News
Law Practice
Aug. 1, 2002
What to Do When You Don't Know It All
Dicta Column - By The Rodent - A very big part of lawyering is responding to questions to which you don't know the answer. In this way, practicing law is a lot like law school when you are sitting in class and a professor calls on you to answer a question about materials you haven't read and a case you haven't briefed. When you are out there practicing, however, you can't get away with saying "pass" or "unprepared" like you can when you're a student. You have to come up with something.
Dicta Column
By The Rodent
A very big part of lawyering is responding to questions to which you don't know the answer. In this way, practicing law is a lot like law school when you are sitting in class and a professor calls on you to answer a question about materials you haven't read and a case you haven't briefed. When you are out there practicing, however, you can't get away with saying "pass" or "unprepared" like you can when you're a student. You have to come up with something.
Not knowing the answer is not something only lesser lawyers have to deal with. No matter how qualified and diligent you are, there are simply too many topics that can come up, too many areas of the law and too many cases and statutes. You can never know it all. Fortunately, however, there are ways to get by and deal with gaps in your legal knowledge and capabilities.
These are a few examples that I learned from some of the best in the business, my colleagues at The Firm:
• Scenario No. 1. You meet with a client or a potential client who asks, "Do you know anything about [fill in the blank with anything from dog bites to international taxation]?" The novice attorney may come back with an honest answer that admits a lack of experience in a particular area of the law. A well-trained attorney, on the other hand, responds, almost automatically, with, "Of course, that happens to be my area of specialization. Please sign this retainer agreement."
• Scenario No. 2. You are fresh out of law school and brand new to The Firm when a partner calls you into his or her office and starts talking about legal concepts you never even knew existed. Although you feel as if you are listening to a foreign language radio broadcast of a soccer match, you, nonetheless, sit there acting like you understand every word and nod your head as a sign of comprehension.
Most importantly, you refrain from asking any questions. Asking questions is a sign of weakness, and you don't want to be thought ignorant - at least not now. That will become obvious after you hand over your work product.
You stick to your policy of not asking any questions even when the partner asks, "Do you have any questions?" The one question you really want to ask is, "Can you start over and explain that whole thing again?" Instead, you're hoping there's something about this topic in the hornbook.
Once you get to the library, you spend more time trying to figure out what the actual question is than you do finding the answer. You've already had several experiences where you didn't understand the question, gone off and spent a lot of time coming up with good authority to answer the wrong question and ended up having all of the time you billed on the project written off.
My advice on how to handle this situation? I don't know because it still happens to me from time to time.
• Scenario No. 3. You are at a cocktail party or other social gathering that includes nonlawyers. People who have never practiced law assume that if you spent three years in law school and passed the Bar Examination, you know everything. Even if you have spent the last 10 years doing nothing but immigration law, for example, you still are expected to know the answer to a bankruptcy question. Or, as is more commonly the problem, you will be asked a question about something very basic, such as, "Is it legal to drive a car without wearing any shoes?" Some of the best responses to these questions include:
"That's a gray area of the law."
"There's a split of authority on that issue."
"I'll have to run that past our tax department."
"That all depends on several variables and the nuances of motor vehicle law. Come by my office tomorrow and I'll explain it to you after you sign a retainer agreement."
Finally, I should mention that there are situations when an "I don't know" response is not only appropriate but also useful. These include occasions when a client complains, your malpractice carrier makes an inquiry or when the Bar Ethics Committee comes knocking.
The Rodent is a syndicated columnist and author of "Explaining the Inexplicable: The Rodent's Guide to Lawyers." He can be reached by e-mail at THERODENT@aol.com.
By The Rodent
A very big part of lawyering is responding to questions to which you don't know the answer. In this way, practicing law is a lot like law school when you are sitting in class and a professor calls on you to answer a question about materials you haven't read and a case you haven't briefed. When you are out there practicing, however, you can't get away with saying "pass" or "unprepared" like you can when you're a student. You have to come up with something.
Not knowing the answer is not something only lesser lawyers have to deal with. No matter how qualified and diligent you are, there are simply too many topics that can come up, too many areas of the law and too many cases and statutes. You can never know it all. Fortunately, however, there are ways to get by and deal with gaps in your legal knowledge and capabilities.
These are a few examples that I learned from some of the best in the business, my colleagues at The Firm:
• Scenario No. 1. You meet with a client or a potential client who asks, "Do you know anything about [fill in the blank with anything from dog bites to international taxation]?" The novice attorney may come back with an honest answer that admits a lack of experience in a particular area of the law. A well-trained attorney, on the other hand, responds, almost automatically, with, "Of course, that happens to be my area of specialization. Please sign this retainer agreement."
• Scenario No. 2. You are fresh out of law school and brand new to The Firm when a partner calls you into his or her office and starts talking about legal concepts you never even knew existed. Although you feel as if you are listening to a foreign language radio broadcast of a soccer match, you, nonetheless, sit there acting like you understand every word and nod your head as a sign of comprehension.
Most importantly, you refrain from asking any questions. Asking questions is a sign of weakness, and you don't want to be thought ignorant - at least not now. That will become obvious after you hand over your work product.
You stick to your policy of not asking any questions even when the partner asks, "Do you have any questions?" The one question you really want to ask is, "Can you start over and explain that whole thing again?" Instead, you're hoping there's something about this topic in the hornbook.
Once you get to the library, you spend more time trying to figure out what the actual question is than you do finding the answer. You've already had several experiences where you didn't understand the question, gone off and spent a lot of time coming up with good authority to answer the wrong question and ended up having all of the time you billed on the project written off.
My advice on how to handle this situation? I don't know because it still happens to me from time to time.
• Scenario No. 3. You are at a cocktail party or other social gathering that includes nonlawyers. People who have never practiced law assume that if you spent three years in law school and passed the Bar Examination, you know everything. Even if you have spent the last 10 years doing nothing but immigration law, for example, you still are expected to know the answer to a bankruptcy question. Or, as is more commonly the problem, you will be asked a question about something very basic, such as, "Is it legal to drive a car without wearing any shoes?" Some of the best responses to these questions include:
"That's a gray area of the law."
"There's a split of authority on that issue."
"I'll have to run that past our tax department."
"That all depends on several variables and the nuances of motor vehicle law. Come by my office tomorrow and I'll explain it to you after you sign a retainer agreement."
Finally, I should mention that there are situations when an "I don't know" response is not only appropriate but also useful. These include occasions when a client complains, your malpractice carrier makes an inquiry or when the Bar Ethics Committee comes knocking.
The Rodent is a syndicated columnist and author of "Explaining the Inexplicable: The Rodent's Guide to Lawyers." He can be reached by e-mail at THERODENT@aol.com.
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