Ramos has a passion for mentoring young lawyers
Ramos has a passion for mentoring young lawyers
Senior Editor
Beginning lawyers are facing fewer jobs and fiercer competition as automation shrinks the legal marketplace and raises client expectations.
As he marks his 20th year in the profession, South Florida attorney and author Francisco “Frank” Ramos can’t remember a legal landscape this challenging.
“More hands are chasing fewer bread crumbs and it’s just tough all over,” Ramos says. “Law firms can pretty much hire and fire at will. And clients are putting a lot of pressure on firms to charge less and find more creative ways to bill. It’s become a lot more stressful environment.”
Figures back him up. The National Association for Law Placement reports that while the percentage of law school graduates who are unemployed 10 months after graduation has fallen to 8.7 percent in the past three years, that’s still double the pre-recession rate.
Ramos should know. He spends countless hours mentoring young lawyers inside and outside his firm. In addition to scores of articles, he has written six books, including the primer “The Associate’s Handbook.” A seventh is due out shortly.
Ramos is managing partner at Miami-based Clarke Silvergate, a nine-member litigation firm that continues to stress mentoring young talent even though competitors refuse to hire beginners and many corporate clients refuse to pay for work performed by first-year associates.
Ramos says he and his partners still believe mentoring is one of the best ways to give back.
“It’s time consuming, and obviously it’s time they can’t bill, but it’s important,” Ramos says. “The faster we can develop them as attorneys, the quicker they become independent and the faster that they can better represent the client.”
For Ramos, mentoring is about creating better writers, speakers, and thinkers.
“If you’re a good communicator, either oral or written, and you do it with a certain level of confidence, then the opposing counsel realizes that they’re dealing with a real adversary,” Ramos says. “You gain the judge’s respect and you gain the opposing counsel’s respect and you gain the client’s respect.”
Every attorney Ramos mentors gets a copy of Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style.” In addition to studying motions and letters drafted by more experienced attorneys, beginners are urged to study and discuss revisions of their work.
“A lot of firms will revise it themselves and just throw it back at the associate, but never really take the time to explain why the revisions are the way they are,” Ramos says. “Sometimes you have to explore the more fundamental things, like using the active voice, getting to the point, using shorter sentences with fewer clauses with less adjectives and adverbs.”
In “The Associate’s Handbook,” Ramos endorses “On Writing Well” author William Zinsser’s theory that the modern reader has a 30-second attention span. Legal writing should reflect that, Ramos says.
“Bam! Hit the reader between the eyes,” Ramos says. “Hit the ground running with a strong start. You are not working up to a crescendo. You start at the crescendo.”
The book’s advice ranges from footwear to philosophy. Ramos begins with the premise that every case should be treated as if it were going to trial, even though 98 percent of disputes settle.
“You will quickly discover the paradox that if you try every case, you will work less, not more,” Ramos writes. “That is because you will only do that which is necessary. The second paradox is that by trying each case you will try fewer of them, because the better prepared you are for trial, the better prepared you are to settle a case on your terms.”
Ramos also advises attorneys to develop a life outside of the office, by getting involved in the community and participating in charitable organizations.
Don’t merely participate in the Young Lawyers Division of The Florida Bar’s activities or join the local voluntary bar association, Ramos advises — volunteer for committees and do the grunt work nobody else wants to do. Rising through the association leadership ranks is a good way to make lifelong friends and boost a career.
“A local organization will help you develop ties and relationships with local attorneys, judges, and community leaders,” Ramos says. “The state and national organizations will allow you to expand your spheres of influence that go beyond your backyard.”
No attorney can afford to ignore social media, Ramos says. He posts constantly on LinkedIn and follows up the posts with phone conversations and occasional one-on-one sessions over coffee.
“Clients and potential clients are increasingly using LinkedIn. For this reason, whether you like it or not, you must compete on LinkedIn,” Ramos says. “You must follow-up on connections you make electronically with personal connections, either by telephone or preferably in person.”
At the same time, Ramos warns attorneys to tread carefully on social media to avoid transgressing the Bar’s strict rules governing attorney advertising. Lawyers should avoid soliciting clients on social media and even friending people who could pose a conflict of interest, Ramos says.
Developing a winning trial strategy requires imagination, and Ramos has tips for that, too. He advises attorneys to doodle, journal their thoughts, learn a second language, make up stories for their children, sing, or join an acting troupe.
And it’s a good idea to keep abreast of the top-rated TV shows, Ramos says, from trashy reality to formulaic sitcom. A thorough understanding of popular culture is key to connecting with jurors, Ramos says.
The son of working-class Cuban immigrants and the second in his immediate family to earn a college degree, Ramos says he developed his writing obsession after facing an existential crisis early in his career.
“I questioned myself. Did I really know what I was doing? Was I an effective lawyer, an effective trial attorney?” Ramos says. “So I just basically started reducing my knowledge to writing to confirm to myself that I actually knew one or two things about the practice. And then I realized that I had some basis of knowledge here, and I started sharing it and it kind of took off. “
