Monday Mentors with San Antonio Lawyer Ryan Reed

Ryan Reed is a partner and litigator with the San Antonio law firm Pulman, Cappuccio & Pullen. Ryan talks about the importance of professionalism, the best ways to develop business, and leading with a final draft.

His firm:

• Mid-sized San Antonio firm with heavy litigation background (some transactional partners too)
• His practice is focused on business and probate litigation
• Biggest issue in probate right now is the change in tax laws and raised exemption amounts leads to clients with tax plans wills that are unnecessary and can create interesting issues
• Loves practicing and living in San Antonio. Different from other Texas cities. Lawyers are great about being professional and working together; not as cut throat as some other locations. But, there also aren't the number of mid-sized businesses as in the larger cities to feed the legal work

Advice to lawyers

• Don't be afraid to pleasantly go into the courthouse and ask for help. Treat the clerks/staff respectively; they will remember you and treat you well
• When you prepare something, do so as if you were putting your name on it and sending it out into the world
  • The partner will still edit your work, but they will appreciate it the less they have to do
  • fully format; correct date; all typos removed
• As a partner he no knows what makes his life easier in terms of the work from associates; also has a better perspective on the time he's putting in (thought it may not be apparent all the time to the associates)
• The lawyer does so many different things and it's difficult to have all those skill sets
  • generate business
  • legal knowledge/skill
  • do the work in a competent manner (in court / in writing)
  • Hard to have all of these, and increases the importance of the team around you
  • Team approach is often a missed opportunity for law firm

When hiring associates

• Resume/documents
  • Not looking as closely at grades/credentials as a large law firm might
  • Competence/personality most important
  • And do they have some experience that relates to what we do?
  • Want to see something on the resume that is broader than just a lawyer; what type of human being are they?
    • Outside interests/skills?
  • If the resume doesn't look professional, it's a red flag. Justify. Spell correctly. Should be visually appealing. If it isn't, the interviewer will think the person is sloppy.
• In the interview
  • Know what you want to do. Don't just listen to the interviewer describe the work/firm and then say "yes I want to do that!"

Business development

• positive interaction with other lawyers; treat them respectively; they can be your best source of referrals
• help as many people as you can; you never know whether that might lead to a great case from them or someone they refer; don't overlook small cases
• community involvement; for him that's the other parents around his kids' school; he pitches himself as being a problem solver, whether it's something he can do or point them to the person who can.

On work/life balance

• Many of the lawyers in his firm have kids and are aware of the desire to spend time with families
• There is a trade-off: how much money do you want to make vs. how much time do you want to spend with family
• Live close to the office and minimize commute times
• One approach is to carve out some time that is personal (i.e. 6pm-8pm at night) and communicate it with the firm (though as a young lawyer this may be more of a challenge).

Final thoughts

• Be careful not to make your clients' problems your own problems
• Solve problems and help people; it's a profession of service to your fellow man

Rapid Fire

• • important trait in an associate - thorough
  • key habit to success - getting in early
  • favorite app / tool - he is designing his own app right now!
  • favorite legal movie - Erin Brockovich

COVID update

• Important to quickly be able to access documents (cloud)
• They've jumped into using Microsoft Teams
  • Standing call (watercooler substitute)
  • Hard to have a team for every case (can work on large cases), so instead have teams for partner-led groups which can include multiple cases and associates