There is a particular kind of satisfaction in crossing something off the list.
Email sent. Done.
Hearing calendared. Done.
Discovery served. Done.
Document filed. Done.
Assignment completed. Next.
Except in legal practice, “done” is often not really done. Almost everything we do causes something else to happen. A pleading triggers a response. A hearing creates deadlines. Discovery received requires review and may lead to follow-up. A deposition notice means more than putting a date on the calendar. A court order may change what happens next or when it needs to happen. That is why one of the most valuable habits a legal professional can develop is also one of the simplest:
Before you consider a task complete, ask: What happens next?
Look One Step Beyond the Assignment
This does not mean you need to predict every development in a case. You don’t. It means training yourself to look one step beyond the thing immediately in front of you. Suppose an attorney asks you to calendar a hearing. You calendar it accurately. The assignment is complete. But before moving on, ask: What happens next?
Does that hearing date create briefing deadlines?
Does it affect another date already on calendar?
Will something need to be prepared or filed before the hearing?
Does someone else on the team need to know?
Is there anything we should be doing now rather than waiting until the deadline is closer?
You may know the answers. You may not. Either way, you have done something important: you have stopped thinking about the hearing as an isolated event and started thinking about it as part of the case.
The Case Is Always Moving
Legal work can arrive on our desks in pieces. An email. A notice. A filing. A discovery response. A telephone message. An assignment. Because we receive the work in pieces, it is easy to perform it in pieces.
But the case isn’t happening in pieces. Everything is connected. Today’s assignment may exist because of something that happened three weeks ago. And what you do today may create something that needs attention three weeks from now. The more we understand those connections, the more valuable we become to the people we support. Not because we suddenly know everything. Because we begin to see what is coming.
“What Happens Next?” Changes the Way You Work
Consider the difference between these two approaches:
“I filed the motion.”
and
“I filed the motion. The hearing is on December 4, the briefing dates are calendared, and I’ll follow up next week regarding the tentative ruling procedures.”
The filing itself may have been the assignment. But the second response demonstrates an understanding of what the filing set in motion.
Or:
“The deposition is calendared.”
versus:
“The deposition is calendared. Do you want me to start a deposition folder and confirm whether you’ll need the exhibits from the prior deposition?”
Again, you aren’t making the attorney’s decisions. You’re simply looking ahead far enough to recognize that another decision may be coming. That is a very different way of working.
You Don’t Have to Know the Answer
This may be the most important part. Asking What happens next? does not mean you are expected to know what happens next every time. Sometimes the answer will be “I don’t know.” Good. Now you have identified something worth learning.
Ask the attorney. Ask a more experienced colleague. Look at the procedure. Review the file. Think about what happened the last time you encountered something similar. Over time, those individual questions begin turning into patterns.
You start recognizing what usually follows a particular event. You begin anticipating what the attorney will need. You notice earlier when something is missing. You ask better questions. And eventually, something interesting happens.
The attorney gives you an assignment and before the attorney finishes explaining what will need to happen afterward, you’re already thinking about it. That’s not because you’ve memorized every rule. It’s because you’ve learned to see the case beyond the task.
Build the Habit
The next time you are about to check something off your list, give yourself ten more seconds. Before you type “done,” close the email, move the document, or turn to the next assignment, ask:
What happens next?
Maybe nothing. Maybe something needs to be calendared. Maybe someone needs to know. Maybe another document needs to be prepared. Maybe you need to ask a question. Maybe today’s task just revealed tomorrow’s assignment.
Whatever the answer, those ten seconds can make a remarkable difference. Because there is a difference between completing the work in front of you and understanding where that work is taking the case.
Don’t just finish the task.
Look up. Look ahead. Ask what happens next.
Categorized in: Legal Procedure
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