Other Career Issues

Speaking Salary

jlwallace — Mon, 1 Sep 2008 13:27:52 -0500

In her recent New York Times article, Girl Power at School, but Not at the Office, Hannah Seligson discusses the "new arsenal of skills" that women need to succeed in the workforce. She suggests that letting go of perfectionist tendancies and creating professional networks are two critical skills to success. Additionally, to keep up with the old-boy's club, women need to start "speaking salary."

A Book Review on a Great Find: "View from the Top: Q&A with Legal Women Leaders"

KHernan881 — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:11:36 -0500

I was in the firm's library the other day looking for a securities law practice guide when my eyes were drawn to the following title: View from the Top: Q&A with Legal Women Leaders. It is a book in the Vault Career Library and just happened to be on the shelf across the aisle from the corporate securities collection.

What a lucky find! This book was published in 2007, so it is current and relevant. It consists of interviews with over 100 women at the top of the legal profession, leaders at law firms and as general counsel at companies and nonprofits.

The Power of Storytelling in Your Legal Practice

Ms. JD — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:25:00 -0500

[Ed. Note: Paramjit Mahli, of the Sun Communications Group, and author of this article, is a former journalist who has worked with international news organizations including CNN Business News, and now helps small to mid-sized law firms get in front of their target markets effectively, efficiently, and expeditiously. Her job is to let the lawyers do what they do best – practice law – while she takes care of all their public relations.]

How do attorneys connect with their audience without losing themselves in legal-speak? The art of story telling can help lawyers communicate in a way that is captivating and easily understood.

During February’s Super Bowl, sports buffs, approximately 97 million according to news reports, witnessed not just a great game but also a great story. The New York Giants were the underdogs, while the New England Patriots were favored to win. The underdogs won! The story, essentially of the underdogs winning, connected and resonated with millions of viewers and supporters. The game had drama, tension, conflict, beginning, middle and end. In sum, all the ingredients of a great story!

Storytelling is as old as civilization itself, and part of the collective human consciousness. Its roots can be traced back to the days of the shaman sitting around the fire. The shaman’s primary responsibility was to document the history of the tribe: its beliefs, values and tales of great heroes, including their triumphs and tragedies. Part of this responsibility included passing on the wisdom of these stories to new generations so that they could learn, be inspired and be motivated.

Choosy Moms choose what?

kirkebaby — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:08:59 -0500

I think I am jealous. I am jealous of all the mommies that knew they wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. I am also jealous of all the mommies who knew that they wanted to go back to work. I feel bad for the mommies who want to stay home, but have to work, and for the mommies who want to work, but have to stay at home.

I am none of them.

Tomorrow is the last day of my life as a stay-at-home mom. Well, a quasi-stay-at-home mom. My last day to plan out a day with my kids and not worry that I am using a vacation day for nothing. I have been riddled with emotion over the past several months, ever since I accepted a new position that requires me to go back full time. So many women tell me that I am lucky to have the choice, but am I?

Another Book You Can Skip-- Full Disclosure: the new lawyer's must-read career guide

KHernan881 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:35:50 -0500

Sorry to report that I have wasted my money on another lawyer career guide that wasn't worth it. This book full disclosure: the new lawyer's must-read career guide is just not good. One the cover it says "An indispensible mentoring guide for young lawyers and those about to enter the practice of law". That statement couldn't be more wrong. First, the book is very dispensible. In fact, the information offered by this book is dispensed by every would-be career counselor and advice-giver out there; it is information you can generally glean from life's experiences if you are even a little perceptive. The advice is so basic that it is not useful. Second, the book tries to be too many things to too large an audience. It is more 1/2 about finding a job out of law school and 1/2 about how to navigate that job once you have it. This really means that it doesn't do a good job of meeting the needs of either the young lawyer or the law student. If anything, this book should really be marketed to law students -- but, even then, it is not worth it.

Take this nugget of advice:

Occasionally, a client wiil request a budget consisting of a written estimate of the type and amount of services that the firm expects to provide for a client in a given matter. The preparation of a budget is a good exercise for lawyers because it forces them to think about the value of their services and provides a yard-stick by which to measure that service.

Really? Is this insightful?

Women Supervisors: The Danger of Micromanaging

lawblogger — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:24:52 -0500

Lately, I’ve started to wonder if women are more likely to be ineffective managers than men. I think, after mulling it over for a few days, that women (who we already know have to work harder to get into positions of power) might have perfectionist complexes that go past the objective and into the subjective, which might make them difficult to work under.

For example, I have a friend who has been complaining to me about his boss (a woman). He says that she likes to be kept “in the loop” on everything he does, including minor emails, and that she will often correct him in front of others or send clarifying emails following his emails that mostly say the same thing he said but in different words. (i.e. he’ll send out an email that says “We’re meeting in the conference room at 10. Please bring your case materials” and she’ll send an email that says “Just to clarify, all the members of the team will be meeting. Please bring your drafts of the memo.”) He can’t stand his boss. At first, I thought he was just chafing to work under a woman or that, if anything, this particular woman was a bit of a micromanager.

I had the issue in my head though, so I started noticing things around my own office. Last week, I had to get a few documents approved by one of my female supervisors, and she made me go back and forth with several minor, subjective changes (i.e. I wrote “individuals” and she wanted “people”). I thought of my friend and started to wonder whether female supervisors feel the need to vouch more for their employees than male supervisors, which then leads to a painful degree of micromanagement. In my case, the document was not that important, and I was actually signing my name to it, so my supervisor wasn’t publicly linked to it at all. Why, then, the need to have me make several superficial wording changes?

Seeking A Just Balance: Law Students Weigh In On Work and Family

Caroline Conway — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:07:29 -0500

A Better Balance: The Work & Family Legal Center is publishing a study, Seeking A Just Balance: Law Students Weigh In On Work and Family. The study is a survey of NYU law students and their expectations around work/life balance. Generation-Y lawyers – American men and women born between 1978 and 1998 – are extremely worried about these issues and are willing to trade money for time.

The demand for work/life balance is greater among both men and women than in the past. Family life is a high priority for today’s young attorneys, and they do not want to make the same sacrifices for their careers as their parents did. It’s not about the money anymore, but about the big picture in their lives.

The study found that as firms have competed for talent over the last ten years, salaries have increased exponentially. The result of that is an increased expectation of availability and billable hour requirements. They offer “lifestyle perks” designed to keep people at work instead of flexible time that would allow workers to be with their families. Up-and-coming lawyers would rather trade money for more personal time, and will leave for a pay-cut if the result is less time at work. Many respondents commented on how the private sector works attorneys to death, and that if they are required to put in 80 hour work weeks or stay until others leave so that there is face time, they will leave the firm.

This is not a new trend, but represents a shift in cultural values in Generation Y.

Why Do We Need Women's Bar Associations?

Elizabeth Peck — Fri, 2 May 2008 08:07:00 -0500

Elizabeth K. Peck is President and Co-Founder of the Finger Lakes Women’s Bar Association and the Director of Career Services at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, NY

Why Do We Need Women’s Bar Associations?

I asked myself this very question 18 months ago. Back in October of 2006, along with 300 other women attorneys in my area, I was invited to breakfast by the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York (WBASNY) to discuss starting a new chapter of the organization. Honestly, I had no interest then in a “specialty bar.” What I did have, however, was interest in meeting local attorneys. Much as I had tried, I hadn’t yet connected with lawyers in my community. Tapping into this network was important to me because I am a career counselor at a law school in rural New York. Each year a small number of my students want to stay in our lovely hamlet to practice law after graduation. Without contacts among local lawyers I couldn’t serve their needs as well as I wanted to. In small communities, if you want to find a job, you’ve got to know people.

So, I went to breakfast. I listened to the pitch. I ate luke-warm eggs. Nothing. Then, I just happened to meet the right person at the right time. On the sidewalk outside the restaurant, I struck up a conversation with a young woman attorney working for a local firm. “Ah ha!” I thought. “This is exactly the kind of person I’d like to get to know.” I quickly realized that helping to start this new organization would connect me to the very people I had been yearning to meet. So, after 20 minutes of chatting in the October sunshine, we’d decided to start a new bar association.

And, to make a long story short: we did. Six months after our initial meeting, the Finger Lakes Women’s Bar Association was born. I am, to this day, continuously surprised at our success. Our little chapter grew from 25 to 60 members in a year. (In fact, although we are a women’s bar association, we are open to all and quite proud of our sole male member.) We have held meetings, social events and continuing legal education courses. Our members have learned of the sacrifices of the suffragettes, listened to the wisdom of an early NOW president, and come up to speed on the continued struggle for women’s equality in the world of college sports.

And because our bar association is a chapter of the state-wide women’s bar, we have also witnessed the immense power that women, singly and collectively, can have. At the state-level, WBASNY (yes, it is an ungainly acronym) gives voice to the needs of women, children and families before the New York State Legislature. With a paid lobbyist and very committed volunteer members, our organization analyzes legislation pending in Albany and advocates for those bills which will best serve the people of New York, especially those people who are women, children or members of families.

This is all very nice, but get back to the original question: so, why a women’s bar association? Don’t co-ed bars do the same things? Well, yes and no.

Trading SAHM for SWAT?

Manamana — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:20:35 -0500

There's a new article by Sue Shellenbarger in the Wall Street Journal that highlights an interesting trend:

The decision among some highly educated women to stay home with children is sparking a countertrend: The rise of the mommy "SWAT team." The acronym, for "smart women with available time," is one mother's label for all-mom teams assembled quickly through networking and staffing firms to handle crash projects. Employers get lots of voltage, cheap, while the women get a skills update and a taste of the professional challenges they miss.

This article seems mostly applicable to the MBA crowd, but similar things are happening in the law (Axiom Legal, for example, is a firm that provides flexible legal hiring). I'm not sure, however, if the trend this article discusses is a good or bad development--after all those long hard years getting a higher education and in the work force, should these women be contracting themselves out for bottom dollar (i.e., aren't they worth more than that, even on a part-time or temporary basis)? Or is this a good way for companies to get affordable troubleshooters and for these women to keep their fingers in the mix? And is this one way to help women who have elected to stay home (perhaps for a limited period of time) be able to "ramp on" in the future?

Is Tattling On Yourself Admirable or Stupid?

sintecho — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:45:26 -0500

The other day, I made a mistake at work. It was the kind of mistake that my boss may or may not have ever noticed, the kind of mistake that doesn't have far-reaching consequences but is nonetheless wrong. Also important to note is that this was the kind of mistake that was already out there, and there was nothing anyone could do to change it or somehow make it less of an error. When I realized I'd made the mistake, I decided to email my boss right away and tell him what I'd done. He wrote back and acknowledged that I had indeed made a mistake but that he was glad I'd alerted him. But...was I wrong to turn myself in?

When I told some co-workers about the incident, one guy admitted he'd done the exact same thing...but hadn't alerted our boss and had never gotten called out for making the mistake. After reflecting on the different ways we'd handled the situation, I'm sure some of our different approaches can be attributed to our different personalities, but I also think gender played a role. In my experience, men--as a general rule--are less likely to publicly own up to mistakes while women are more likely to do so.

In the abstract, it is admirable that one would be honest and step up to admit wrongdoing, but in practice, can it hurt your career? For example, my boss now knows that I am fallible. I have screwed up and drawn his attention right to my error. My co-worker, on the other hand, made the exact same screw-up, but the boss never knew (that we know of). So, arguably my boss might think that my co-worker's abilities are superior to my own, even though we both did the same thing wrong. I wonder how much of professional competence is about bluster and fakery and how much an honest perspective on your own abilities and shortcomings can actually be a hinderance to moving ahead. After all, people who project competence get promoted--and perhaps projecting competence is less about actual competence and more about the appearance of said competence. Should I have twiddled my thumbs and whistled a carefree tune when I realized my error and just waited to deal with my boss when and if he came to me rather than going straight to him? I'm starting to think that the answer is yes.