Alan Dershowitz's Updated Advice to Young Lawyer

In 2001, Alan Dershowitz published "Letters to a Young Lawyer," part of Basic Books' Art of Mentoring series. 

This year, Dershowitz -- having recently retired after 50 years as a professor at Harvard Law School and teaching some 10,000 students (I was one) -- was asked by Sam Glover and Aaron Street on the Lawyerist's first podcast about what he would add Letters to a Young Lawyer if he was writing that book today?

  • How law has moved from a learned profession to a business and the conflicts between lawyers and clients over billing

  • How to determine which lawyers to get advice from or who to choose as a mentor

There's lots of other good advice in both the podcast and the book on issues like lawyer ethics (especially with billing, transparency, lawyer rankings, and attorney advertising), being prepared, work-life balance, finding something to be passionate about, imposter syndrome, and more.