Monday Mentors with Austin Construction Lawyer Rekha Roarty

Rekha Roarty joins us on today's show! Rekha is a construction lawyer with Bollier Ciccone in Austin. Rekha talks about staying professional on Zoom, seeking out the work you want, and showing your personality in an interview.

Her firm/practice

• Construction/real estate litigation (her practice); there is a family law section of the firm as well

COVID update (as of December 17, 2020)

• Travis County has taken a lot of actions to protect, so civil hearings and trials are not happening in person and are entirely on Zoom
• Multiple times having clients on Zoom on their phone and in their car; encourage everyone to keep the same formalities, dress, etc.
• For court, use a laptop or maybe an iPad and not your phone to get on a Zoom
• Make sure to block time into your calendar for it along with time ahead for getting online, making sure the tech is working ,etc.
• The prices of building materials (particularly lumber) have skyrocketed, which causes issues when agreements were made a year ago when prices were much lower.
• Also, there can be delays in the supply chain and/or with issues with subcontractors not wanting to work due to COVID which can impact everyone up/down the chain. So this creates labor shortages.
• Post-COVID
  • Travis County is considering having a Zoom docket once/week in order to create more efficiencies. This would apply to routine/administrative type hearings.
    • Mediations/depositions are more effective in person, but it is nice to have the option to do them by Zoom if there is difficult travel or other reasons that make it hard to do them in person
  • Work from home can work and should be an option at least some of the time, and/or add flexibility to how we work

Advice for lawyers in practice

• Speak up / volunteer for what you want to do.
  • offer to handle a hearing
  • ask if you can sit in on a call or depo
  • she handled her first trial after just six months of being licensed
• Don't be afraid opposing counsel for their thoughts/tips/etc. after a case is over.
  • Attorneys are almost always willing, even eager to help and give advice
  • Build connections with them. Not only can you become a better lawyer, but it can also be a source of referrals.
• Have pride in your work, but there is no place in your workplace for pride.
  • There isn't a task that is beneath you.
  • All hands on deck.
  • Be willing/able to do everything and not just what you consider to be the "attorney" role.
  • Have this attitude and mindset.
• If you make mistakes, take responsibility and fix it. Don't blame others or make excuses.
  • (Daniel relating a NY Times story about an NBA agent who made a mistake that cost his client $3M, and he took responsibility and paid it back to the player over a number of years.)

Advice for lawyers seeking a job

• Be yourself because firms are looking for a good fit, and nobody can tell that if you aren't being yourself
• Also you need to be able to relate to people, colleagues, clients, etc.
• DON'T LIE ON YOUR RESUME!
• Don't shy away from resume gaps or concerns, just explain them truthfully and move on.
• Highlighting interests and unique things about yourself is helpful and encouraged

Final Thought

• Don't feel trapped in one area just because that's where you started. She moved from family law to construction law after 2.5 years.

Rapid Fire Questions

• One trait/characteristic you most want to see in an associate: Honesty
• What habit has been key to your success: Organization
• Favorite app/tool: Slack
• Favorite social distancing activity: Disney+ Sharing option where you can simultaneously stream movies at different locations and watch movies with friends/family without being in the same place
• Favorite legal movie: Legally Blonde

Thanks again to Rekha Roarty for coming on the show!