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BEYOND THE BILLABLE HOUR ™ - Making the Hours of Your
Life Worth More ™
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Issue # 16 - Now That You're a Partner...
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ARTICLE SUMMARY: Promotion to partnership is an ideal time
to reassess career and personal goals.
A business development plan designed with
your whole life in mind will provide
success and satisfaction. A process for
designing such a plan follows.
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Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D., Editor
Ellen is the founder of LawyersLifeCoach.com ™
Personal and Career Coaching for Lawyers Determined
to Achieve Professional Success AND
a Fulfilling Life
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OUR PERSPECTIVE
Most attorneys -- especially women -- live impossibly busy
lives. Finding a balance between work and life without
sacrificing professional success, deciding on the best
practice area or work setting, and making career transitions
can be a daunting task, even for the most gifted and
accomplished lawyer.
Just as every person deserves the best possible legal
counsel, every attorney deserves professional, dedicated
support in accomplishing her most important goals.
You know how hard you've worked to get where you are --
you serve others, both personally and professionally.
You've earned the right to both career success and
a fulfilling life.
This newsletter is intended to help you create a
satisfying life -- within, or outside of -- legal practice.
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Now That You're a Partner...
"Success comes from doing what you enjoy. If you
don't enjoy it, how can it be called 'success' "?
David Maister (1)
Congratulations! You've worked very hard and made many
sacrifices in order to grab this brass ring. If you're
a woman, you've joined a very select sorority - although
40% of those entering law school since the 1980s have
been women only about 15% of law firm partners are women.
So much of an associates work life involves doing whatever
project is assigned and learning to practice law and worrying
about evaluations, there's little time for career and life
planning. You may have needed the past few years of
experience to help clarify your values, interests and
talents. But becoming a partner in your firm is a
wonderful opportunity to reassess your goals and
redirect your actions accordingly.
Unfortunately, few new partners take advantage of this
moment. Most become concerned with their firm's
performance criteria and the pressure to become
rainmakers instead of re-evaluating their own definition
of success.
A woman attorney who'd recently attained partner status
asked me how to balance the needs of her two young
children, her new responsibilities managing clients and
projects, and the pressure she felt to become a rainmaker.
"What do you WANT to do now?" I asked her.
It's easy to neglect reassessing your goals when you've
just accomplished what you'd thought you most wanted.
If you change your mind, will all the lost weekends and
holidays you spent toiling at your work be wasted?
Absolutely not. Whatever you decide to do next, you've
demonstrated a number of important things to yourself:
* You have the ability to practice law well.
* You have the interpersonal skills necessary for
establishing and maintaining relationships with
clients.
* You have self-management, organizational and planning
proficiency.
Certainly, no one can reasonably question your commitment,
dedication or fortitude.
When I first began coaching women lawyers, I asked many
who had been successful to identify behaviors critical
for achievement in the legal profession. Too many of
these women answered: "I just don't have a life."
This answer is simply unacceptable.
The alternative, then, is to work at taking control of
your life and your career. Here are eight steps to take
control of your new partnership and your life:
1. Clarify your life roles and goals in each area
Consider your roles as attorney, parent, partner,
child of aging parent, friend, community member, etc.
What are your goals in each of these roles? What
would you have to do in order to accomplish these
goals? What are some action steps you can take
within the next three years to move you toward
your goals?
2. Define success for yourself
Your firm will define success in terms of the
profitability of the business you bring in. But
lawyers are most successful - i.e., profitable -
when they're providing service to clients they
truly like and respect about matters they value.
If you have no sources of satisfaction other than
work, your office will be a place to hide from the
emptiness in your life. You're far more likely to
be successful in your career if you have close and
satisfying relationships outside of work. If
you're a parent, your definition of success probably
includes establishing a certain kind of
relationship with your children or enabling them
to achieve self-confidence, security and self-
sufficiency.
There is no definition of success you "should" have.
Just be sure the definition you use is your own.
3. Determine the kind of work about which you can be
passionate
Enthusiasm, interest and passion are essential for
success in your practice. The reasons for this are
simple: excellent professional work requires focus,
and without genuine interest, sustained focus is
nearly impossible. Excellent client service requires
that you genuinely care about your clients and their
needs. And clients who experiences your genuine
interest in their business or personal goals are
loyal clients.
It's really a win-win situation: do what you love
and you'll do it successfully.
4. Specify the kinds of work and clients that are most
fulfilling for you
Review the work you've done during the past several
years. With which clients did you most enjoy working?
What types of matters fascinated you most? Which
projects gave you the greatest sense of pride and
satisfaction? Your answers provide the basis for your
client development plan.
5. You're a free agent - do what you love regardless
of your firm's approach to business development
Even if your firm focuses on the quantity of work
and new business rather than the quality of
professionalism and how good the new business is,
you can still take control of your own business
development.
Marketing to people you like about issues that
fascinate you will most likely generate the kind of
revenue that will satisfy your firm and lead the other
partners to pat themselves on the back for making you
partner.
However, if you've outgrown the kind of work you've
been doing and your firm cannot support a practice
consistent with your interests, you'll have a problem
aligning your goals with those of your firm.
Similarly, the quality of client service is affected
at every point of contact between firm and client.
You'll need to be able to count on your firm to
support you by demonstrating concern for clients at
every contact point.
If this support is unavailable in your firm, you may
need to consider a lateral move.
6. Remember that the essence of marketing is
relationship building
Marketing is neither advertising nor selling.
Far from being outside of women's behavioral norms,
business development relies on the skills most
women have been refining throughout their lives.
"Being good at business development involves
nothing more than a sincere interest in clients
and their problems, and a willingness to go out
and spend the time being helpful to them." (2)
Don't sell - help. You know how to do this.
7. Plan your career with your whole life in mind
Use the action steps you detailed in step #1
to fill in your monthly, weekly and daily planner.
You can undo all your good intentions by failing to
make a specific implementation plan.
Schedule time for your family, time to take care
of your personal needs, and time for client
development along with the appointments you typically
schedule.
If you're doing work about which you're passionate,
with people you enjoy, your schedule will be filled
with activities that bring you personal and
professional satisfaction - and you'll be accomplishing
what you've defined as success.
8. The eighth step is described below.
Notes:
1. Maister, David H. (1997) "True Professionalism."
New York: The Free Press. P.31
2. Maister, David H. Ibid. P.28
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Step # 8: A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
LawyersLifeCoach.com is about to launch a VIRTUALGROUP
OF WOMEN PARTNERS (*) that will address participant's shared
life balance and career development challenges and provide
practical strategies for success and satisfaction.
We'd like your input about ideal times for the group
and preferred topics so we can tailor the group to your
needs. If you're interested, please email
Ellen@lawyerslifecoach.com and put PARTNERS GROUP
in the subject line.
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(*) A virtual group is a group conducted via
teleconference call. All you need to participate
is a telephone. Women partners throughout the
U.S. can join together to problem-solve,
learn from one another and provide mutual support.
Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D. will facilitate the group.
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BEYOND THE BILLABLE HOUR ™ is published monthly by
Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D., founder of LawyersLifeCoach.com.
She brings 20 years of experience assisting women
attorneys to her work in Lawyers Life Coach ™.
LawyersLifeCoach.com is a professional and personal
coaching firm specializing in working virtually (by
phone with email and fax backup) with women attorneys
interested in developing strategies to find greater
satisfaction in their careers within the law or
in exploring career alternatives for lawyers.
Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D. established Lawyerslifecoach.com
to coach busy lawyers who might benefit from the
insights gained from 20 years as a psychologist
combined with her experience and familiarity with
the legal profession.
Ellen holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology
from the University of Rochester and is a managing
member of Metropolitan Behavioral Health Care, LLC.,
a multispecialty, multidisciplinary psychotherapy
practice in Washington, D.C. and suburban Maryland.
She is a member of the International Coach Federation
and a graduate of the Mentor Coach Program ™.
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NOTE: BEYOND THE BILLABLE HOUR ™ is intended
for informational and educational purposes only.
It is not a substitute for a personal consultation
with a mental health professional and should not
be construed as a form of, or substitute for,
counseling, psychotherapy, or other psychological
service.
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CONTACT INFORMATION
Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D.
LawyersLifeCoach.com
Phone: (301) 578-8686
email: Ellen@LawyersLifeCoach.com
Web: http://LawyersLifeCoach.com
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(c)Copyright 2001 Ellen Ostrow. All rights reserved.
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