Why You Shouldn’t Quit In Your First Year Of Legal Practice

Here is my own story about my first year or so of legal practice.

The early years of my own legal practice really tested me to the limit.

I don't say that for dramatic effect - it's just the truth.

I had been working full-time, as well as studying law, shifting careers, taking a huge pay cut, all while trying to prove I still had what it took to become and be a lawyer.

That was a lot of pressure I put on myself.

There were indeed quite a few days that I questioned the value of everything I had done.

Why am I doing this? This is just too hard. And so on. Nothing pretty, nothing positive.

Honestly, most days in the first year or so of my legal practice I wanted to quit.

Why you ask?

Well it wasn’t just the usual workload or external pressures.

It was the weight of my own expectations and the imposter syndrome that crept in quietly, but often.

Even with good people around me, I doubted myself. Constantly.

Giving It Time

What I really needed more than anything was time. More time. Time to find my feet as an early career lawyer - not an old seasoned one.

And more time than I orginally thought I should need, at that.

Time to learn, time to adjust, time to simply find my feet.

That first year was hard.

In hindsight I was probably my own toughest critic not my bosses nor my clients.

So if you’re early in your legal career and feeling that strain, rest assured you’re not on your own and it is not unusual.

I have always encouraged my law students and early career lawyers not to resign in their first years of legal practice, unless something really bad or toxic is happening to them.

I even have invited them to reach out to me before they did anything drastic like quitting.

I made it through the first few years of legal practice once my confidence in what I was doing took hold. It took more time than I envisaged. But I got through it and as they say the rest is history!

My key takeaways - be kind to yourself, back yourself and give yourself a fair more amount of time than you envisaged to adapting to being a lawyer.

We've created a coaching program especially for early career lawyers.

It’s there to support, guide, and help you find yourself in case you feel something is not just not right.

Reach out to me if you want to have a chat.

Paul Ippolito is Principal of Ippolito Advisory. He is a legal futurist, lawyer coach and consultant to the legal profession. Paul is available for media enquiries, speaking and consulting. You can contact him here.