5: Be More Organized Than Others

This is seemingly an easy one. It just takes a little time, effort, and brute force, but rarely do junior attorneys take this attitude and it costs them. Organization can make you look much more experienced and smarter than you are currently.

When you take on a project, make sure to ask questions to define scope, schedule, and budget. As you will be working on multiple projects at the same time, if you know these three things about each of them, you'll be better at budgeting your time and meeting deadlines. Always ask questions to ascertain each at the outset.

You should also invest in models, research, and creating your own forms. As we spoke earlier about being responsible for your own education, having models (for instance a spreadsheet that calculates share price in a financing) or having your own forms and research at hand can make you much more efficient. Few people do this, of course, because it takes time up front, but for the few of you who do, it will separate you from the rest.

Lastly, consider cheat sheets on relevant projects that you've completed. Maybe you keep a list of all the major deal terms you got on a particular deal. Maybe you list all the judges you've appeared before with little notes about them. Whatever you might forget that could be relevant should be put onto a piece of paper and kept at your desk. When Jason was early in his career, he wrote down all the major deal points for merger and venture deals he did. When someone would ask him, “Do you remember what X was in Y situation?” Jason would always have a quick answer. Everyone thought he had a great memory and it reflected well on him. This was not the case. It was just good organization.

Another hack to consider is using your contacts as a database. Every time Jason meets someone (even today), he writes down interesting personal facts in the notes section. It helps him with context later down the road and also makes sure he can always find a good topic to chit chat about the next time he interacts with that person.