(photo:  On the Road manuscript by Thomas Hawk)

If you're hanging out a shingle after graduation (see Carolyn Elefant's brilliantly useful MyShingle here) just getting the clerk to accept your pleadings is probably your greatest concern.

But if you've entered the ranks of the AmLaw100, you're about to make or break your career on your writing skills.  

Maximize your "distinct value proposition" this weekend by reading Ross Guberman's Legal Times article 14 Tips to Become a Lighter Tighter Writer, posted on Law.com today. 

The good news/bad news according to Guberman is you have a job/now you're able to lose it. 

Why? 

At most law firms, associates think writing is their greatest strength, while the partners think writing is the associates' greatest weakness.

Chalk this up to a generation gap if you like, but the partner you're writing for has the power to put you on the type of case you want to be litigating with the people you like working with.  

And this has what to do with negotiation?

You negotiate every day of your working life for plum assignments, week-ends off (maybe next year), bonuses, salary, and access to power. 

We cannot mention often enough negotiation's bottom line -- your bargaining partner's Better Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement ("BATNA").  What does your preferred bargaining partner (the firm shareholder with the right practice and the most firm power?) want and need? 

A great writer on his/her team. 

When it comes time to for you seek favors, concessions and bonuses, your "target" partner's BATNA is using or cultivating an associate who is better than you.  If you're the best writer in the first year associate ranks, the concessions you seek should always be a better alternative to losing you.  

And no, the Kerouac'ian stream of consciousness, wonderful as it is, will not work here.

Go get 'em tiger!