What To Expect During Your First Year As An Associate

Expect growing pains. As a newly minted associate, the bar exam is behind you, and you are no longer a law school student. Let's be honest, you're probably thrilled about that. You've likely received a lot of advice, whether you asked for it or not, about the transition from law student to law professional, but don't expect to be prepared for it all. Even if you spent some time during summers or throughout the academic year working for a firm, expect to experience some of the growing pains associated with beginning a new profession. If you haven't dealt with them before, you'll need to learn your way around entering and billing your time, and you'll begin understanding how to navigate firm culture and politics. Even if you have some previous firm experience, there will still be new billing codes and firm policies to familiarize yourself with, new expectations on how or how much you bill, and a new balance to mixing your personal, billable, and non-billable time. At