Most young lawyers will be the person carrying the files in the back of the shot while the partner talks about a case with the media. But it pays to be media-ready these days – being able to provide relevant information in a compelling way (without giving away the store, of course) can help you and your firm build profile in a competitive market.

Just because you’ve graduated from law school doesn’t mean you have nothing left to learn about your chosen profession. Outside of accredited professional development courses one good way to stay abreast of legal developments is to pop in your earbuds and check out a podcast. We have some suggestions.

University of Windsor assistant law professor Noel Semple believes it’s possible to provide access to justice while providing high quality legal work and being profitable to boot. He’s written about how innovation helps you hit that sweet spot in a book published earlier this year by the CBA.

Even when the law firm is keeping you busy, it pays both professionally and personally to look at taking on a little outside work. Volunteering to sit on a board can connect you to your community, give you valuable insight into areas outside your specialty – and on top of that, it’s great for networking.

So you’re racking up the billables, sitting on the boards and opening the door to opportunity at work, as well as getting married and having babies and doing all those other things that make you happy. How do you keep from burning out? We have some ideas.

Many of us talk ourselves out of doing something we really want to do – often out of fear of failure – and then spend years regretting the decision. Prudence is important, but there are ways to evaluate the risks and to decide whether to open the door when opportunity knocks.

Whether you call them hacks or tips, we can all use ideas to make our lives easier. In February the CBA is sponsoring HackJustice, which will bring people from various disciplines together “to code and create technology applications that will improve access to justice.”

Tattoos and piercings in places other than the traditional earlobe are gradually becoming normalized in society – if not entirely accepted in its more conservative corners. But that doesn’t mean you can’t express yourself now that you’re out of law school. It’s partly a matter of finding the right law firm.

We’re always told that if you’re not progressing up the career ladder, you’re stalled, or stagnating. But sometimes a little jump to the left – or a step to the right – can be just the change you need to make the most of your career.

Ask and ye shall receive, they say, but what they don’t say is that ye might not get everything you asked for. As in life, so in questioning clients, who might hold back information – because they’re embarrassed, or they don’t think it’s relevant, or they don’t think you’d be interested.