Monday Mentors with Austin Immigration Lawyer Matthew Myers
Matthew Myers, immigration lawyer and partner at MW Law, joins us on today's show! Matthew talks about a wild year in immigration law, how to navigate law firm offices, and highly targeting your job search efforts.
His practice / firm
- Recently launched his own practice after working with a large immigration law firm
- Mostly working on investor and employment immigration cases
- Partnered with two friends who had a business/real estate transactional firm and started the immigration section
- International focused
- Always something new in immigration law:
- The Trump administration just changed an important definition of the type of job that qualifies for an H-1B visa
- A significant number of major developments in 2020
- Shutting down travel to different countries and different types of visas during this pandemic
- Would a Biden-administration open the immigration system back up?
Covid Update (as of 10/8/20)
- A lot of fear/confusion for clients, which creates opportunity for lawyers to be of assistance
- All the US embassies and consulates were closed in March which dramatically impacted people trying to get back into the country
- Has been working at home but is ready to get back into the office to try and keep a separation between and personal
- Most of his practice can all be done remote/online
- He has volunteered to work on asylum/removal defense cases where hearings are still happening in-person
Advice for lawyers in practice
- Get into the office before everyone else, and be the last one to leave
- He distinguished himself at the firm in a short time because of his commitment to this
- Higher volume work in the early years can multiply your experience, so that after three or four years you've gained what amounts to 10+ years of experience
- Approach the early years like you are a resident in medical school
- If you can, save work/life balance for later
- Careful that you aren't taken advantage of by others in the firm who know you work well/hard/long, and advocate for appropriate compensation
- Will differentiate you from other lawyers with similar years of experience
- Legal field can be political
- The show Suits is an exaggeration, but based upon some truth of how it is
- Advocate for yourself
- Old school expectations (e.g. lifetime loyalty to a firm)
- Find the best fit for you
- Become independent as soon as you can
- Ask yourself what you would do if you didn't have more senior lawyers you could go to
- Come up with your own/new ideas
Advice for lawyers in job searches
- Closely tailor your resume to the job you are applying to
- One page resume with no typos
- If you are looking to switch practice areas, get out and meet people in the practice area you are wanting to move to
Rapid Fire Questions
- One trait/characteristic you most want to see in an associate: be receptive to guidance
- Key habit: hard work
- Favorite app/tool: todoist
- Favorite social distancing activity: coffee on the patio
- Favorite legal movie: My Cousin Vinny
Thanks again to Matthew Myers for coming on the show!