Your Billable Life: A Law Firm Survival Guide for New Attorneys

BOOK REVIEW - Your Billable Life: A Law Firm Survival Guide for New Attorney, is a pragmatic, irreverent, must-read for any law student or recent law school grad. Author Bruce Dravis doesn’t pull any punches - he tells it exactly how it is - the good, the bad, and what you need to do in order to prepare yourself for the transition from law student to lawyer.

The book is highly readable - I found the pages zipping by - as Dravis takes a very conversational tone. I almost felt like I was sitting down over a casual cup of coffee with him, learning all the essential ins and outs he’s discovered over his 20+ year career practicing law.

Dravis explains what law school taught you, what it left out, how to act smart in the workplace, more importantly how not to be stupid, how to earn the respect of partners in your firm, and how to balance work and life.

The early part of the book deals with practical advice for what to expect outside of law school, how to act, and generally how to get a good start to your career.

Then the latter portion dives into a very interesting and frank discussion of economics in the legal industry, and of individual law firms. Dravis educates the reader on these topics and lets them know they will not be able to navigate their career blissfully in a bubble - there are larger trends and factors in place that will influence your work existence, whether you like it or not, so you must properly manage them.

All-in-all - a very readable book with some great practical advice. A true must read for any law student or young lawyer.

Special thanks to guest Blogger Brett Owens, the Co-Founder and CEO of Chrometa, LLC.

(Editor's note: Chrometa is a great Northern California-based software company that helps professionals reclaim their undocumented billable time. Some of our readers may have read about them recently in Inc Magazine or the Sacramento Business Journal.)