"Becoming a Lawyer in the Zoom Era: The Case for Showing Up."
Miami-based WWHGD attorney, Diego Rosette, authored an article for Attorney at Work laying out “the case for showing up” as a strategy for succeeding as a new attorney learning the profession in today’s digital “Zoom Era.”
After attending law school in the middle of the Zoom era and spending his first year of practice fully remote, Rosette noted that much of the practice of law remained similar to those virtual experiences even after the “return to normal.”
“Motion calendar hearings were reminiscent of those law school lectures, with dozens of anonymous faces popping up on the screen,” Rosette said. “At first, I thought this was simply the nature of modern practice: efficient, time-saving and forward-looking.
However, he noted that after two years of practice, Rosette has realized how much young attorneys – and the profession itself – is at risk of losing by normalizing a fully virtual paradigm. For one, online communications can embolden less constructive dialogue, including with opposing counsel, as it is easy to transform into a shielded keyboard warrior. “Conversely, when sitting in a room across from opposing counsel, we’re forced to measure our words and learn restraint,” Rosette said.
Further, learning to practice law (particularly litigation) entirely from behind a computer screen can lead lawyers’ tendencies to lean more administrative than advocacy. While there are certainly efficiencies in today’s legal practice that may not have existed before, Rosette noted the risk of “cultivating a generation of litigators raised on expediency, not experience.”
For the full article, please click here.
