Monday Mentors with Houston Personal Injury Lawyer Matt Greenberg
Today's guest is Houston personal injury lawyer Matt Greeberg of Zehl & Associates. Matt and I talk about the importance of who you work for, things to include/exclude on a resume, and why plaintiff's lawyers are the surgeons of law practice.
- What's happening in personal injury law right now
- Automation when it comes to vehicles (Tesla/Google/Uber); what happens when there is no driver of the vehicle involved in the crash?
- What he learned as a young lawyer
- find a good mentor
- Don't just come out and ask them to be your mentor; instead look for a project you can volunteer to help with
- Pick a complicated piece of the project and offer to throw yourself into it and take care of it
- be picky about who you work under as a young lawyer
- to the extent you can, surround yourself with great staff and take advice and critique from them
- find a good mentor
- When seeking / interviewing for a lawyer job
- demonstrate good writing ability through writing samples or recent writing projects
- high school is irrelevant and shouldn't be on a resume
- Maybe national merit scholar can stay; Eagle Scout (Daniel)
- leave interests off or make them more broad (though Daniel mentions there is a split on this between employers)
- Highlight what you've done in practice that is especially distinct (federal court? corporate rep depo? Daubert?)
- Careful with political affiliations and conversations
- Research the firm in advance of the interview (old cases, etc.) and prepare questions
- To impress as an associate
- Be the person who says yes to everything (Thanks Professor Powell)
- partners will like this
- you will get a wide range of experience
- Be the person who says yes to everything (Thanks Professor Powell)
- To bring in business
- Can depend on the practice area (not a lot of repeat clients in personal injury)
- websites (AVVO)
- Let everyone know the kind of work that you do, especially your former classmates - great referral source!
- Be involved with your law school alumni groups and events
- Buy your own domain name in case you ever want to to out on your own
- Work/Life balance issues
- It's never going to be equal; work is going to be the majority of what you do
- Try to carve out times in the evening/weekend that are yours (not the entire evening or weekend, but like 7-8pm are protected)
- The case for personal injury work
- If you want to do this, start by doing some type of litigation wherever you are; it is translatable
- The most exciting area of practice: depos, hearings, motions...the surgeons of the law practice
- Rapid fire
- trait/characteristic in associate - drive
- key habit - sleep
- app/tool - One Note
- legal movie - A Few Good Men