Associate Advice from the Corner Office: Part IV

[WSJ_law_blog]

Buck up there, sad stock-photo law-firm associate! You’re about to get another hearty dose of professional advice, this one courtesy of David Gordon, the managing partner of Latham & Watkins’s New York office. Over a recent lunch in midtown Manhattan, we asked Gordon for his three (or so) tips for law-school students or young associates. Without missing a beat, Gordon rattled off several gems: (click here, here and here for previous installations in the series).

Delight in Others’ Successes: Gordon’s first point addresses envy, or rather, ensuring you avoid it. “You have to tell yourself to delight in others’ successes,” says Gordon. There’s always going to be someone who “gets more recognition” or “makes more money,” but that “you can’t let it get you down.”

Make a Commitment: A successful associate has to be committed, to “your profession, your colleagues, and your clients.” Driving these points home, he said:

Commitment to your profession: Don’t “judge your job too harshly or too quickly,” Gordon said, adding that it’s a rare job that is perfect. “If you’re happy with your job 60 to 80 percent of the time, that’s really a pretty good job.”

Commitment to your colleagues: Be ready to step up to the plate, Gordon says. “You earn so much respect by being there when you need to be there with your brain engaged,” Gordon says. Good work “helps give you cover when you’ll need it for mistakes you’ll inevitably make.”

Commitment to your clients: “If you’re not committed to your clients, then you’re in the wrong business.”

LBers, the talking stick has been passed to you.

Photo: iStockPhoto