This article is written by Mohona Thakur, Team iPleaders

Over the past week, we have been writing about why law students prefer working with law firms, why do lawyers quit their law firm jobs, life-changing realisations that lawyers have over the course of their career; it was only natural that we talk about the mistakes we lawyers have made as freshers.

How many of you have screwed up the first due diligence report you had to prepare? Not looked up whether the case law you found was overruled by a larger bench? Didn’t proofread the final contract that went for signatures?

As freshers in the legal industry, we lawyers have all made mistakes on the job, some small ones and some embarrassing ones that we may not like to recall. Let’s discuss a few mistakes most freshers make once they join law firms:

• Not Understanding The Work

Most of the times the instructions that the associates receive is limited to the exact research that needs to be done. Nothing more, nothing less. For instance, this one time I was asked to find out the jurisdiction of courts for a case under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. And that is all that I was told. I received no other information, until I went ahead and requested the boss for more information.

The point I am trying to make here is that the associates at law firms are expected to work on a piece of a huge jigsaw puzzle. Most associates end up working long hours finding answers to vague research propositions with limited information. As a result,, the associates end up doing incomplete or superficial work.

Let me give you another example.

Your senior has asked you to make a note on how foreign investor can invest in the e-commerce space in India, and you send him the relevant notification of the FDI Policy. You also send a couple of Press Notes which are old and no longer valid. The associate expected you to distil relevant information from the latest policy, cite it and prepare a short note on it. You’ve missed the point. (Who knows, maybe your senior intended to send this as an email, or or include it in a larger note to be sent to the client).

What freshers are expected to do is provide a detailed and full-proof work. That can only happen if freshers ask for more information. The onus lies on the associates to ask questions. Ask all relevant questions in order to give work that is not only detailed, but also precise. Don’t you think you would be able to provide better, if you knew everything that is to know about a particular piece of work and/or the client?

• Giving Incorrect or Incomplete Information

As freshers, many of us have had the tendency to finish the assigned work quickly. It’s almost as though we are competing on how quick one can finish the assigned task. Maybe it is to prove our mettle to the reporting Partner, or at times to prove that we are better than our contemporaries.

In this very rush, freshers forget to proofread their own work product. At times, they end up coming with incomplete work, or with work full of discrepancies. Gunjan Chhabra, an arbitration lawyer, mentions this to be a huge problem with freshers. She says, “Efficiency cannot be a substitute for quality,” pointing out that freshers prefer being quick at the cost of doing thorough research.

For instance, your senior asks you how Apple is able to open single-brand retail stores in India, and you tell your senior that 100% FDI is permitted under single-brand retail, which he or she already knows. Your senior was expecting you to let him or her know that Apple is benefiting from a 3-year exemption from local sourcing, which is included as per a 23rd January, 2018 Press Note. This information can also obtained by another company, by making an application to a specific Committee of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

While you maybe giving the correct information, the above example demonstrates that you did not dig deep enough and your research is not upto the mark. Seniors at law firms notice the effort that is being put in. Look at it from the bigger picture perspective. Put yourself in their position and see what they would expect. If you were your own boss, would you expect yourself to do half-hearted work?

In fact, if I were to be my own boss, I would expect myself to not just ‘do the job’ but do it thoroughly. If possible, know the consequences to the worst case scenario, and have a probable plan of action for the same. Just doing the job won’t help you retain a job. Being better than what your boss expects you to be is what will impress them and make you stand out.

At law firms, with multiple teams working on various sectors of corporate law, it is absolutely important to understand what corporate law is. While I was in law school, I always used to ask myself and others “What exactly do you mean by corporate law? What is it? Is it Companies Act? Then why name it corporate law specifically?” Sandhya Biswas, an associate with Ernst and Young emphasises on “how freshers simply follow the herd mentality and do not understand what they mean when they say corporate law. It’s as broad as saying I want to do law.”

If I were in your shoes, I would have tried to figure out the answer to this question and figured out what did everyone mean by corporate laws. Thereafter, if I really enjoyed it and believed that I could have a future in this field, I would have ensured that I have enough knowledge in order to secure a job at a corporate law firm. A course on companies act, sebi regulations and M&A would help you understand the nuances and nitty gritties of these subject areas – something that law schools forget to teach, especially in practice.

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• Client Expectations – How to Deal With it

Freshers are the newest lot to join law firms, and naturally they do not understand what the clients expect.

For example, a client has asked your senior to support him or her with everything required to establish business presence in India, and your senior asks you to prepare a note. You look up the FDI Policy and RBI circulars, and specify the routes of establishing business presence in India, that is, through FDI into an Indian company or opening up a project, branch or liaison office. However, you do not specify how to incorporate a company in India, how to transfer funds into the Indian company, what licenses and registrations (tax, shops and establishment, etc.) are required to start business in India. If your memo is sent out directly by your senior, the client will not be able to establish business presence in India. It will be very similar to the information found online for free (which is just formatted and presented in a better way by you), but for which a client would be unwilling to pay legal fees at corporate law firm rates.

It is extremely important to ask questions and figure out what results the client expects, and how would your research fit in the bigger piece of the puzzle. If you know what is required to be done by the client, you would be able to deliver to their expectations, and do precise research. In turn, you present the client with exactly what they need.

Another part of this problem is that associates do not understand the firms way of dealing with a particular client. What kind of work has happened for this client previously? Were there other deals closed on behalf of the client previous to you joining the firm? Have you seen a previous work product that was sent to this client? Could you possibly figure out through this previous work product, as to the quality of work that was given to the client?

These are major and important questions that associates need to ask. Ask the right colleagues at law firms. It is pertinent to understand that asking certain questions, for specific information may not necessarily portray you as clueless. The smart ones in the lot will figure out where you are heading, and more often than not appreciate the effort that you are taking. In fact, these small steps that you take towards understanding the needs of your client vis-a-vis the firm’s approach towards the client, will help you scale up the ladder. Because law firms value their clientele and appreciate associates that understand the need of the clients and deliver as expected.

It is best advised that freshers stay ahead of the curve, and do more than just the bare minimum. Yes, it is absolutely great that one makes it to these corporate law firms. However, it is important acknowledge the harsh reality – that doesn’t mean that you’ve landed in life. In fact, on the contrary, it means – this is where your career begins.

Keep learning, from your mistakes, and others and make the best of every opportunity that life presents you with!