Now Hiring

Job Title

Junior Attorney

Are You the Right Fit?

If you don’t have an appreciation for Adam Sandler’s or Jason Bateman’s humor you will not enjoy working here.

About the Job:

• The Founder (James DeCristofaro) is the head attorney at The Lawyer James who has worked on high profile cases involving American Express, Berkshire Hathaway, Corcoran, United Airlines, Xerox, Citibank, Mike Tyson, Don King, and has been featured on The Doctors, Netflix, The New York Times, The Thrivetime Show Podcast, The New York Post, Law 360, and Fortune Magazine.
  Learn more about The Lawyer James at https://thelawyerjames.com.
• Some qualifications that predict success at The Lawyer James include excellent oral and written communication skills particularly for understanding complex legal issues and explaining them to clients; ethics, integrity, and confidentiality; and strong organizational and multitasking abilities..
• At the Lawyer James, you have an opportunity to work at a rapidly growing Law Office that has become New York’s highest rated and most reviewed Business Law Firm.
• You will be able to learn endless skills from an attorney with over twenty years of experience.
• You will be able to branch out from just business and be able to learn real estate law and much more.
• Once you have established yourself, you will be able to build your own book of business, run cases, acquire and maintain clients, and share in profits.

Job Purpose:

Help companies and individuals to get the best legal advice and to maximize their rights and positions in business relationships and disputes: https://thelawyerjames.com/testimonials/
Our mission is to spread powerful and practical legal advice.

Job Duties:

• Preparing court filings and other legal documents
• Legal research
• Client development
• Client follow-up
• Proofreading
• Strategizing
• Client contact
• Filing court papers
• Marketing support
• Administrative support
• Over delivering + going the extra mile

NOTE: The role of the Junior Attorney will primarily support senior attorneys in multiple jurisdictions.

Skills/Qualifications:

• You must be a high-energy person.
• You must be goal-oriented and must love hitting deadlines.
• You must be admitted to practice law in New York State.
• You must have a coachable attitude – Example of an A-Player employee
  
   

Compensation?:

• You will earn up to $156,000 per year with much room for advancement and promotion.

Contact Us?

• If you have the stuff, we want to hear from you.
• Contact us at (212) 500-1891
• If you are chronically late, or perpetually angry, please do not apply.

James J. DeCristofaro, Esq.

Job Type: Full-time

Salary: Up to $156,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Flexible schedule
• Professional development assistance

Supplemental pay types:

• Bonus pay
• Commission pay

License/Certification:

• New York Attorney License (Required)

Work Location: In person

There are a few things to say about the overall practice of law, particularly in the context of working at The Lawyer James.  First, in my opinion, law school does not prepare you to be an attorney.  Instead, it teaches you the framework for thinking about legal issues.  But guess what, without any clients, an attorney’s skills are completely useless.  Second, working at a large firm, at least in my experience, and again, in my opinion, puts attorneys at risk of being over-specialized, which can limit your ability to grow professionally.  For example, there are many parts to a litigation case, but in some instances, some attorneys tend to specialize in one aspect of that litigation, rather than having an overall perspective of the case.  While some people view specialization as a good thing, I do not; this is because in my opinion, a New York Business Attorney needs to have a broad range of skills, and be familiar with the case in its entirety, because the goal is to best service the client.  And how do we do that?  By knowing where the client is in the case during every step of the way, so that we can properly advise the client on achieving the client’s goals.

With that being said, this is all academic without having actual clients, because without having actual clients, a New York Business attorney cannot perform services for clients.  It’s an obvious proposition and concept, but it’s worth stating here to make the point.  And what is the point:  the most valuable skill in being a lawyer is the ability to sell the client.  Don’t believe me?  Look at who the most highly compensated attorneys are at the large law firms:  those who have robust books of business, i.e., robust client bases.

So how does this all tie into law school and large firm practice?  It’s simple:  based on my experience, which was years ago (and I fully recognize that curricula and practices may have changed since then), law schools, and, to a lesser extent, large firms, did not prepare students and their junior associates for the most valuable skill:  sales.  In reality, my law school, as I recall, did not even touch the topic, and a few firms that I worked at did put some effort into it, but in my opinion, it was not enough.

What is the solution?  It’s important to acknowledge that a law firm, like any other business, is a business, and in all businesses, the lifeblood is sales.  Without sales, there are no clients, without clients, there is no work, without work, there is no putting legal skills to use.  That’s why, at The Lawyer James, we involve our attorneys, even at the most junior levels, in the sales, process, if and to the extent we believe that they are equipped for it, are ready for it, and have a desire to learn this important skillset.  In this regard, the biggest and most important characteristic for a junior attorney to have, and the most valued trait, is desire; it’s the burning desire to excel and succeed that will put you ahead of others, that will make you stand out, and that will pave the pathway to learning the skills necessary to be an integral part of a growing law practice.

And guess what?  The sales skills required to acquire clients are also necessary for convincing others of your position, whether in a transactional or litigation environment.  In the transaction context, you are trying to convince your adversaries to include or exclude a particular provision for a contract.  In the litigation context, you are trying to convince your adversary to acquiesce, or, more importantly, a judge to rule in your favor.  At the end of the day, your sales skills as an attorney are not only critical in acquiring clients, but in servicing them as well.