“Live the life you dreamed of before law school
Envision new possibilities for your life
It's time for a life worth more than the billable hour.”
If asked to evaluate your career – as of this moment – as successful or not, how would you react? What would determine your conclusion? Had you prevailed in court last week, perhaps you would respond with an emphatic “successful.” But had you lost, would that mean that your career had not been successful?
Read MoreThink back to New Year’s Eve last year. Do you remember what you did to celebrate? Do you recall the resolutions you made? Although many people may be able to respond “yes” to the first question, most cannot to the second. In fact, the failure to behave consistently with these promises is so prevalent that fewer people each year even bother to make New Year’s resolutions…
Read MoreWho Is Getting Credit Is Due? Karen* had been working for two years to develop a relationship with the general counsel of a private equity group. A non-equity partner in the Washington, D.C. office and a member of her firm's investment management group, she needed the support of a male partner in the firm's New York office due to his expertise in a small aspect of a much larger matter she hoped to bring in to the firm…
Read MoreRhea’s solo immigration law practice had been very successful for a while. When business dropped off during the recession, she wasn’t all that surprised. However, as she saw the practices of colleagues begin to pick up, she became concerned. Why was the work she’d been getting before no longer coming to her?
Read MoreThe need to strategically plan and navigate your career never ends. When you enter a new workplace, you need to understand the culture of the organization. As you move up the ranks, you need to master delegation and management skills. At mid-career, you may be ready for new professional challenges but still need some guidance…
Read More“Adding value” has become part of everyday parlance in the legal profession. These days we speak of value billing, value-based fees, value challenge and value initiatives. But what exactly do we mean by “value?”
Read MoreChanges in the legal industry combined with widespread uncertainty about our economic future make developing effective solutions to keeping jobs, getting enough work, or finding new employment difficult. Although paralysis is the least effective way to cope, you’d be in good company if you found yourself responding this way…
Read MoreAs a new associate in a law firm, you’re undoubtedly trying to determine the most crucial survival rules. The message to meet your billable-hours requirements, triple-check your work and cultivate your legal skills are emblazoned in your brain…
Read MoreAs an executive/career coach for women attorneys, the issue about which I’m most often asked is work/life balance. In fact, balance seems to be the most sought after yet elusive goal of the majority of lawyers these days. The increasingly competitive and global business environment, lean staffing, and the indestructible billable hour have changed the practice of law from a “jealous mistress” to an insatiable monster…
Read MoreI am a fourth year corporate associate in a top Wall Street firm. I enjoy my practice and my firm but am concerned about the future. First, although I get great evaluations and have been told that I'm “partner material,” our practice group is so top heavy I’m not sure that anything I do will be enough for me to make partner here…
Read MoreIn coaching women to develop business, there's a particular obstacle that I frequently encounter: It’s the concern that relationship-building eeorts will look “smarmy,” sleazy and insincere. During a recent coaching session, my client, a woman attorney, expressed concern about the potential fallout from some reorganizations going on at a company for which she serves as outside counsel…
Read MoreMuch of an associate's world revolves around completing assigned projects, striving to meet law firm expectations, and navigating the steep learning curve of practicing law. This busy time in a lawyer's career frequently coincides with raising a family, often leaving little time for career and life planning…
Read MoreI am a non-equity litigation partner in a large New York firm. Due to its attrition problems it is very difficult for me to find associates to do my work. The majority of them are first or second years; all the mid-levels have left…
Read MoreI first met Lola at a women lawyers' leadership event. An African American Ivy League graduate, she had recently been recruited from the federal government to a large firm and accepted the offer in order to hone her expertise in international corporate transactions…
Read MoreAt least once every year I offer a coaching group for women lawyers on rainmaking. During the first call, each participant explains what she hopes to accomplish through the group and describes the obstacles currently impeding her marketing success…
Read MoreThe most difficult challenge for lawyers who rise to managerial positions is learning to carve out time from their own individual efforts to foster the productivity of others. You must genuinely believe that the time devoted to planning, delegating and coaching others is not only well spent, but essential…
Read MoreMothers in law are caught in a double bind. As much as they feel marginalized at work because of their commitments to family, they also feel marginalized at home because they are unable to see what they contribute. It is essential that women come together now to define role expectations that fit the reality of their lives…
Read MoreOn a recent group coaching call attended by women law leaders, I asked the participants about their approaches to conflict. My question was met with a chorus of groans. One woman, a junior partner in a large firm, had recently been treated disrespectfully by a young woman associate in the same meeting where the associate had been very deferential to a male partner…
Read MoreDuring a recent group coaching call with women lawyers discussing obstacles to marketing, one participant described her difficulty getting on the radar of partners in charge of work assignments at her firm. Several other women on the call echoed her sentiments…
Read MoreIf you think it’s tough being a woman attorney in a profession traditionally dominated by men, consider what it’s like to be a legal assistant or paralegal. Support positions in legal workplaces are typically occupied by women…
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