Bar Exam Success Strategies Bar Prep Courses Don’t Teach You with Brandi D. Pikes, Esq.
By Roberta O. Roberts, Esq. of Grace for the Grind™ • June 15, 2019 •Features, Advice on Passing the Bar Exam, Guest Bloggers and Profiles of Women in the Law
Editor's Note: The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily state or reflect those of the Ms. JD Corporation. Lack of confidence is one of the three most common Bar exam preparation pitfalls according to a recent Above the Law article. So when I heard the story of an attorney who intentionally and strategically incorporated her faith into her Bar study routine to increase her confidence in herself and her abilities, I knew I had to reach out to her! I am happy to share this conversational interview I had with Brandi D. Pikes, Esq. about her Bar…
How to Get Leadership Positions to Build Your Practice
By Claire E. Parsons • June 10, 2019 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Issues, Mentoring and Networking
Ask most experienced attorneys how they built their practice and they’ll tell you they “got involved” in the community or professional organizations. Maybe this advice doesn’t always use the term “leadership” but that’s what it means. If you really want to “get involved” and build your reputation, you need to do some real work rather than just paying a membership fee and adding your name to a list. This may be a little scary for young attorneys, since it is easy to think that you haven’t paid your dues long enough to qualify as a leader. It may be easy to…
What Happens When Women Rule?
By Susan Smith Blakely • June 20, 2019
I never have met Swanee Hunt or, more accurately and respectfully, Ambassador Swanee Hunt. She is the former US ambassador to Austria, the founder of the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the founder of Seismic Shift, an initiative dedicated to increasing the number of women in high political office. We share a mutual very good friend, but I keep missing Ambassador Hunt at events. I hope that changes one day soon because we both are dedicated to advancing women in positions of leadership. And I would like to thank her for her work. In a recent…
Announcing the Winners of the Ms. JD Summer 2019 Public Interest Scholarship Competition
By Sonya Rahders • June 19, 2019 •Careers, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Law School, Internships and Clerkships
Ms. JD is pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 Public Interest Scholarship Competition! The four scholarship recipients were selected from a large pool of highly competitive applicants. Ms. JD appreciates the level of passion and personal conviction that was exhibited in the application pool, and we are thrilled to support these students in their pursuit of public interest careers. Royse G. Bachtel is a rising 2L at Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, PA. This summer Royse will be working as a summer legal intern at the Women’s Law Project, a public interest legal center that…
The Double Glass Ceiling: A barrier to female and minority retention
By Kim Tran • May 31, 2019 •Writers in Residence
One reason for the inability of law firms to keep their female and minority lawyers may come down to two words: business development. Or more accurately, business generation and the lack thereof. I met a female in house counsel at a conference last fall. She had gone in house after 8 years in a law firm. I asked her what made her go in house and her answer was that she had been practicing in a very niche practice at her firm that wasn’t easy for her to develop her own business. I asked other female in house counsel at the…
Being A Panelist: A Networking Gem
By Stephanie Hanna • June 04, 2019
So far, we’ve talked about how to be a giver when networking and how to not overextend yourself while doing so. This month, I want to switch gears a bit and talk about something we are all doing many times throughout our careers and likely not giving as much attention as we should: sitting on a panel. Serving as a panelist is a great networking and relationship building tool: you have a captive audience ready to hear your perspective on something which you’re an expert and you are shining in front of prospective clients and people who can send referrals…
Do Your Part: Contributing to Company Culture as Legal Counsel
By Jenny Patten • May 31, 2019 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues
Over the past couple of months, we’ve explored the importance of company culture in your in-house practice and how to identify whether a company’s culture is the right fit for you. This month’s column wraps up my short series on culture with how in-house counsel can use your unique role within the company to promote positive aspects of your company’s culture. Think about the leadership of your company, or the company you support. While the C-suite executives serve as the formal leaders of the company, you likely have a series of informal leadership within the company as well. These individuals…
Self-Care Everyday: The Importance Of Taking Care Of Your Mind, Too
By Brittany Raposa • June 07, 2019 •Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
Lately, in the craze of social media, "self-care Saturday" or "self-care Sunday" has become a phenomena. What does self-care mean? To many, it means working out, taking time to yourself, going for a hike, or meditating for 20 minutes. What it should be, however, is much more than this. We should participate in self-care every minute of every day, to the extent that we can, of course. It's important to take care of your body, which includes working out, eating right, and taking care of each part of yourself. Most of us, I think, forget to take care of one…
Something Blue: Bringing Blue-Collar Roots to the Legal Profession - An Interview with Melissa Green
By Molly Timko • May 29, 2019 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers
For this month's post, I am thrilled to feature an interview with Melissa Green, an energetic, enthusiastic, and compassionate attorney who specializes in Social Security Disability law. Melissa is the daughter of blue-collar workers and the first person in her family to attend and graduate from both college and law school. Could you tell Ms. JD blog readers about your background and what prompted you to apply to law school? I grew up in rural Maine and was the first person in my family to attend college. After college I became a high school teacher for about six years, then applied to law…