The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book: A Survival Guide

by Thane Josef Messinger

In this survival guide for the new attorney, in-depth advice on law office life, includes how to work with senior attorneys, legal research, memos, drafting, mistakes, grammar, email, workload, timesheets, reviews, teamwork, deportment, attitude, perspective, working with clients (and dissatisfied clients), working with office staff, using office tools, and, well, not just surviving but thriving in a new career. This book is written for all law graduates, for any law a firm―large, medium, or small―agency, corporation, or the military.

Genres: Law, Self Help

227 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Honor]

This is, without a doubt, the best book I've ever read on the subject of becoming a practicing attorney. Excellent stuff, and -much- more entertaining than someone not considering such a career move might think.

[Johanna]

A well-written and brutally honest look at the legal industry generally, from the viewpoint of a junior. It gives you an inside look at the dynamics of the law firm: part disappointing, part scary, part challenging, and part exciting and rewarding. The book has various references and examples that lighten the book up at certain parts. The footnotes are fantastic

[Shabbir Hamid]

I flew through this book. As a prospective law student, I learned a lot about big firm law practice. It's a quick, funny, and informative read.

[Sahar Hamlani]

I find this book to be full of extremely useful and direct advice. Messigner's detailed and helpful work is full of "aha!" moments. I have made a lot of mistakes this book points out and I enjoyed the satisfaction of learning that I am not alone. Most young lawyers are in the boat I am and stand to benefit from the advice this author so blatantly presents to his readers.

However, I do not believe this book is a 5 star book because it lacks details, discriptions and examples of the rules it establishes. For example, the author suggests that "brown-nosing" done right is essential to a young attorney's career. However, more examples from real life situations of what to do and of what not to do would be even more beneficial than just stating the rules of the field. So, as we learned from reading cases and practicing hypotheticals in law school, I feel this book can use more hypotheticals to explain the rules it gives.

Lastly, the book seems to be strictly catered to attorneys working for larger law firms. The author does make side notes and references to attorneys at smaller firms but I feel it isn't enough. He could benefit his readers more if he incorporated other legal careers that lawyers often find themselves in after law school and gave advice on issues faced by those lawyers.

Nevertheless, this survival guide is still an essential read for a new attorney. I sincerely enjoyed it. It is an easy read, it is interesting and his colloquial writing style is engaging. Definitely read it and have flag notes and highlighters handy. Get ready to learn some amazing tricks of the trade!

[Jose]

Written as a real-politik survival guide for new or aspiring attorneys, but us chock-full of excellent advice for everyone who works for a living and is managing a career - not just lawyers. It's a unique approach to the genre of career advice books - the author sort of comes across as a wise but nerdy older brother - there is more than one "Star Wars" allusion for instance. Another literary tic - the author seems to have an incurable addiction to footnotes, most of which are more often than not dedicated to cute-sy asides that have absolutely zero relevance to the topic at hand. The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book: A Survival Guide has dozens of these little idiosyncrasies sprinkled all over the place- they will either endear you to the author's likable vulnerabilities or endlessly annoy the crap out of you.
On balance this is a well written and valuable resource for just about anyone who is faced with the often messy task of working in a group environment for a living, as well as those traipsing through the minefield that is shaping a career path.

[Ryan]

I gave this two stars for the substantive information, which seemed excellent and on point. However, the writing was rarely on point--bloated might be a better adjective. The "wit" is annoying. The last chapter is best both in style and substance.

[Chance]

the jungle book was awsome it had a good story line and the way it ended was pretty sad but at least mowgli knew that if he went into the jungle he would have freinds who would always protect him

[Will]

A lot of wise information for beginning a career. The author tends to veer off-track from the central narrative but the asides are pretty interesting for the most part. Solid book.