Secret #9: Experience is the Best Teacher
As we continue our series on law career development, lawyers with extraordinary careers emphasize the value of experience. They say that while Experience is the Best Teacher, it’s the right kind of experience that matters most.
What is the best experience for creating a legal career? Lawyers are good planners and we like to know where we’re going. We start out on the path to a law career long before we enter law school. We understand the long term process. We know there are stops we’ll make along the way. In a profession with few benchmarks and great flexibility, what experiences do we need to fill our suitcases as we move ahead?
Graphically, law career development resembles a pyramid. Visualize the first stages as broadly supported, stable. The early years of lawyer development are the most clearly marked. We know we must enter, complete, and graduate from law school. We know the more we participate in everything law school has to offer, the farther we will leap upon graduation. First law jobs are similarly well mapped, whether we begin in law firms, government jobs, or academia. During these phases, what we need to do and how we need to do it is easily discernable. Learn everything well for you need these primary skills to advance, much like a video game.
As you progress in your career, there is less and less guidance available. Choosing appropriate goals, achievement, advancement, developing a career you’ll love for decades becomes progressively more complex. That’s the fun of it.
