Ellen Ostrow

For Law Firms, Legal Departments, Retreats, Women's Initiatives and Business Development Seminars for Women Lawyers and their Clients

Developing and Implementing an Effective Balanced Hours Program - how to design a policy that works for lawyers, clients and firms

The Business Case for Balanced Hours - the advantages to employers of flexible schedules; how to negotiate a non-stigmatized flexible schedule

Strategic Career Planning- how to take ownership of your legal career and craft a strategic plan to accomplish your goals; getting off the career "conveyor belt"

Effective Communication - how to make yourself heard, craft your message to the needs of your listener

The Art of Listening - listening deeply, hearing beyond the words, making the speaker feel heard, understanding the speaker's goals and needs, observation skills

Gender Issues in Communication - building bridges across differences; how women can be assertive without eliciting backlash for violating gender norms

Negotiation and Self-Advocacy for Women Lawyers - asking for what you want; managing conflict; negotiating the relationship while negotiating about the issue; seeking win-win solutions; reducing avoidance and compromise

Building Social Capital - developing and maintaining effective networking relationships; understanding networking as a crucial and on-going career-advancement strategy

Earning Trust - developing internal relationships which earn you trust and maximize your opportunities for flexibility and advancement

Emotional Intelligence - developing crucial success competencies that law school doesn't teach; understand emotional contagion; acquisition of self- and other- awareness skills and self-regulatory competencies

Rainmaking for Women Lawyers - assisting women in finding their own comfortable approach to business developing; developing relationships, becoming a trusted advisor, helping clients accomplish their goals vs. selling; overcoming self-limiting beliefs; developing and implementing your personal business development plan

Business Development/Marketing - provides a conceptual understanding of the business development process, niche selection and positioning, networking and other ways of connecting with your target market, marketing as a relationship; includes format for individual attorney marketing plan

Getting on the Radar - effective self-promotion strategies for women lawyers

Creating an Effective Mentoring Relationship - how to establish an effective mentoring program and train mentors and mentees to communicate effectively

Constructing Your Personal Board of Directors - coping with obstacles to obtaining effective mentoring by creating your personal advisory board

Managing Work/Life Conflict - clarifying values and priorities, maintaining focus on what's most important in the face of competing demands; balancing as an ongoing process; getting the help you need at work and at home; managing expectations; maintaining availability while setting boundaries

How to Avoid Burnout - the dangers of constant urgency, recognizing the signs of too much stress; what employers and attorneys can do to decrease burnout and increase engagement

The Optimistic Lawyer - the role of pessimism in legal thinking; the costs of pessimism; learning to think optimistically while being an effective risk-manager

Retaining, Advancing and Promoting Women - best practices for employers and attorneys

Leadership Development for Women Lawyers - learning to work through others; creating and communicating a compelling vision; assessing and aligning individual team members' goals; effective delegating and coaching skills; recognizing and overcoming gender stereotypes

Managing Diversity - effective strategies for managing attorneys working alternative schedules and diverse (gender, race, etc.) teams; how to reap the benefits of diversity

Women's Initiatives - how to start a women's initiative; obtaining management buy-in and financial support; using women's initiatives to build networks, develop mentoring relationships and create business development opportunities; using women's initiatives to advocate for institutional change.

Strategic Planning - leading firm partners through a process of assessing firm values and preferred culture, SWOT analysis, determining specific goals and implementation steps. Conducting firm-wide retreats to share the results of the partners' process with firm employees in order to create buy-in.

Building a Healthy Workplace - individual, organizational and social cost of unhealthy workplaces; creating a workplace and policies that promote well-being and peak performance

Increasing Retention by Building Social Capital - connections among attorneys significantly influence knowledge management, innovation, productivity and retention. Learn how to utilize and create social networks in your firm or practice group.