Rising to the top of any field can be an exciting challenge. If you’re an attorney or planning to attend law school to become an attorney, there are ways to set yourself up to rise to the top of the legal industry and your law firm regardless of your area of practice.
From networking and advocacy work to the right marketing and a little luck, you’ll stand a good chance at being at the top of your field in your legal career by playing up important characteristics. For a closer look at a few of the personal characteristics that top legal experts share and capitalize on, read on.
Unrelenting Drive and Passion
To become a legal expert at the top of any legal team, attorneys share the quality of work ethic. Top experts use their passion for things like social justice, legal representation for minorities, and helping victims to reach fair compensation agreements and favorable verdicts. That is, it’s not enough to earn a law degree and pass a licensing exam to become one of the best in the legal field. Drive and passion for taking the law a step further is a must.
To understand the drive it takes to make it to the top of the field, it’s a good idea to find successful attorneys who’ve beaten the odds with hard work, passion, and more. Malliha Wilson, for example, has spent her career making major changes in administrative law through the Ontario government. A minority with compassion for human rights, Wilson has used her passion for equal rights to change labor laws across Ontario and the whole of Canada.
The Ability to Juggle Complex Cases
Like Wilson and other top attorneys, you’ll need the intellectual ability to understand complicated legal issues to reach the top of your field. Whether that means you’re able to offer legal advice on a no-fault accident case involving wrongful death or that you can think well under pressure in a criminal trial, your ability to analyze complicated data will be important to building a successful career in law.
Perhaps your goal is to practice law out of Denver, Colorado and you want your name to come up first when potential clients Google “injury lawyer Denver.” One way to rise to the top of your field is to gain extensive experience juggling complex litigation. While the right digital marketing plan might help you show up in those search engine searches, the bottom line is your reputation will depend on your ability to work for a client’s best interest no matter how complicated a case is.
A Love of Law and the Legal System
The most successful lawyers share a love for not only the law but the legal system itself. They’re passionate about the potential for change, ability to reach fair settlements and verdicts, and generally believe in the bigger legal process. At the same time, most lawyers see areas in the law that might need change, and the best attorneys aren’t afraid to pursue complex litigation to make those changes new law. That is, the best lawyers will take risks in order to impact the bigger legal system.
If you’re considering studying law or are at the beginning of your legal career, a great way to know if you have the characteristics it will take to get to the top of your field is to study lawyers you admire. The qualities you and that lawyer share could be a great starting spot; even if that commonality is simply a love for the law.
At the end of the day, whether you hope to have years of experience as senior counsel in traumatic brain injury cases or as a skilled trial lawyer working in the Supreme Court of Canada, you’ll stand the best chance of rising to the top of your field if you possess a passion for law and are relentless in your pursuit of justice.
