You’ll spend your entire professional life learning from other lawyers. That’s what lawyers do. Junior lawyers learn from senior lawyers, and vice versa. Lawyers learn from judges, and vice versa. Always be open to learning new things from other lawyers. In fact, think about your entire career in the law as one long learning experience, with more to learn around the next corner. Develop a mindset that helps you focus on what you don’t know that you need to learn next, and to seek out lawyers who can teach you the things you need to know. Law school is a great preparation for lifelong learning, and the best lawyers are always seeking to learn new things and expanding their mastery of their craft and their areas of expertise.

Observing Other Lawyers

There are lots of ways to learn from lawyers. One of the easiest ways involves simply paying attention to the lawyers around you. Watch what they do. Listen to their conversations. Read what they write. A good habit to develop early in your career is to keep a journal or a log of new things you have learned. Committing a new insight or new piece of knowledge to writing is one way to help cement it in your brain. You can use the same journal or log to document your learning objectives when you identify things you don’t yet know or new areas of mastery you want to conquer. Keeping all of this in one place, in writing, helps keep you honest with yourself about whether you are achieving your goals as you continue to learn. Such a journal or log can also provide fodder for discussions with mentors and sponsors.

Taking CLE Classes

There are many formal ways that lawyers learn from each other, too. Most jurisdictions, for instance, have continuing legal education (CLE) requirements for the lawyers licensed there. This usually involves taking classes or courses, in person or online, and accumulating a certain number of credit hours per year to keep your license current. Most often, the state rules do not dictate which courses you have to take, although many jurisdictions have an ethics requirement that insists on a certain number of credit hours per year in ethics courses. Some jurisdictions are beginning to require other topics, such as technology and data privacy proficiency. Know the CLE requirements in whatever jurisdictions you become licensed. Sometimes, when lawyers get busy (and most do!), CLE classes can feel like a burden or a waste of time, but if you can build a mindset of constantly learning and wanting to learn more about the law and the practice of law, you can choose CLE courses that make you feel like you’re learning new and valuable things. Most jurisdictions require that the bulk of CLE courses be taught by other lawyers or that each course include at least one lawyer on the faculty.

Participating in Professional Development Programs

Separate from jurisdictionally required CLE, many legal workplaces, especially larger law firms, have their own internal education programs, often called “professional development.” Law firms will host classes of all sorts for their lawyers, often including clients in the audience as a service to those clients. In law firms, partners and senior associates are often involved in teaching more junior lawyers. This kind of in-house learning has evolved naturally in a profession historically based on the apprenticeship model. Some of the in-house learning offered by law firms and other legal employers will count toward state CLE requirements, while others will not. Similarly, some law firms’ sponsored learning opportunities will be required of associates, and others will be optional. It will likely be impossible for you to take advantage of all the learning opportunities afforded to you as a practicing lawyer, but again, with a lifelong learning mindset, you should try to take advantage of as many as you can. Lawyers learning from lawyers is the best and most efficient way for lawyers to advance their careers and hone their skills. Law school prepared you with the basics, but almost everything you will need to know to practice law will be things that you learn from other lawyers along the way.