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Hi. I'm not sure if this is the proper place to post this but I have an exclusive opening for a trust and estates attorney who is tax heavy. I am looking for someone to join the US office of an international family office in Philadelphia. I'm happy to share details. There is also a possibility of remote working so if you are not a Pennsylvania resident please don't be afraid to reach out. It's an amazing job! Kristy@advancedlegalplacement.com
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This is really helpful. I’m at a small firm (3 attorneys). I’m the most junior. I’m not getting a lot of clients (lots of drafting and researching for the lead attorneys) and I’m wondering if that’s “normal” 3-4 years in? I feel like an expensive paralegal a lot of the time.
10 years in, same thing. First 7 were with solo who micromanaged everything so options to handle anything solo were minimal. Now with slight bigger firm (12 attorneys) I get more variety and handle things more on my own. But I've also been broken and feel the need to have my work checked all the time even though these partners keep telling me my work is great.
Probably will vary considerably from firm to firm and the types of clients you are dealing with. Personally I think it’s never a bad idea to have a second set of eyes on your documents.
I am 30 years in. We review each other's work all the time. And tbh at 3 to 4 years I didn't have enough experience to necessarily recognize (or get the client to recognize) when something that looks simple actually isn't simple at all.
Estate planning can get very complex, depending on the scenario. Also, if there is an error it isn’t likely to come to the surface for years (or decades) and has the potential to have significant damages cost (think about messing up the distribution scheme of a $10 million estate plan).
So, I think it’s great that they are reviewing your plans. It shows they aren’t an estate planning mill and are valuing the time it takes to double check everything.
Estate planning can also touch on many other areas of law and it is difficult to master those other areas all at once. There are tax issues, real property conveyances, business succession, long-term care planning, legacy planning, farm law, contractual issues in infra-family buy-sell agreements, family law issues with pre-nups, post-nups, and child custody at death, etc. That is a lot of issue spotting and knowledge base.
It may also be something their malpractice carrier requires: that every plan be double checked. Estate planning is one of the “red flag” areas on the insurability spectrum for all of the reasons noted above. It’s good to keep your carrier happy.