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I don’t want to mitigate your concerns, but know that doc review is really important and a great way to make yourself valuable as a young associate. It’s how anyone on the team gains real substantive knowledge of the facts around the issues in the case. If you demonstrate you have a good ability to process and navigate documents, you’ll probably get tapped to put together some witness prep binders down the road, or help draft some outlines for such interviews. Depending on the client’s feelings about numbers of lawyers in a room, this means you might get invited to come “scribe” an interview—it doesn’t sound sexy, sure, but it is client contact and it means you have a bigger hand in building out the facts of the case, working toward eventual dispositive motion practice. So don’t make the mistake of thinking doc review is a waste of time; it’s only a waste of time if you don’t make the most of the opportunity to show the people you work for that you have good judgment. Plus, it’s hours.
I gather you were probably looking for more “do this, then this will happen” advice, but that doesn’t really exist in the law firm environment. Just try to remember that your job as a lawyer is to make whoever is coming to you with a problem’s (for you, a partner or senior associate) life easier. Ask yourself before you react in stressful situations “is this person going to feel like I’m helping fix the problem or not.” Usually I’ve found that means I have to 1. Identify the problem; 2. If appropriate, take responsibility for the problem; 3. Propose a solution noting any other issues with the solution. Simply identifying an issue isn’t helping (and avoiding identifying it because you can’t think of a solution is unethical and unacceptable). But showing problem-solving abilities on small scales consistently is what builds trust in your judgment, and partners trusting you is what creates more so-called substantive work opportunities.
This is really great advice. Thanks for taking the time to reply with all this.