‘What should I be doing as a new associate?’

Simple – you should be a Lambo.

Generally speaking, your work

(i) continue to work hard and show willing – you’re a NQ not a seasoned associate so you’re not expected to know everything but are expected to muck in and get stuff done;

(ii) show an interest in long-term strategy of team / clients – you’re not a trainee who will be off in 6 months, you will now see projects / cases through the cycle;

(iii) ask questions – but learn best person to ask / best time;

(iv) it’s one thing to eff up internally and it happens to us all – but as ever fess up and own the problem, and do your best not to eff up in a way that exposes the partner to the client / embarrasses them.

(v) be a good and pro-active communicator and keep team abreast of smaller parts of the project you’re working on

(vi) as others have said, contribute to BD and developing expertise but you’re hardly expected to be snagging big new clients – as an in-houser my view is the best BD is doing good reliable work for existing clients, that will lead to referrals / recommendations from others they know in the industry. Also build good relationships with your peers as you don’t know where that will lead and where their careers will take them – in my last role in private practice we got a mandate as lenders’ counsel because a friend from a previous role was acting on sponsor side recommended our firm to his client.