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Employee Rights in the Workplace During COVID-19
By Anonymous • April 12, 2021 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Issues, Mentoring and Networking
Some laws are clear and precise that it doesn’t require the application of rules of statutory construction. However, not all laws and statutes are alike. No matter how thorough the framers of these provisions are, some require legal interpretation. The same principle applies to labor laws. While the same law provided for just and authorized causes of termination, there are still conflicts regarding how employment lawyers and the bench, and the bar members should interpret its implementing rules. For example, redundancy may be an authorized cause to terminate employment. However, such termination can be subsequently found unlawful if the company,…
What’s Happening in Law Firms Today?
By Susan Smith Blakely • April 08, 2021 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
Law firms are changing. The pandemic has changed just about everything in business, and law firms are no exception. So what are the big changes that law firms and their members are experiencing these days? The biggest news involves bonuses. The Internet is jumping on an almost daily basis with news of the ongoing bonus war and one more BigLaw firm added to the big bonus list. Even big signing bonuses for associates, sometimes up to six figures. All of this bonus activity has caused me to wonder what is driving it. After all, the law business has just come…
Understanding Legal Malpractice and How Lawyers Can Avoid It
By Anonymous • August 30, 2020 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Issues
The idea of legal negligence suits can definitely dishearten any attorney and fulfill them together with self-doubt and fear. However valid malpractice lawsuits aren't getting registered without customers using the ideal legal malpractice elements in place. Definition of Legal Malpractice Legal malpractice is considered when a lawyer does not deal with an authorized case correctly because of their neglect, incompetence, or since they truly are intentionally trying to harm your customer. One of the most typical legal malpractice complaints caused by lawyers is the failure to understand and apply regulations appropriately, preparation errors, failure to the calendar, and overlooking deadlines,…
Career and Employment Tips During Corona Virus Times
By Anonymous • July 27, 2020 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Other Career Issues, Law School, Choosing a Career and Landing a Job
We can all agree that in today’s current situation, many are losing work and most expert economists are forecasting a recession. However, career experts still believe that it is ideal to continue applying and networking, as long as you come up with a dynamic approach to acknowledge that these are unforeseeable moments. Firms may not be currently open for the vacancy because they are attempting to work out how to conduct business online, but they will soon be hiring especially those people who are accustomed to a virtual business setup. Most experts have been discussing their thoughts that potential employees…
Maternity Leave For Women Lawyers is No Vacation
By Susan Smith Blakely • July 10, 2020 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
Maternity leave is a precious and necessary time for bonding with a newborn. It also is a woman’s contribution to a more evolved and stable society. But it ain’t no vacation. It ain’t no boondoggle. Let’s get that straight. There are many inequities for women lawyers — still. You know it. Yes, things have improved since I was climbing the ladder to partnership so many years ago, but progress has been slow. The profession is still riddled with both conscious and unconscious bias, sexual harassment is still practiced as if without impunity, and women lawyers bear the burden…
What Can Law Firm Leaders Learn from a Pandemic?
By Susan Smith Blakely • April 23, 2020 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
Law firm leaders come in all shapes, sizes, skin colors and backgrounds. They are both male and female, young and old. Some are effective, and some are not. And the differences in their effectiveness as leaders are especially apparent during a challenging time like a pandemic, which changes all the traditional rules in a very traditional profession. Like wheat and chaff, like milk and cream. Only the best rise to the top --- or, at least, that is the way it should work. So, what can effective leaders learn from a pandemic. It is an odd question, but it needs…
Are Law Firms Training Leaders or Followers?
By Susan Smith Blakely • April 16, 2020 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
I have been wondering about this for years. Are law firms training effective leaders --- or are they simply creating followers? We are seeing a lot of ineffective leadership in public office these days on both sides of the aisle --- “leaders” who would rather tell us what we want to hear rather than what we need to hear. And some of that ineffective leadership also is right here in our own profession. Effective leaders have plans to make things better. They do not shy away from leadership because they know that will create models for followers. And followers do…
Will Kindness Prevail in Law Firms Beyond the Days of Coronavirus?
By Susan Smith Blakely • April 09, 2020 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
The coronavirus pandemic has been devastating to so many lives and complicating and stressful to so many others. It has left many experiences in its wake that will best be forgotten, if that is even possible. Images from the news each night, alone, will be hard to forget. As much as we want to forget much of what has gone on in America during the last 90-plus days, there are some things that I hope we remember. I hope that we remember the kindness. I hope that we remember the caring. I hope that we remember the civility. I…
What Millennial Lawyers Need and How Law Firms Must Respond
By Susan Smith Blakely • March 05, 2020 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
I have written and spoken a lot about what millennial lawyers need. And, as many of you know, my book, What Millennial Lawyers Want: A Bridge from the Past to the Future of Law Practice (Wolters Kluwer/Aspen Publishers 2018), explores the subject at length. Even with that book and the many speaking engagements that followed its popularity, I am grateful each time I see another writer tackle the issue. The experiences of young lawyers and the future of the law profession are big issues and causes for concern, so I welcome other ideas and approaches. And once in awhile, I see an…