<p>As I was getting ready for work, I thought about this some more. Interestingly, I think there a lot of other filters to success that are often not given enough consideration. An inability to work well with others (sometimes it’s hard to shut off competitiveness that has been ingrained in academic pursuits), arrogance, or even a whiff of being unethical will end a fast-track career. </p>
<p>Dressing inappropriately seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how frequently it’s a problem with smart young lawyers. Being disorganized or caving under the pressure of deadlines can be a killer (again, after handling high pressure college work and law school you’d think this was a no-brainer, but young lawyers will sometimes whine that they didn’t have enough time or there were other deadlines they had to meet.) Name dropping (my father, my Uncle, my Godfather’s business…) can either hurt a career or help it, depending on who you’re talking to. If they don’t like your father, your Uncle, and you’re not bringing your Godfather’s business to the firm…or if they’re afraid you’re talking about the firm’s business to your father…name dropping can hurt you.</p>
<p>If you fail to show up at a partner’s charity event, it can hurt you. If you don’t give your secretary a gift at Christmas, she can hurt your career in little ways.</p>
<p>Getting caught up in a case and failing to give a professional courtesy can hurt you (one of the Senior partners on one of our cases just called opposing counsel to report that one of his associates had been rude and unprofessional). There are so many traps for the unwary young associate! It’s not surprising that 80% of big firm associates don’t make it to partner…what’s surprising is that 20% do.</p>