New Lawyer Career Advice: Saying Yes, Getting Out of the Comfort Zone
Updated: 2 days ago
Written by: Tyler Hurst, Lex Tecnica Law Clerk
One of the most useful pieces of new lawyer career advice I received in law school came during my 3L year in my Negotiation and the Litigated Case class. While discussing what it would be like to enter the profession as new attorneys, my professor gave us a simple instruction:
“Commit, and then you figure it out.”
That advice can sound a little dangerous to lawyers. This is a profession where competence matters, and mistakes can carry real consequences. After all, rule 1.1 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct requires lawyers to provide competent representation. An attorney should never take on work they cannot handle competently, ignore ethical obligations, or pretend to know something they do not.
However, his point was that sometimes we confuse being uncomfortable with being incapable. We believe that because we have never done something, we cannot be ready to do it now. Sometimes, we are so afraid of failing or looking foolish that we refuse to try. And if we continue making that decision, we may never evolve into what we could be.
New Lawyer Career Advice: Setting Limits Too Early
It is easy to place boundaries around your own career before anyone else gets the chance.
“Intellectual property has never interested me and never will.”
“I do not know enough about business law.”
“I have never written that kind of motion.”
“I am not ready to take that on.”
Often, those statements only accurately reflect preference. Not every attorney needs to practice in every area of law. But other times, they are less about preference and more about comfort. There is an important difference between saying, “This is not for me,” after giving something a fair chance and saying it before ever trying.
The latter closes doors quickly.
Law school teaches us a tremendous amount, but there is no class that can perfectly prepare a new lawyer for every assignment that will eventually land on their desk. There will always be a first motion. A first deposition. A first negotiation. A first time looking at an area of law and wondering where to even begin.
I applied this principle when I started my first law school job working as a law clerk at the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada. I’d just finished my 1L year, and I was scared and uncertain of what I was doing. I promised myself I’d accept every opportunity that came my way. On my very first day, the opportunity came to participate in a probate case. I said yes. I made mistakes, assuming information while researching (unaware of the difference between community and separate property), and received feedback on drafts for various probate documents. I applied the feedback and worked on that case for the entirety of my time at Legal Aid. It was a very valuable experience, and I have tried to never turn down an assignment just because I felt unready since then.
Yes Man
The 2008 film Yes Man, starring Jim Carrey, takes this idea to an extreme. Carrey’s character, Carl Allen, has built his life around saying no. He avoids invitations, passes on new experiences, and keeps himself inside his routine. After attending a self-help seminar, he commits himself to saying “yes” to every new opportunity.
The premise is exaggerated for comedy, but the point is useful. Carl’s life begins to change only after he stops allowing discomfort to make his decisions for him. By saying yes to things he would normally avoid, he ends up in new relationships, new experiences, and situations that alter the direction of his life.
The lesson is not that we should say yes to everything. The film itself eventually makes that clear. Blind agreement is no better than reflexive refusal. The better lesson is that Carl had already imposed limits on what his life could look like because he had become comfortable saying no.
Lawyers and law clerks alike can fall into the same habit. An unfamiliar assignment can make “no” feel like the safer answer. So can an area of law we have never studied, a motion we have never drafted, or a responsibility we do not yet feel qualified to handle.
But saying yes does not mean pretending to know what you are doing. It means being willing to learn what you do not know.
Commit, Then Figure It Out
That is what makes my professor’s advice useful.
“Commit, and then you figure it out” does not mean blindly accepting every assignment and hoping for the best. It means having enough confidence in your ability to learn that unfamiliarity alone does not become a barrier. And then, when you decide to enter unfamiliar territory, commit completely.
You say yes to the opportunity and then you research. You read examples before you ask questions. You find the applicable rules. You look at how others have approached the problem. Then you draft something imperfect, and you receive feedback. Then you make it better. You do not become comfortable drafting motions and then start drafting them. You draft motions, make mistakes, receive edits, and eventually become comfortable doing it.
You commit and then figure it out.
For law clerks and newer attorneys, unfamiliar assignments are often some of the best learning opportunities. Your work will usually be reviewed, mistakes can be corrected, and feedback can show you exactly where to improve.
The same is true with practice areas. It is easy to decide too early that criminal law, intellectual property, transactional work, or litigation is “not for you” before ever trying it. But you cannot know what fits until you have some experience with it.
Even if you ultimately decide an area is not for you, the experience is rarely wasted. You still sharpen your research, writing, judgment, and understanding of the profession.
Trying to avoid mistakes at all costs can also mean avoiding the experiences that would teach you the most.
There is a big difference between “I cannot do this” and “I do not know how to do this yet.”
The word “yet” leaves room to grow. Growth cannot happen without first trying. Without first saying “yes.”
Say Yes
Opportunities to grow are not always obvious. Sometimes they look suspiciously like more work. They look like an unfamiliar assignment, a difficult question, or a project you are not entirely convinced you are ready for. They look like stress and discomfort, which no one enjoys.
However, discomfort is often the point.
The easiest career to build is one confined entirely to what you already know. It is also a very limited one.
Growth requires some willingness to be bad at something before becoming good at it. It requires accepting that your first attempt will not always be your best one. Most importantly, it requires resisting the temptation to decide what you cannot do before you have even tried.
There will always be reasons to stay inside the comfort zone. The better question is what might be waiting outside of it.
Sometimes the best response is simply to say yes.
As my professor taught me: commit, then figure it out.
This article has been reviewed and approved for legal accuracy by Scott Whitworth, Esq. It is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
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