#142: Why Easy-to-Brief Lawyers Stand Out in BigLaw

There is an under-rated skill that can make lawyers significantly more valuable to partners and clients: being easy to brief. This does not mean knowing everything about a matter or immediately having the answer. It means being able to enter an unfamiliar conversation, listen through incomplete or disorganized information, identify what actually matters, and determine what still needs to be known before moving forward. In BigLaw, lawyers are often pulled into meetings with little context, asked to weigh in on issues they did not expect, or given only a few minutes to get up to speed. The lawyers who handle those situations well are often the ones who get invited into more important conversations.

One of the biggest mistakes lawyers make when being briefed is interrupting too quickly or being too focused on every question that occurs to them. Many of those questions will be answered if you keep listening, while others will turn out not to matter at all. I also discuss in this episode how to identify the real issue by listening for what the client keeps returning to, why the conversation is happening now, what is worrying them, and what they actually need from the lawyers in the room. I cover when it does make sense to interrupt, why gathering every available fact can become counterproductive, and how to distinguish between "What is there to know?" and "What do I need to know to handle what needs to happen now?" Ultimately, being easy to brief is about exercising judgment under uncertainty and becoming the lawyer who can enter a complicated situation, find the center of the problem, and help move it toward a solution.

At a Glance

01:20 Why being easy to brief is an overlooked way lawyers add value

02:10 What it looks like when a lawyer can quickly get up to speed on an unfamiliar issue

03:36 Why you should resist asking every question that occurs to you during a briefing

05:13 How to listen long enough for complicated information to begin organizing itself

05:57 What to listen for when a client is giving you a messy or disorganized explanation

06:46 How senior lawyers and the dynamics in the room can provide additional signals about what matters

09:25 What to do when you still cannot identify the center of the problem

10:47 Why asking for every available document or fact can make lawyers harder to brief

11:52 The difference between what there is to know and what you need to know right now