If you own a law firm, you likely want a good mix of employees.  You want employees who have different strengths, weaknesses and backgrounds.  All of this serves to diversity your employment environment.  It also allows your employees to compliment the strengths and weaknesses of others.

One important trait you must have in your law firm (in addition to others) is experience.  Experienced law firm employees can help provide a solid foundation to your workplace through their real world experience.  They have seen and experienced things that you cannot teach or train.  Experienced law firm employees are also often able to hit the ground running.

Experienced employees often understand the pros and cons of working in a work environment like a law firm.  A private law firm is a unique environment.  In a law firm, client relations is just critical.  Knowing how to interact with attorneys and judges is vital.  Knowing how to interact with others in the law firm is critical.  And the business components of a law firm, like ensuring hours are billed and accounts receivables collected, cannot be underestimated.

For many employees, it takes time and maturity for many employees to understand these real world dynamics or working in a law firm.  There can be a tendency for inexperienced law firm employees to still have the mentality that they need to be trained.  There can also be a tendency for inexperienced law firm employees to hope for something in a law firm workplace that simple isn’t out there.

But with many experienced law firm employees, they get how a law firm works and operates.  They understand the difficulties of it and have proven they can excel with it.  Experienced employees can also help instill a mentality or mindset in other relatively inexperienced law firm employees that can be critical.  They can also do much of the heavy lifting that is needed in a law firm.

While law firm employees with different traits and experience level can be important as well, to ensure there is diversity and a compliment of skill sets in your law firm, do not overlook the importance of experience candidates when making law firm hires.

If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them below.