The economic crisis and the resulting fallout has brought numerous changes to law-as-profession and law-as-business, and now law schools are bringing change to the table as well. According to an article in The National Law Journal: Washington and Lee University School of Law has thrown out its traditional third-year curriculum and replaced it with a… Continue Reading
Category Archives: For new lawyers
Subscribe to For new lawyers RSS FeedDo you know the RULER for law firm economics?
Posted in For new lawyers, For summer associates, The practiceLaw as business vs. law as profession is a conversation that has largely lost its meaning and relevance, especially in today’s economy. Lawyers must understand some of the basic law firm economics from day 1, if not before. I happened across an article that presents these basics along with a handy acronym, RULER:
Financial freedom
Posted in Coaching for lawyers, For new lawyersAn anonymous email I received shortly after I began coaching haunts me. This person (I don’t know whether male or female, but I’ll assume male here) wanted desperately to leave the practice. He was responding to something I’d written, and he explained that he’d practiced law for nearly 20 years and hated it. He never liked… Continue Reading
Internal client development
Posted in Client development, For new lawyersGenerally speaking, law firms use the phrase “client development” to refer to the process of signing clients that the firm will represent in litigation, transactions, etc. Today, I’d like to consider another type of client development associates must consider: internal client development. As an associate, particularly a junior associate who receives work from more senior… Continue Reading
Determining decision-making authority
Posted in For new lawyers, The practiceIn my experience, newer associates often have challenges in determining what they do and don’t have the authority to do. Some may take on too little authority, undermining their usefulness to more senior lawyers who need not be consulted about every decision, and others may too on too much, possibly compromising strategic decisions that should be… Continue Reading
Blawg Review #142: Letter to a new lawyer
Posted in For new lawyersSusan Carter Liebel of Build a Solo Practice LLC is the host for Blawg Review #142. Styled as a Letter to a New Lawyer, Susan has done a masterful job of delivering advice by using the titles of the legal blogs that have featured such letters this week. Here’s a short taste of this week’s… Continue Reading
Letter to a young lawyer
Posted in For new lawyers, Leadership, The practiceSome months ago, Stephanie West Allen requested that fellow bloggers write a “letter to a young lawyer.” Susan Carter Liebel has recently renewed the request and I am delighted to join in, at last. To the new attorney: Welcome to the practice! You’ve learned much over the last three years of law school, and you… Continue Reading
Tuesday shorts 12/18/07
Posted in For new lawyers, Quick hitsWhat’s your “brand”? There’s a lot of discussion about “brand” these days — not just for products, but also for companies and increasingly even for individuals. “Brand” encompasses who you are in your career, and conscious management of “brand” can help you to craft how you come across and how others think of you. As you… Continue Reading
Tuesday Shorts 12/11/07
Posted in For new lawyers, Quick hits, Women and the law, Work/life balanceSurvival tips for new associates: David Dummer, an associate in the Dallas office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, has written an article with 10 survival tips for new associates. Although the tips are not particularly revolutionary, they set a good framework for new associates and might serve as a reminder for more advanced lawyers. Some… Continue Reading
How to speak as a new associate
Posted in Coaching for lawyers, For new lawyersOne of my favorite parts of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law (previously reviewed here) is the section debunking the myth that a new lawyer is a potted plant. It’s easy for a new lawyer to get tripped up by the knowledge that he lacks experience and the desire not to appear arrogant. So, what’s… Continue Reading
“She stabbed me in the back!”
Posted in For new lawyers, The practiceI’ve sometimes talked with lawyers (especially associates at large firms) who believe that another lawyer has stabbed them in the back: withheld critical information, misrepresented some aspect of the lawyer’s work to a more senior lawyer or client, or taken credit for the lawyer’s work. These experiences are enraging and painful, and it’s easy for… Continue Reading
Creating “work/life balance”: 5 steps to success
Posted in For new lawyers, Work/life balanceI was in a Starbucks last week reading Beyond the Big Firm: Profiles of Lawyers Who Want Something More. (Review forthcoming.) A man sat down at the table next to me, carrying 3 or 4 bar review books, and looking somewhat frazzled. He kind of nodded to me, and I nodded at his books and… Continue Reading
Habit: the enemy of entropy
Posted in Coaching for lawyers, For new lawyers, The practiceI’m not a physicist (I can barely spell the word) but as I remember it, the second law of thermodynamics is that entropy, which for purposes of this post only might be a synonym for chaos or disorder, tends to increase. Another way of saying this is that systems tend to move from a state of higher… Continue Reading
Finders, minders, grinders, and binders
Posted in Coaching for lawyers, For new lawyersHave you heard this old saw? People used to say that law firms need four categories of lawyers: finders, minders, grinders, and binders. It’s still true to some degree, though today’s atmosphere requires lawyers to develop their skills in each of these areas, rather than simply selecting the most comfortable skill set and roosting there. … Continue Reading
Networking: the top activity for business success.
Posted in For new lawyers, For summer associates, The practiceI’ve noticed that summer associate season is in full swing — not only because clients are mentioning their summer programs, but because I’m seeing more and more summer associate-related searches that people have entered before landing on the Life at the Bar blog. So, it’s time for me to trot out my favorite topic not… Continue Reading
Think multitasking is beneficial? Think again.
Posted in For new lawyers, Time management/productivityI’ve been intending to post about a New York Times article I read a few months ago, and today’s the day. I have noticed recently that I’m receiving a lot of emails informing me that the sender is now limiting the number of times she checks email in the course of a day, and to… Continue Reading
Are you busy — Or productive?
Posted in Coaching for lawyers, For new lawyers, The practice, Time management/productivityOne of the most important pieces of coaching rests in illuminating distinctions. I have several favorites that come up in the course of a great many coaching engagements: reaction vs. response, hearing vs. listening, assertion vs. assessment, interesting vs. purposeful, and so on. One distinction is particularly relevant to effective action: busy vs. productive. My… Continue Reading
How can your practice become known?
Posted in Client development, For new lawyers, The practiceDo you ever feel that you’re just one small lawyer in a large sea? New lawyers often begin their practices wondering how to distinguish themselves from the hundreds or thousands of other lawyers occupying the same niche. And that feeling isn’t limited to new lawyers, by any means. Though the question may fade, it certainly re-emerges… Continue Reading
Follow-up from the NALP conference
Posted in For new lawyers, News, The practiceLast Wednesday, I attended the NALP Annual Education Conference. I wish I’d planned to be there for the whole conference, because I met some fantastic people (including Steve Seckler of the Counsel to Counsel blog) and read about a number of presentations that I would have loved to attend. But, I’d budgeted only one day, and… Continue Reading
Working with legal support staff
Posted in For new lawyers, The practiceI just flew back to Atlanta from Orlando this morning and as soon as I talk with one client, I’ll be heading out to drive to Gatlinburg for a dear friend’s wedding. So, today’s post will be very brief. I ran across a fabulous post on the PT-LawMom blog recently: The Curmudgeonly Legal Secretary. LawMom is a… Continue Reading
Understanding your client’s business
Posted in For new lawyers, The practiceI’ve long believed that newer associates (especially, but not exclusively) don’t understand their clients’ business and how business issues effect legal services. Without understanding what the business context is for the legal issue you’re working on, it’s going to be difficult to know how important the issue is — i.e., is this a “bet the… Continue Reading
Why Do We Work?
Posted in For new lawyers, The practiceI’ve been meaning to write about an article available on Law.com, titled Commentary: Why Do We Work?, by Gregory S. Gallopoulos (managing partner and co-chair of the Tax Controversy Practice at Jenner & Block) since it was published in September. Monday morning may be the ideal time to pose this question, especially for those who suffer from… Continue Reading
Engagement: Another name for work/life balance?
Posted in For new lawyers, The practice, Work/life balanceRegular readers of this blog know that I’m a proponent of finding work/life balance AND a proponent of excellent client service. Though others may disagree, I think the two can and must co-exist, and frankly I question whether a lawyer can deliver top-notch legal services without some form of balance — recognizing that “balance” means radically… Continue Reading
For new(ish) associates: Speak up!
Posted in Coaching for lawyers, For new lawyersDan Hull, of What About Clients? blog fame, posted a key question that associates (really, all lawyers) must be able to answer at a moment’s notice: What are you thinking? As Dan put it, “If a neuron fires in a brilliant young lawyer’s head, and no one hears it go off, did it even happen?” Dan writes… Continue Reading