First-year Struggling to Multi-task Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi TLS, I'm a first-year who started recently in a big law corporate group. I'm finding it difficult to multi-task across several different deals that are all moving at a fast pace. The kind of work I'm doing now is probably as mechanical as it gets, but still requires concentration. It really throws me off having to constantly stop what I was doing to attend to some other thing that needs to be done asap, only to be interrupted by a third thing. I'm trying to stay organized as best as I can with inbox folders/tasks lists and such. Does it get better with time? Would also appreciate any tips on how to navigate this better. Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

Post-it notes with to-do lists on your monitor, and keep your email cleaned out so you can prepare for what's coming next. Other than that, I might say try to come in to work earlier in the morning if you find yourself getting behind in work, if that will give you some time to work uninterrupted.

[FedFan123]

It gets much much worse as you get more senior

[kaiser]

As a general matter, the more senior you become, the more matters you will have assigned to you. And part of that is because you are expected to (i) be more efficient, and (ii) delegate down as needed. So the constant jumping and distraction from matter to matter is only going to increase.

Being organized will go a long way toward addressing the issue. Start your day with a detailed to-do list that you both cross off and add to throughout the day. That way, nothing falls through the cracks. As you mentioned, create a foldering system where you can easily store matter files in an organized way. Make sure to do this for both emails and hard copy files. Don't let your office become a mess of mixed-up papers. Another tip is to leave a post it or some kind of marker when you have to drop a task. That way, you don't have to waste time trying to figure out where you were.

[Anonymous User]

Also a first-year. I'm at a firm with an unassigned program so I'm really struggling to handle both litigation and corporate deadlines simultaneously. It's ROUGH, so I just want to validate that. I worked in a very high-stress career before law school where I also had to handle conflicting deadlines. But biglaw is still pretty brutal.

What has made it (a little) easier is (1) whenever I get a request, unless it's something I can address immediately, I add it to my task list AND I add a reminder to follow up (Outlook lets you follow up within minutes or hours). And (2) communicate conflicting deadlines. A lot of times, at least one matter can be pushed back a few more hours (or even a day or two).

[avenuem]

Also a first-year. I'm at a firm with an unassigned program so I'm really struggling to handle both litigation and corporate deadlines simultaneously. It's ROUGH, so I just want to validate that. I worked in a very high-stress career before law school where I also had to handle conflicting deadlines. But biglaw is still pretty brutal.

What has made it (a little) easier is (1) whenever I get a request, unless it's something I can address immediately, I add it to my task list AND I add a reminder to follow up (Outlook lets you follow up within minutes or hours). And (2) communicate conflicting deadlines. A lot of times, at least one matter can be pushed back a few more hours (or even a day or two).

Can you clarify if you're doing litigation and corporate work at the same time? Seems odd that a biglaw firm would allow one person do both type of tasks at the same time. I'm at a firm that does rotations, so I get it's possible to do one area and later in your career another. But it sounds like you're doing both at once.

[target_corp]

It gets much much worse as you get more senior

[Anonymous User]

OP here - thanks for all the tips! Looks like the best I can do is just to organize better and get long-term projects done in late night/early morning when possible.

[Anonymous User]

Also a first-year. I'm at a firm with an unassigned program so I'm really struggling to handle both litigation and corporate deadlines simultaneously. It's ROUGH, so I just want to validate that. I worked in a very high-stress career before law school where I also had to handle conflicting deadlines. But biglaw is still pretty brutal.

What has made it (a little) easier is (1) whenever I get a request, unless it's something I can address immediately, I add it to my task list AND I add a reminder to follow up (Outlook lets you follow up within minutes or hours). And (2) communicate conflicting deadlines. A lot of times, at least one matter can be pushed back a few more hours (or even a day or two).

Can you clarify if you're doing litigation and corporate work at the same time? Seems odd that a biglaw firm would allow one person do both type of tasks at the same time. I'm at a firm that does rotations, so I get it's possible to do one area and later in your career another. But it sounds like you're doing both at once.

No, my firm doesn't have rotations, so I'm doing litigation and corporate work simultaneously. We have some flexibility in terms of signing up for the work we want to do so I was trying to stick to litigation, but there've been a few situations where I get a "request" (which is more like a politely-worded order) to also do corporate work.