Great Advice from a Recent Summer

University of Arizona Law 2L Spencer May on "soft-skills" that will help you succeed as a summer associate

One of the things I really appreciate about professional social media is that it gives you a chance to share great advice even if you are only one step ahead of those you are giving the advice to. In fact, often times that is the best advice because it is recent and well tested.

Last week, one of my favorite law student follows Spencer May shared the following advice and, with permission, I wanted to share it here:

In the interim, here are my easy peasy soft-skills that made me beloved (so far, I think) by employers & supervisors:

1. Respond to every email the same day. I'd argue that no intern/extern/clerk has ever been tasked with any assignment so important that they cannot "come up for air" to telling their supervisor "received" or "Got it. I'll start on this tomorrow", etc.

2. Establish timelines/deadlines for every assignment. This one can be a doozy. But, it can also save you time. Your supervisor can tell you how important what you are doing is by the urgency attached to the assignment. Sometimes supervisors will even just forego the assignment.

3. Ask for templates or past examples to mimic with your work product. Chances are, some law student or clerk has worked for the same organization at sometime in the past & has done a good job. Heck, your supervisor might have done a similar task. Ask them for work they have liked & they'll likely look on your version more favorably.

If this isn’t your first year as a summer intern or summer associate what would you add?

Talk soon,

Jonah