Michael Charlson On Writing Well and Humbling Moments

							CAREER CORNER                                                                                                                  1. 800. 973.1177




                                 Michael Charlson
                                 On Writing Well and Humbling Moments
                                 [by Teresa Talerico]
                                 Michael Charlson understands the challenge of finding a law firm that’s a good fit. He recalls his own job search as a 1985
                                 graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.




“I wish I could say I had this highly refined       biggest thing I see is that young associates        copyrights.” I didn’t have the foggiest idea
sense of what was important in a law firm,”         don’t do a particularly good job of being           what security interest was. Once I figured
said Mr. Charlson, firmwide recruiting chair        evocative writers. Their writing, even when         that out, I went back to the attorneys involved
at Heller Ehrman, LLP. “At the time, I really       they’re writing a brief, tends to read more         and said, “What do I need to do?” They said
didn’t. I always remember this when I’m             like a research memorandum. They’ll antici-         you just have to file a UCC form. I had no
trying to recruit associates from law school.       pate arguments that could be made the other         idea what that meant. I found out I could go
A lot of kids don’t know that much about dif-       way. They’ll present the law in a way that is       to a stationery store and get a UCC form. So
ferent law firms and why one might be better        simply not as forceful as it could be in advo-      I went, and the stationery guy said, “What
or different than another.”                         cating our client’s position. That’s something      state are you talking about?” I had to go back
                                                    law school tends to push. You tend to look at       and look at the file and figure out the states.
Mr. Charlson, also a securities litigation          all sides of an issue. That’s not a bad thing.      Then, when I filed the form, I got it wrong
shareholder at Heller Ehrman, recommends            But when you present things to a court,             four times before I finally got something the
applicants consider everything from their           you have to remember there’s another side           state of New York would accept. That was
ease with potential co-workers to the firm’s        whose job it is to present their argument.          pretty humbling because a normal securities
mission and overall atmosphere.                                                                         paralegal could do this in about 10 minutes.
                                                    Some associates are better able to take the         It took me about eight weeks.
Based in the firm’s Silicon Valley office in        assignments they get and make something
Menlo Park, CA, Mr. Charlson joined Heller          of them, even if the assignment, on its face,       Q: How can new lawyers handle that frustra-
Ehrman in 1986 and became a shareholder             might appear to be somewhat dull. Docu-             tion?
(the firm’s equivalent of partner) in 1992. He      ment review is perhaps the best example. It
also spends time at the New York City office.       is a given that document review is going to be      A: It’s important to remind yourself that
                                                    pushed disproportionately toward the junior         you’ve made it through law school and you’ve
Q: What do you look for when hiring associ-         people. You can bemoan that fact and think,         actually passed the bar exam, so you can’t be
ates?                                               “Gee, I’m not going to be a real lawyer,” or        a complete idiot. That’s probably not the right
                                                    you can look at that as an opportunity to           word to use, but there’s some reason you
A: We look for indications that a person has        understand the case thoroughly and make             are where you are. The main thing I would
the raw intelligence to do the job. We like to      yourself indispensable to all the things com-       have done well to do is not feel like I needed
take on some very, very difficult cases. They       ing down the pike—the depositions, the oral         to know everything the first day I walked out
take creativity; they take solid thinking—          arguments. The most successful associates           of law school and not feel like I was stupid
strategic and tactical. Good writing skills are     are those who take personal responsibility          to ask for help from people who had been
extremely important. Beyond that, we look           for their own professional development.             around the block.
for people who want to do the kinds of things
we do. If a person wants to do family law,          Q: What was your most humbling experience           The other thing that is really important is
they’re not going to be happy here.                 as a new lawyer?                                    doing it once yourself. One of the things
                                                                                                        that’s easy to have happen in a big law firm is
Q: What are the common stumbling blocks             A: When I was a summer associate, I had             there are people who do things for you—for
for new associates?                                 a job at Newsweek in their legal depart-            example, a citation check or getting a motion
                                                    ment. I was given this file and told, “Please       on file. These are things a paralegal or a
A: From my perspective as a litigator, the          extinguish our security interest in this set of     secretary might do for you. In my experience,




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it’s really important that I know how to do it.
If you have an appreciation for the process,
it’ll mean you won’t be doing things like
editing a brief at five minutes to 4 and being
upset that your paralegal wasn’t able to get it
on file on time.


Q: Who is your favorite lawyer in film, litera-
ture, or television?


A: I was always a fan of Atticus Finch, but I
also kind of like “My Cousin Vinny.” I used to
like “Perry Mason” when I was a kid. I always
thought the lawyer who was going for the
underdog was a very sympathetic character.
I’m not sure I’m in that position these days.
But in my pro bono work, maybe I’ve got that
role.




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