sure you're doing the "right amount" of pro bono and BD work

Be in the right place at the right time.

Jive well with particular partners. Do the first few assignments for that person right.

hlss09 wrote:In light of the other thread...

What have you done to become / what makes you (or someone you know) the star associate? Especially for lit associates?

I won a jury trial. That helped set me apart.

You can also be a star with some people, but not others, based on timing.

My office was slow my first year, and so I fell behind on hours, and therefore, experience. I think I'm a pretty competent second year at this point, but I think some partners in our office still remember my early days and view me as good and hard working, but not great.

However, by luck of timing, around the time I felt like I was hitting my stride as an associate, I worked on a matter for a team based in one of our offices on the opposite coast, and they loved my work product, work ethic, ownership, etc. and consider me a star associate as far as I can tell and are continuing to ask me to work on all of their matters.

So, I got a bit lucky with the timing in the second scenario, but if I had worked with those people 6 months earlier, it's possible I couldn't have done as good of a job and they wouldn't have continued to request to staff me on matters.

The best thing you can do for a partner is to make their life easier. That requires good work done on time. But it also requires anticipating needs.

But beware: being a star associate can be a delicate balancing act. I've seen associates with really good reputations being inundated with work to the point they burn out. Star associates can turn down work, but that becomes a delicate political game in and of itself.