“This job is going to take a lot of time from you,” said Brian Scrivani, an M&A partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in New York, on the most recent Drinks With The Deal podcast. “If you’re doing it the right way, you’re going to be in the trenches with your clients in situations that are very stressful for them.”

Scrivani manages the demands of the practice in two ways. One, he said, is “reminding yourself why you like to do this job. For me, to be dropped into a situation where I’m in a new industry vertical or geography, I have no idea what a company does, I’ve never working in that industry before, and in 24 hours I have to be expert enough to be able to guide my clients through [a wide range of issues] is exciting.”

And, he added: “The other thing I’ve tried to do in my career is fight for my life outside of work as hard as I fight for my life inside of work. It’s very easy, especially as a junior lawyer, to let go of the rest of your life. Teams will work hard for you if you work hard for them. They’ll fight to let you keep those dinners and weekends away if you do the same for them. Not forgetting that there’s a life outside of the job helps me do the job better.”

Scrivani also talked about his move to Gibson Dunn from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP last year and jumping to Paul Weiss from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP earlier in his career.

Listen to the podcast with Brian Scrivani below:

More podcasts from The Deal are available on iTunes, Spotify and on TheDeal.com.