Announcing the 2010 Ms. JD Fellowship

Ms. JD is pleased to announce the Ms. JD Fellowship program, which will select 20 of the most promising second-year law students in the country and provide them with one-on-one career mentorship from the nation's most accomplished female attorneys.

Who Are The Mentors?

Fellowship mentors will be assigned to the Fellows from among the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession's alumnae of commissioners and Margaret Brent Award Winners. The list includes U.S. Circuit Court judges and state Supreme Court justices, general counsels from the Fortune 500, managing partners from the nation's
largest law firms, and leading professors and practitioners from around the country. 

Mentoring pairs will be made based on geographic location and shared professional interests. We aim to identify the most promising students in a variety of fields and practice areas and pair them with the most successful woman in that field. 

What Will the 1-Year Mentorship Entail?

In addition to being identified as one of the nation's highest-achieving law students, mentees will receive:

• Invitation to the 20th Anniversary Margaret Brent Awards on August 8, 2010, in San Francisco
• Invitation to Ms. JD's annual conference in March 2011, location TBA
• Mentor review of their resume and writing sample
• Invitation to 2 other networking events with their mentor
• At least 2 additional activities with their mentor, based on mutual interest and availability

How to Apply/Nominate?

Eligibility: Applicants must be enrolled full-time as a second year law student in an ABA-accredited law school.

If you would like to nominate a 2L to be considered for Ms. JD's 2010 Fellowship, email her name and school to Fellowship@ms-jd.org.

If you would like to apply to be considered for Ms. JD's 2010 Fellowship, email the following to Fellowship@ms-jd.org.

• Resume
• Transcript
• Writing Sample (legal writing, no length requirement, redacted documents accepted)
• Availability for phone interviews April 12 - 30th (indicate on what days you will be totally unavailable)

We will accept nominations and applications until 5:00 pm PST, April 1, 2010.

Avenues to Partnership

Editor's Note: Ms. JD's annual conference, Avenues to Advancement, was held November 20-21, 2009, in Chicago. These are some tips from the Partnership panel.

At Ms. JD’s recent Avenues to Advancement Conference, held at Northwestern Law School, one of the panels, entitled ‘Avenues to Partnership,’ brought together five successful women to discuss their varied paths to partnership.  The panel began with each woman providing three top pieces of advice.

Leslie Darling, Partner, Ungaretti & Harris: 1) You should recognize the importance of business generation and begin developing a “book of business” early on in your career.  2) Never forget that a law firm is a business. Make sure you know the economy of your firm and understand the financials.  3) Be thoughtful with regard to building your social network.  Recognize that as a young associate many of your friends and colleagues will also ascend in their career paths, and you can never know where people will end up. 

Julianne Hartzell, Partner, Marshall, Gerstein & Borun: 1) Always remember that an associate’s job is to make the person you are working for’s life easier, whether they are the partner or the client.  Make sure you give people everything they need to know to answer the question or resolve the problem.  2) Find an area of law that you love.  3) Find a firm with values and goals that mesh with your own.

Patricia Brown Holmes, Partner and Diversity Committee Co-Chair, Schiff Hardin LLP: 1) Network, network, network.  2) Never forget the importance of hard work, but also learn how to work smart.  3) Learn to separate your personal life from your professional life.  Everyone will have commitments outside of work, but make sure that your personal commitments do not impede your ability to get your work done.

Jennifer Waters, Partner, Schopf & Weiss: 1) Everything positive that you do is “capital in the bank.” As an associate, you want the firm to view you as an asset worth keeping.  Think proactively and take ownership of your work.  2) Remember the importance of firm citizenship and involvement is part of showing your commitment to the firm.  Joining committees are also a good way of developing an advocate to speak up for you.  However, make sure that you do not “drop the ball” on committee work or projects.  If you do not have the time to do the job well, do not take on the responsibility.  3) To the extent that you have control over it, try to find a good assistant or secretary. This will be one of the most important relationships you will need to cultivate over the course of your career.

Amy Manning, Partner, McGuire Woods (Moderator): 1) Exceed expectations, even if you want flexibility.  The paths to partnership are varied, but regardless of your elected path ensure that you excel at your work.  2) You should not be ambivalent about making partner – internally or externally.  3) You should never lose sight of the fact that there is a PR aspect to your career, both inside and outside the firm.

All of the panelists emphasized that your network is your most important business asset.  For young attorneys looking to build a network, one panelist suggested striving to add five “high quality” contacts to your network each year.

Finally, the panelists stressed that while other people will be necessary to get you to partnership, you also have to stand up for yourself.  Learn to identify the people who can help you along the way, but also those whom you can help. By understanding the service nature of the profession, you can identify opportunities to make others (and yourself) look good.  Most importantly, find ways to share your accomplishments, those inside and outside your firm.  If you are not comfortable “tooting your own horn,” you and a friend or co-worker can partner at events and promote each
other’s achievements and successes.

Avenues to Government

Editor's Note: Ms. JD's annual conference, Avenues to Advancement, was held November 20-21 in Chicago. These are six pieces of advice from the Avenues to Government panel.

Although lawyers in the public sector often make far less than lawyers in the private sector, that is not an indicator of the difficulty of the job or of getting in the door.  The panelists on our Avenues to Government panel offered some myths and truths about working for the government and offered some tips to help you get public sector job.  Below are two of these myths and three tips to help you get started.

Mythbusting

Myth #1: Lawyers in the public sector are not as good as lawyers in the private sector.

This is absolutely false.  As one of our panelists stressed: lawyers in the public sector are some of the best and the brightest lawyers in the profession.  And they demand excellence as much, if not more, than lawyers in private practice.

Myth #2: The training is better in private practice.

The truth is that the training is often different.  One panelist stated that she did not have any “real” training, but was just thrown into the water and had to swim.  Another panelist jumped in to note that this was training – real experience training – and that is huge! Public sector training if often informal, but it teaches lawyers how to multitask and how to run by the seat of their pants – both great skills for lawyers, especially in this economy. 

Get in the Door

Tip #1: Intern!

In the public sector, other than in politics, it is less about who you know and more about the process, at least at the early stages.  So get some real experience.  If you are struggling to find a meaningful experience, look outside the box.  Be willing to work for little or no pay for some time, think about clerking and get involved in your community.

Tip #2: Be a joiner.

Just because who you know matters less, it does not mean it doesn’t matter at all.  Being connected means you’re more likely to hear about positions that fit your interests.  So join your local or state bar association or a community organization.  Get involved with these groups and gain connections. And remember: don’t burn your bridges.  You never know who might be able to help you out in the future.

Tip #3:  Keep track of everything you do.

Whether you’re speaking on a panel, attending a training session or earning CLE credits – write it all down and keep it handy.  It will show your connections, your motivation and your experience, so when the right job comes along, you can prove that you’re prepared. 

Balancing Acts

Editor's Note: Ms. JD's annual conference, Avenues to Advancement,was held November 20-21 in Chicago. These are seven tips from the Balancing Acts panel.

Balancing your career and your personal life is not always easy, particularly in the legal profession.  The panelists offered advice on how they have managed to balance their lives, as well as insight into the compromises they had to make and the pros and cons of making those compromises.  Below are seven strategies for finding balance and maintaining a healthy life: 

1. Visualize the different aspects of your life and the time you devote to each aspect. 
The panelists uniformly analogized the different needs of their lives, whether as a wheel, a pie or a seesaw.  Visualizing your life allows you to understand where you are spending time and where more time might need to be spent.

2. Prioritize. 
At some point we will all have to make compromises, so it is important to prioritize your life so that you do not compromise something important to you.  At some point we will all have to decide what in life we can let go and what we may never have a chance to do or see again.  Also, keep an upbeat attitude in spite of the sacrifices you’ve made – remember to focus on the positives that have come out of the sacrifice.  For instance choosing to live in an apartment in the city instead of a house in the suburb may be a compromise of space, but might allow you to see your family for longer periods of time.  

3. Delegate.  Remember that you do not have to do everything yourself!  Learning what others can do to help you is an important part of balancing your life.  Keep in mind what you feel is most important for you to do yourself and then assign as much as possible of the rest to others. This allows you both a chance to gain supervisory skills and to allow you more time to balance your own life.

4. Stay flexible. 
Life will not always happen just the way you want. Sometimes you will have to work late and sometimes your child will get sick. Maintain flexibility in your life.  Be patient and learn to rearrange your schedule as needed. 

5.  Build a strong support system.  Whether it is your life partner, your parents, your siblings, your friends or some combination of the above – build a strong support system and then learn how to lean on it when necessary.

6. Keep your personality in mind.  All of us do not function in the same way.  Some people are disciplined, doing a little of everything throughout the day.  Others work in bursts of energy, doing a lot in a small amount of time.  Remember to stay true to who you are and find your natural rhythm in order to maximize your efficiency and better balance your day-to-day life.

7.  Make time for yourself. 
Some people find work or family to be so stimulating or relaxing that they do not need any additional time for themselves. This is the exception, not the rule.  For everyone else, make sure that you find time for yourself to do the little things you find fun.  Some people knit, some people read, some people go to the shooting range – whatever
it is that lets you unwind, make time for it! 

Moderator: Deborah Epstein Henry, Founder and President, Flex-Time Lawyers; Cheryl Blackwell Bryson, Partner, Duane Morris; Shauna Boliker, Chief of Criminal Prosecutions Bureau, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office; Karin DeMasi, Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore; Marcia Owens, Partner, Wildman Harrold; Stephanie Scharf, Partner, Schoeman Updike Kaufman & Scharf.