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Erik: Why are peer relationships, specifically start group relationships, so important to
law career development?
James: I think much of what lawyers do longer term centers around the connections they have
made through the course of their career. And that can be friends, it can be professional
contacts, it can be people you just met at a cocktail party. One of the shared experiences
though that is I think is most significant for a lot of lawyers is that first-year experience,
whether it is at a large law firm, whether it is at the government – a DEA or a public
defense type of context, having people around you who are going through the same difficulties,
challenges, experiencing the same successes if you will, you really kind of form a shared
bond. I think that those people are people you can relate to throughout the stages of
your career and, as a result, a significant network of individuals for you to be reaching
out to whether it is for professional, personal, or financial support. That means these may
be your clients, these may be your colleagues, these may be your opponents, but to have sort
of the shared bond and mutual respect that I think is created at an early stage in lawyers
career is important.