Who wants to be friends with, or work with someone who is always pointing out what is wrong with something? Or telling you what the negative reactions, implications and outcomes will be, might be, could be? NO ONE!
Do not be that lawyer, I mean, person. It is often difficult to keep it to yourself, but try.
At work however, you should share your knowledge, share what you think might happen. If it does happen and there are negative effects and you haven’t spoken up, you have done yourself, the firm and your client a disservice. You often know and understand more than you think. That said, always ask the questions you have because you will be surprised how many other people do not know or understand the same things as you. How many times have you been in a room, someone asks a question and you had been wondering the same thing? Help people while helping yourself. That is what building relationships is about, putting yourself out there, asking the question can be the start of something, even more than simply learning something new.
You learned a lot in law school. Often your legal training will come in handy….when your friend gets a parking ticket and you know an administrative judge, when someone needs a will and your friend from law school is a trusts & estates lawyer, or when a friend calls, “my son was just arrested at JFK for having a concealed weapon that he had declared” and you know an ADA in Queens. That is when it is good to know what you know. Wait, those examples are about who you know, not what you know.
Do not confuse the two! Networking is about, yes, we’ve heard it all before…say it with me….building relationships. People are who you know, issues are what you know. You do not want to know people who cause issues or point out all of the potential ones.
