Always Learning

By Teresa L. Bush Esq. On Mar 20, 2024

I was new to estate planning in the early nineties, and I was reminded recently that even though it may seem like the nineties were ten years ago (and it truly does, to me), they were actually thirty years ago.  Some of you reading this were born in the nineties.  My reference is only to point out that I started working in estate planning all those decades ago without knowing what I was doing.  So, how did I learn? 

We learn some in law school, of course.  I can point to Professor Stanley Johanson’s Wills and Estates class as the starting point for my desire to work in the Trusts & Estates area.  And in law school we learn about concepts – a LOT of concepts.  But in my experience, I didn’t learn how to do the actual work of being an estate planner until I started doing the work – some things you have to learn by doing. 

Maybe that’s one reason why we refer to the “practice” of law.  We start out learning by doing, by practicing our craft.  Not unlike a medical doctor who starts with a residency.  However, lawyers don’t have the same type of program built in, where they are required to practice with a team of experienced professionals when starting out.  Maybe that’s not required because, in the past, it happened somewhat organically.   

In law school, we hoped to get a job working as a summer associate, where we would see lawyers actually being lawyers (and also playing lots of golf and going out to fancy lunches and dinners, at least back in the nineties).  Law students were able to see the work being done, and ideally, one of those summer jobs would turn into a position at a law firm where a new lawyer would work directly with at least one senior lawyer in their desired area of focus.  In a really large firm, you might take a tour through a few departments before selecting an area of focus, but in any event, there were seasoned lawyers introducing the new associates to how to do the work – a built-in program of mentorship and education.   

In the estate planning area, this might mean learning how to meet with a client to gather information, propose an estate plan, and get client approval to begin.  It includes learning to draft documents, deliver and explain the drafts to the client, and to make edits as needed.  And finally, it involves learning the ins and outs of meeting with the client to give a final summary, properly execute the documents, and deliver the completed estate plan.  Every firm can have variations on each part of the process, but how would a newly-minted lawyer know where to begin, if not for the mentoring?  

I remember many months of sitting silently in client meetings, because my job was to observe, learn the “script,” learn what questions to ask, learn the process.  And at the final meeting, my job was to do the same thing – be a (mostly) silent but literal witness to the signing ceremony so I could supervise them myself in the future.  Interestingly, drafting the documents was the first part of the process entrusted to me – at least for the first draft.  This was because my firm, like most, had a set of standard forms for estate planning documents, built in word processing, so I had a template to follow rather than starting with a blank page.  My initial drafting usually meant a set of documents being returned to me corrected and modified with plenty of red ink, even with the template of the firm forms – but I was learning by doing, with that experienced attorney essentially providing training wheels.  

There was always more to learn, of course, because some clients are wealthier or own more unique assets.  I had to learn to handle those cases too – dealing with retirement assets and 401(k) plans, addressing new forms of property ownership allowed by state legislative changes, figuring out when estate taxes and income taxes matter (hint:  sometimes for the former, always for the latter).  And once I got a handle on those things, it seemed like I might know all I needed to know – but no.  Even though the law seemed very settled when I started practicing, law changes are inevitable.  Today, we are still learning about SECURE, which is now in its fifth year, and we are learning about the brand-new Corporate Transparency Act.  The moral here is that we are always learning, but let’s go back to the beginning… 

For me, the question of “What does a Will (or Trust) actually look like?” was answered quickly by reviewing my firm’s standard forms.  The questions of what information to gather from clients and how to actually do the work of estate planning were answered by following the example of that experienced attorney.  However, a new estate planner today may not have access to a form library and may not know where to begin the drafting process or what questions to ask potential clients.  Many firms no longer have estate planning practices at all, and remote working has allowed more attorneys to work as solo practitioners, without that experienced attorney right down the hall.  Due to these factors and more, new estate planners may not have the same benefit of mentorship that my generation of attorneys was afforded.    

I have found a few tools that can help in this situation: 

1. State Bar continuing legal education.  Many states present educational programs for new attorneys, or not-so-new attorneys who may be expanding their practice into a new area.  For example, the Texas State Bar has programs on “Handling your First (or Next) Will,” “Handling your First (or Next) Trust,” and even “Handling your First (or Next) Medicaid or Elder Law Case.”  These all are designed to cover the basics and are great introductions to how to do the work.  Your state may vary, of course. 

2. Co-counseling with an experienced attorney to assist with the first estate plan of a particular type.  Online communities can provide connections to other attorneys in your area who are willing to partner in this way, review documents, answer questions, etc.  Examples include not only groups on Facebook and other platforms, but membership/subscriber organizations, such as the Estate Planning Discussion Forum and Practitioner Referral Network available through InterActive Legal. 

3. Other educational programs, such as the InterActive Legal Academy.  Each attorney with whom I now work daily was able to learn the basics of estate planning from one or more senior lawyers.  This is one of the reasons we launched InterActive Legal Academy in 2022 – to provide an introduction to estate planning and estate tax planning from attorneys experienced in the field in a way that replicates how we all learned when we were new.  Our Spring program will take place in April, covering estate planning basics.  In October, we will present our Fall program that covers estate, gift, and income tax planning concepts.  The faculty for both programs includes practicing attorneys and attorney members of the InterActive Legal content team with over 150 years of combined estate planning experience.   

The April Academy is an entry-level program, ideal for new attorneys or those who may be new to estate planning, and registration is open now.  We will be covering those basic concepts that I started learning over thirty years ago, as well as new laws enacted only recently – within the past 1-5 years.  Even as older attorneys, we are always learning, and one goal of the Academy is to replicate the type of education many of us found invaluable as young lawyers. 

If you have questions about InterActive Legal Academy, please let us know at [email protected]. 

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