Nick Meza Writes on Practicing Resilience for Law360’s “Law School's Missed Lessons”
Nick Meza, a Phoenix-based partner in Quarles & Brady’s Health & Life Sciences Practice Group, wrote an article for Law360’s “Law School's Missed Lessons” series. The series offers advice from attorneys on navigating real-world aspects of legal practice that often are overlooked in law school.
In the article, Meza discusses the importance of resilience in the legal field and that it is the ability to recover quickly from difficulty, adapt under pressure and turn setbacks into actionable information, rather than a hit to self-confidence. Resilience develops through repetition and stepping into challenging and uncomfortable situations.
Meza dives into how lawyers can practice resilience daily, respond to feedback with curiosity, treat mistakes as learning opportunities, the importance of recognizing generational differences and more. He also provides a helpful “Practical Toolkit” for building resilience.
An excerpt:
Many lawyers are smart, driven and well-trained, but everyone will stumble, especially early in their career. There will be a missed analysis, a difficult client call, a draft memo bleeding red ink or feedback that feels like a gut-punch.
What separates the average associate from the indispensable one is not their perfection, but their ability to recover quickly, learn, and continue with intention and a positive attitude.
While law school teaches analysis and precision, it rarely teaches us how to respond when we fall down. But resilience turns setbacks into fuel, and builds trust and confidence. It is what sustains a long legal career. Critically, resilience is a skill that can be developed like any other.
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A Practical Toolkit for Building Resilience
Resilience becomes a professional advantage when backed by consistent habits. The following practices help associates build resilience in real time:
- Ask clarifying questions before starting an assignment to set expectations.
- After each task, identify what worked and what you would adjust next time.
- Look for patterns in feedback received across matters and treat them as a roadmap for improvement.
- Focus on the substance of criticism rather than the tone in which it is delivered.
- Build strong relationships with mentors and peers who provide guidance and perspective.
- Let supervising attorneys know how you have applied feedback to show visible growth.
- After a misstep, ask three questions: What assumption did I make? What should I have done differently? What will I adjust next time?
These small actions can compound into steady growth and help establish a reputation for reliability, not just intelligence.