‘People deserve kindness and respect’: Experienced lawyers dish advice for new lawyers

From not getting bogged down by the idea of winning cases to taking a step back to put their health and families first, experienced attorneys and judges are offering advice for new lawyers just beginning their practices.

Here’s what they had to say.

Raymond Dudlo,
Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC, Evansville

“What courtroom are you going to?”

“What’s the judge like?”

“How do you submit certain documents?”

Raymond Dudlo, an attorney at Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC, said when he was a new lawyer, there was always someone with more experience willing to answer those questions and guide him in the right direction.

His advice for new lawyers: Find those people.

“Having people willing to take the time to help you was always really helpful,” Dudlo said.

Still, Dudlo said new lawyers should be mindful of who they’re working under and learning from.

“Often times, you’ll end up emulating them and their style,” he said. “That can be a good or bad thing.”

Dudlo also warned against getting “bogged down” by the idea that you’re always trying to win a case.

It’s true that you’re working for a client, he said, but lawyering isn’t a zero-sum game.

Judge Paul Mathias,
Court of Appeals of Indiana

Judge Paul Mathias cautioned new lawyers to set boundaries with clients so they know they can’t call 24/7.

Mathias also stressed the importance of organization, something he said helped him as a new lawyer.

He advised young attorneys to always keep track of filing deadlines and set reminders ahead of time.

Lawyers, especially the younger ones, sometimes have to do things they don’t really want to do, Mathias acknowledged. Even so, he encouraged attorneys to use those experiences to broaden their perspectives.

Someday, he said, those experiences will be helpful when determining what kind of practice they eventually want to go into.

Outside of the practice, Mathias said it’s important to get a proper perspective by joining a church or civic organization.

“I think it’s very important for young lawyers to remember that their health and their family’s health always has to come first,” the judge said. “They’ll find that their mental health and perspective will be better if they become involved in something greater than they are.”

Judge Terry Crone,
Court of Appeals of Indiana

Judge Terry Crone said he has two major pieces of advice for new lawyers.

First: “It’s OK not to know how to do something, but it’s not OK not to ask,” he said.

Rather than thinking of asking questions as a sign of weakness, Crone said it’s OK for new lawyers to admit they don’t step out of law school knowing everything.

For example, Crone said new lawyers shouldn’t be shy about asking other lawyers how a particular judge runs his or her courtroom.

Second: “If you don’t believe that every clerk, secretary, bailiff, court personnel is deserving of respect because they were created in the image of God, then treat them that way because they will help you in the practice of law.”

Aside from those two main pieces of advice, Crone added that one thing that helped him as a new attorney was getting lunch with older lawyers and listening to their stories.

Melanie Rasmussen,
Rasmussen Law LLC, Beech Grove

Melanie Rasmussen, a solo practitioner with Rasmussen Law LLC, said to keep the three Rs in mind.

First, respect: “People deserve kindness and respect,” she said. “We don’t know what a person may be going through on any given day.”

Being respectful and civil should be incorporated in all parts of a lawyer’s work, Rasmussen said, from their writings to how they interact with court staff and other attorneys.

Second, respond: “Please pick up the phone or send a reply email,” she said, even if that means simply acknowledging a request for now and giving a time frame for when you’ll be able to give a full answer.

Third, recharge: “You are more than an attorney and you should do what makes you happy and reenergizes you,” she said. “This profession we have chosen can be emotionally and physically draining and we can easily lose ourselves in the mix.”

When it comes to something she did that might have set her back as a new lawyer, Rasmussen said she opened her own practice out of law school but didn’t financially invest in it: “I wonder how much easier I could have made things … had I learned about the technology and chosen to spend a little bit of money earlier in my career?”

Robert Hill,
chief public defender, Marion County

Robert Hill, Marion County’s chief public defender, said new lawyers spend too much time “trying to be right instead of being someone who’s listening.”

“I think sometimes it’s better to understand what someone is telling you,” he said, “as opposed to being understood.”

Hill said there are some interactions that have had a great impact on him.

That includes a client’s mother who hugged him for doing a good job for her loved one.

He also recalled a young client he had who was facing the death penalty but had to tell Hill to calm down, because he tends to talk too fast when he’s nervous.

“So here’s this kid that is on trial for his life and tells me I need to take care of myself,” Hill said.

“There’s a lot of humanity in that thought at stake,” he added. “It’s kind of overwhelming.”•