Kara Batey of the Austin-based full-service law firm Branscomb, P.C., joins us on today's show. Kara talks about remote working post-COVID, the emergence of water law, and how to show sincere interest in a job interview.




COVID-19 Update

Everyone working from home since March
Being an oil/gas lawyer she doesn't have to worry about court, etc. Working on docs and making calls can continue mostly like normal
Important to have a dedicated area to work from
Can access the Austin office if she needs to
Able to offer clients new technology like Zoom, etc., but they haven't needed/wanted it
Using Microsoft Teams within the office for video meetings
Good to check in with colleagues and those you work closely with
The use of tech and work from home will likely lead to law firms reducing their real estate footprint going forward
From a budgeting standpoint, this is a fixed cost that you can't change, and Austin real estate is expensive
Force Majeure has become a major issue, both figuring how how it applies in current contracts, and drafting them in current/future agreements to specifically address pandemics
Is it even economic to litigate it, or better to just come together and work something out

Her firm and practice

Firm has practice groups intended to meet their clients' business and personal legal needs
corporate
tax
labor/employment
oil/gas/real estate/water
estate planning/probate
litigation
She does transactional real property matters
focused mostly on commercial real estate and water
legal concepts are similar throughout these areas
water law is tracking oil/gas law
Oil/Gas law gave her great experience and understanding that translates and is applicable across lots of real estate practice areas. Ex. writing title opinions.

Advice to lawyers in practice

It is helpful to specialize in something, but even more so to choose a specialty that can be applied to broader/tangential areas
Clients will often have related issues. So if you can handle those too you can expand your business.

Advice to lawyers searching for a job

Always include you GPA on your resume; if you don't people assume you have a bad one
If you can show a history of success in your practice area of some number of years, then this probably doesn't matter quite as much
Proofread all materials; typos, incomplete sentences, address cover letters to the right person
Express sincere interest in your cover letter for the position you are applying for
emphasize relevant experience and/or coursework
don't overestimate yourself; take a humble approach; if you are a new or young lawyer, you don't really know much yet.
If the job is posted, apply for THAT job. Don't try to apply for another one that you want. Ex. The job is posted in Corpus Christi but you apply for their Austin office.
In the interview, be sure to show that sincere interest in the area of law/practice

Rapid Fire Questions

Trait/characteristic you most want to see in an associate: make new mistakes / i.e. don't keep making the same mistakes
Habit that is key to your success: Persistence
Favorite app/productivity tool: Zillow
Favorite social distancing activity: backyard happy hours
Favorite legal movie: Legally Blonde

Thanks again to Kara Batey for joining us on today's show!