Decades ago, when I was fresh out of Columbia Law School, I asked a high-powered, veteran attorney—a senior Big Law partner who had been an attorney general and would soon be appointed a federal court judge—the secret to being a great lawyer.
Analytical ability? Negotiation mastery? Commercial awareness? Perspicacity?
His answer was much simpler.
“There are two things that make a great lawyer,” he said, after a thoughtful pause. “First, always read the law. The law is not a guess, and it’s not what you think should be the law. The lawyers who read the law—or the case, or the contract—are the best lawyers in the room.
“Second, when a client leaves a message, always call back quickly. If something is important enough for a client to call, it is important to you. Great lawyers don’t make their clients wait.”
The rules gave me—even as a young attorney, often far less experienced than opposing counsel—a kind of superpower.
- Read the law: When does an equity committee have standing to appeal a bankruptcy court order? I read the law, the other side’s lawyer didn’t, and our motion to dismiss the appeal was granted. What can invalidate a power of attorney in Florida? I checked the statute; an extra clause annoyed a senior partner (he insisted it wasn’t used in New York), but it stood up when opposing Florida parties huffed and puffed. Could we find an “out” to a supposedly “airtight,” 100-page indenture? Yes, we could: The language was there, buried under boilerplate. These wins didn’t come from powers of persuasion or raw intellectual horsepower; they came from reading what was written.
- Respond quickly to clients: I made it my mission to always return messages within three hours if possible, or at the end of each day, to avoid leaving a client in the lurch. Clients noticed. When I later became a partner—and lived in fear that I wouldn’t be able to develop new business—new clients invariably came, often with a “So-and-So says you always return phone calls.” Being available for clients makes business sense. It’s also human decency.
How the rules apply to legal thought leadership
I never expected that I would leave legal practice, much less that I would join McKinsey & Company, first as a consultant and then—after helping build two successful e-commerce sites—returning to McKinsey as a member of the firm’s global publishing team. I was privileged to spend more than a dozen years at McKinsey in all. But I never forgot the two rules of being a great lawyer or lost my love for the law. (One towering firm leader noted in my performance review, under “things to work on next year,” that I should “stop talking so much about Delaware law.”)
Unsurprising reveal: I am a legal nerd. I spend too much time on SCOTUSblog; I try to read every Delaware Court of Chancery opinion; and I consume law firm thought leadership voraciously.
The two guiding principles for lawyers, mutatis mutandis, apply in legal thought leadership as well: powerful when followed, frustrating when ignored.
- Read the law, and state it clearly: What does the law say? Too often, law firm content expounds on things like “Caremark and its progeny” or “the implications of new leadership at the FTC,” without ever stating the actual baseline rules. An effective piece clearly states the statute, regulation, or holding; provides a clickable citation; and tells readers exactly what has changed—and why it matters.
- Engage quickly in a conversation: Reduce every friction point so the reader can contact you with minimal effort. Include a prominent “contact” call-to-action button or your contact information. Treat every inbound digital inquiry with the same urgency as a ringing phone. Taking too long to reply is the modern equivalent of letting a client’s call sit on your desk for a week. Respond by end of day whenever possible.
The more things change, the more the guiding principles stay the same. Know the law, and never leave the client waiting.
David Schwartz is a senior adviser at LEFF. A former attorney, he also previously worked at McKinsey & Company as a consultant and as executive editor of the McKinsey Quarterly and McKinsey on Finance.
