4 Quotes by WIlliam R. Keates

…clear benefit of writing legal memoranda is that when it comes to learning how to write well, nothing beats practice. As a junior associate you’ll find that over time, you’ll learn to draft memoranda that present logical, clear analyses of even the most complicated legal issues.

The law does not come wrapped in a tidy, clearly labeled package. Discerning what the law is requires gathering bits and pieces from a variety of sources, sorting them according to their relative weights and relevance... and combining them into as cohesive an analysis as possible.”Christina Kunz, popular legal writer

...downside of the team approach is that there may be a conflict between the schedules of your senior attorneys and you. If the senior attorneys on the team prefer to stay late and work late, you’ll have to match your schedule to theirs. If they like to work early and leave early, you’ll be expected to do the same – because if work schedule differences arise, they’ll be resolved in favor of the more senior attorneys, not you.

As I found, if you complete your work more efficiently, your reward is more billable work, not more leisure time. However, once you’re comfortable with the facts of a case, you simply lack the incentive to resolve the case, since you’ll just have to start the arduous task of learning a new case.