BarTalk August 2004
Volume 16, Number 4

Ways to bridge the gap

By David J Bilinsky

I'm so tired of being lonely.
I still have some love to give.
Won't you show me
that you really care...

Words and music by The Traveling Wilburys

As lawyers, we are accustomed to long periods of solitary time spent working on a file; dictating, researching law, drafting documents, reviewing long transcripts, drawing up litigation notes, preparing for trial and the like. In times gone by, a junior would accompany a senior lawyer to trial or chambers and each would provide the other with companionship as well as assistance. On all major closings, it would be natural to find a junior assisting senior counsel at the closing table. However, the increasing emphasis on costs combined with the effects of technology has resulted in lawyers being isolated to greater and greater degrees. One wonders if there is a correlation between the fact that there is less time spent cultivating associates into the culture of being a lawyer and the generally acknowledged lack of buy-in among younger lawyers to the traditional partnership tenure track. Certainly there has been a history of young lawyers leaving the profession for some time now.

There are many ways that a lawyer can feel isolated. Young professional isolation is but one aspect of this problem; geographic isolation can be a factor among solos and lawyers in smaller firms no matter where they are located; lawyers can surmise they are being strategically isolated, or feeling like they are on the outside of a firm's main activities; a lawyer can feel resource isolation where they conclude their professional activities are constrained due to lack of access to qualified or capable staff as compared to others; lawyers can also suffer from psychological isolation or feeling alone even when they are in an organization of a hundred individuals and having the sense there is no one to turn to or being separate from their professional peers.

So what can be done to help break down isolation? Here is a selection of ideas put forward in this area:

Associate Isolation
Young professionals require time – from skilled seasoned lawyers who can pass along not only good "clinical" skills but also the personal career management and survival skills that are essential to success as a lawyer within a larger organization. While this sounds trite and obvious, I have talked to numerous associates who have left their firms due to perceived lack of mentorship and attention by senior counsel.

Geographic Isolation
Geographic isolation is perhaps the easiest to solve. There are numerous ways to overcome a geographical barrier:

• Join a local bar association.

• Join the Trial Lawyers Association's listserv (www.tlabc.org) that has hundreds of lawyers in daily contact sharing ideas and camaraderie via e-mail.

• Take a CLE program in an area of interest and make and keep contact with lawyers in other distant communities. The bar has a long and honorable history of taking time to answer calls from fellow lawyers in order to assist them with a file and you will not be talking to your competition down the street.

• Get involved with the CBA – the organization stands to benefit from your contributions and you will benefit from being part of an active organization serving other lawyers.

• Get involved in your community. A colleague in a related professional field can add variety and a new perspective to an otherwise solitary day.

Strategic Isolation
Perceived strategic isolation may be due to many factors, not the least of which may be that you have become ‘transparent.’ One method to solve this would be to become ‘noisy’ – not in the sense of being a squeaky wheel that needs fixing, but rather to establish and demonstrate your core competencies. You should look for opportunities to quietly show that you:

• Are committed to service excellence in your practice.

• Seek new challenges and new opportunities and are prepared to take your practice with you.

• See ‘the big picture’ when it comes to strategic planning and thinking.

• Look for ways to help the practice by finding alliances within the community.

• Foster an environment of mutual respect and trust with all staff and clients.

• Have effective communications skills and exercise them constantly.

• Can work well with others in a team and look for opportunities to do so.

• Can provide leadership. You may have to do this outside the firm in a community setting first to establish your credentials.

• Can plan, prioritize and focus on what is critical to a client, to the firm and to you.

• Are committed to lifelong learning and personal career planning.

• Have personal business skills and are looking for ways to use them in the firm.

• Create new opportunities for yourself and the firm.

• Recognize the value of professional networking and service to the bar.

• Constantly demonstrate a positive attitude and show that you are flexible in times of continual change.

Resource Isolation
Resource isolation also could be due to many factors, not the least of which is a lack of anyone championing your benefit to the firm. You need to become your own advocate, gently demonstrating the return to the firm on their investment in you. You need to not only show your competence and professionalism (see strategic isolation above), you need to couple this with a financial analysis of the cost/benefit to the firm arising from your activities and how the return to the firm could be increased by providing greater resources to you.

Psychological Isolation
Psychological isolation may also arise from different circumstances, but one way that this may occur is by failing to adapt to changing circumstances. Of all factors that are essential for survival today, the ability to adjust to the constant rate of change has become key. Much has been written on how to adapt to change – the first step is to become aware of the number of work and personal related changes in your life. The next step is to determine how effectively you have adapted to these changes. Then determine what it is that you can change and what you cannot. Set up an action plan to specifically attack the area(s) that you wish to change and how you intend on addressing them. This is a gradual process and your ultimate goal should be to welcome change as an agent of growth and leadership.

The practise of law is a difficult and arduous undertaking. Fortunately, the collegiality of the bar is one of the highest attributes of our profession. All of us can foster and promote this attribute by reaching out to our fellow practitioners and ensuring that everyone in our community is made welcome.

David J Bilinsky is the Practice Management Advisor at the Law Society of British Columbia. Contact him at dbilinsky@lsbc.org. The views expressed herein are strictly the author's and may not be shared by the Law Society of BC.

This article originally appeared in the August 2004 issue of BarTalk and is reproduced here with permission of both the author and the Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia Branch.