Monday Mentors with Waco Construction Lawyer Julia Jurgensen

Waco Construction Lawyer Julia Jurgensen

Julia Jurgensen, partner and construction lawyer with the full-service firm of Beard Kultgen in Waco, joins us on today's show! Julia talks about practicing law post-COVID, planning for work/life balance, and how to show you'll be a good fit in a firm.

Her firm/practice

  • She is in her 15th year of practice
  • full-service firm that does everything but family and criminal law
  • 21 attorneys and have been growing
  • She got her start as a plaintiff's attorney in Houston, but since moving back has done more general/commercial litigation and construction law
  • Several law changes lately in construction law: surety, indemnity
  • Construction law:
    • She enjoys the clients: they are direct!
    • Got to work with family friends
    • Likes getting out to the job site and learning more about development and real estate
    • Contract consulting is a big piece
  • Waco market
    • Loves that she knows many of her clients outside of work
    • You will often know the attorney on the other side of the case, which most of the time brings a level of civility
    • Lots of sophisticated work and people
    • Great judges who are fair/thoughtful

COVID Update (as of 9/17/20)

  • Big investment by the firm in technology
  • How do we best serve elderly / high-risk clients? (e.g. signing wills in the parking lot with masks)
  • The practice itself hasn't changed much
  • She also handles some of the HR duties within the firm, so implementing protocols has been important as well as transitioning people to work from home.
  • Post-covid
    • Keeping people safe/healthy is important for them and the firm, so that should stay a priority moving forward
    • Helping people to be productive working in a flexible or work-from-home situation
      • However, it is still important to be physically present at the firm if at all possible, especially for young attorneys looking to get work from partners and popping into offices.

Work/Life Balance

  • It's hard, and balance means different things at different points in your life
  • Think about it early in your career, especially what you might want 5, 10, 20 years from now
    • Do you know now that you always want to practice full-time? Part-time once you have a family?
  • (Daniel) Look ahead at the people going through different life stages and see how the firm is responding to them
    • She can now model that to other lawyers now and be a resource for them

Advice to lawyers in their job search

  • Law school grades are important because they are an indicator
  • If a lateral, do they have a book of business?
  • What do they do outside of work? What did they do in high school? So interests on the resume are important.
    • Helps to figure out whether the person fits into the firm culture.
    • (Daniel) if you have interesting interests, include them; if not, don't!
  • In the interview
    • Can the person look her in the eye?
    • Do they demonstrate honestly/integrity?
    • Will they get along with others in the firm?
    • Ask good questions; shows how interested they truly are

Rapid Fire Questions

  • Name one trait/characteristic you most want to see in an associate: strong work ethic
  • What habit has been key to your success: keeping things in perspective
  • Favorite app/tool: paper list and a combo paper/electronic calendar
  • Favorite social distancing activity: coaching little league
  • Favorite legal movie: Erin Brockovich

Thanks again to Julia Jurgensen for joining us on the show!