Monday Mentors with Austin Litigator Michael Kabat

Today's guest is Michael Kabat, partner and litigator at McGinnis Lochridge in Austin. Michael talks about IP cases moving to Waco, being a lawyer of your word, and what they look for in lateral hires.

His firm/practice

• Full service regional firm with Austin roots (now Houston and Decatur offices); oldest law firm in Austin
• Lots of oil/gas and public utility clients, but
• His practice is a broad litigation practice, though the two he focuses on are business litigation and intellectual property litigation
• As a Waco native, he is particularly interested in Judge Alan Albright's federal court which has a heavy IP case load
  • Waco could become the new East Texas/Marshall/Rocket Docket
  • Several firms around the state opening up new/satellite offices in Waco

COVID-19 update (as of 12/3/20)

• Began operating remote in March, and has stayed that way since then.
• Was an undertaking to get it implemented, but has worked well
• Moved group communication to Microsoft Teams
  • Pretty simple/easy to use
  • Good chat function and project based threads
  • Screen sharing is okay
  • Good video functionality similar to Zoom
• Some folks in the Houston office have returned to the office and people will occasionally pop into the Austin office
• Some hearings/depos it has been better to get the tech/office support from being in the office
• They were in the process of renovating a new space to move into, and COVID has given them pause to rethink the standard ways of commuting/officing
• Austin continues to boom with real estate/construction/office projects

Advice for lawyers in practice

• Your word is your bond; learn who does/doesn't abide by the same
  • Become someone others can trust
  • If it's a difficult call, what impact will there be on the client? Matters of scheduling/procedure are things that generally don't negatively impact the client and the lawyer can make the call. If it's more of a strategy decision then you really need to listen to the client.
• Treat your partners as your client; don't lose sight that you are in a client service business with a fiduciary obligation
  • By impressing the partners, you will get more responsibility and opportunity

Advice for lawyers seeking a job / can you answer these questions?

• What has your experience been thus far?
• What do your colleagues think of you?
• Do they fit into the culture of the firm?
• In their firm, it's usually a specific need they are looking to fill, so that match will be important.
• Could the person become a partner?
  • Not every firm prioritizes this; important to know/understand the firm's approach in this regard.
  • What is the leverage structure of the firm? Lots of associates for each partner? That might mean they aren't looking for partners.
• Do they want to live in the city?
  • Austin is growing as a legal market
• Big firms aren't for everyone and there are plenty of other great opportunities

Rapid Fire Questions

• Name one trait/characteristic you most want to see in an associate: ownership/eagerness
• What habit has been key to your success: calendaring deadlines and daily time entry
• Favorite app/productivity tool: Snipping on Microsoft Office
• Favorite social distancing activity: sleeping; Queen's Gambit (Netflix); The Boys (Amazon Prime)
• Favorite legal movie: Intolerable Cruelty

Thanks again to Michael Kabat for joining us on today's show!