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Interning at a Personal Injury Law Firm: Etiquette Rules to Follow
By Anonymous • August 27, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
Legal internships provide a valuable opportunity for networking and can be a significant resume booster. But in order to maximize the benefits of this opportunity, it’s important to act with professionalism at all times. If you’ve secured an internship at a personal injury firm, keep these etiquette rules in mind. Make Punctuality a Priority Punctuality is crucial in the legal field. Courthouses run on tight schedules. Judges have many cases to hear. There is no room for tardiness. Showing up late to a courtroom proceeding could cost the personal injury lawyer the opportunity to challenge the case or a motion.…
The Reality of Non-Equity Partnership
By Susan Smith Blakely • August 19, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
Lawyers at all levels of practice can be valuable members of the profession and can find satisfaction in their work. That is a given, and the decision where you want to fall along the gamut is up to you. But, before you put that decision in motion, be sure that you understand the terms. For law firms, that includes being familiar with the ins and outs of non-equity partnership. Non-equity partnership sounds good to many young lawyers who think they understand the demands of equity partnership and want something less. The thinking goes something like this: I will still have an…
3 Branding and Promotion Strategies for Small Law Firms
By Jacob Maslow • August 15, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
Building a law firm is difficult, and even as a promising lawyer, it can be difficult to brand and promote yourself. Younger firms have less of a reputation than established firms, making it harder to bring in new clients. The key for new firms is to start branding and promoting immediately. Waiting to jump into branding and promotion is asking for failure. Simple strategies can be employed, even on a low budget, that will allow you to propel your law firm forward. A few key strategies that budding law firms can implement today to build their brand are: 1. Leverage…
Women Lawyers Could Use Golf “Fore” Business
By Susan Smith Blakely • June 26, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
This is where I tell you to do what I say and not what I do. I am not a good example of what I am about to tell you. I was raised in a family of golfers. My grandfather was a par golfer plus and designed a few courses. He taught my mom to play golf when she was a teenager --- long before there were many women on the links. My mom was a good golfer, better than my dad, if truth be told. She loved the game and played at least three days a week during the…
The Dangers of Leaking Young Lawyer Talent
By Susan Smith Blakely • June 12, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
For more than a decade I have been urging law firms to retain and advance the talent of women lawyers. The three-book Best Friends at the Bar series has been my effort to spread those messages, and most recently I have expanded my work to include cautionary messages about ignoring and losing the talent of all young lawyers --- men and women alike --- in What Millennial Lawyers Want: A Bridge from the Past to the Future of Law Practice (Wolters Kluwer/Aspen Publishers 2018). Those books and the hundreds of blogs and articles I have written and speeches I have given include…
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…
Summer Associate Advice Good for a Lifetime: Solicit, Receive, and Materialize Constructive Feedback
By Vanessa Stephens • May 31, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Politics and Government, Other Career Issues, Law School, Other Law School Issues, Issues, •Mentoring and Networking
Many leaders succeed in their fields because they request continuous feedback, process it, and adjust their course. As a law students, I attended panel discussions centered on soliciting feedback very frequently, so it seems like a hot-button topic for young associates. The legal field is incredibly challenging; the learning curve is steep and the workplace dynamics are intricate. I want to make continuous and open dialogue about my learning opportunities a regular part of my legal process, so I talked to my mentors about how to request and receive actionable constructive feedback. Here are a few tips that I picked…
The Effect of a Greedy Profession on Women Lawyers
By Susan Smith Blakely • May 29, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
The greed will consume our profession. I first called the law profession "greedy" in an article that I wrote for Corporate Counsel magazine in the Fall of 2016. My comments at the time were part of a discussion about women lawyers "having it all" --- or not --- and the impact of the values of money, power and greed on the well-being of law practitioners. Since that time, I have seen more commenters willing to call our profession what it is --- a well intentioned endeavor overcome by negative values. This kind of candor is necessary if we are going to…
Advice for Millennial Lawyers (including Women Lawyers!)
By Susan Smith Blakely • May 22, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
Earlier today I was the presenter on a webinar for Thompson Reuters/West on "What Millennial Lawyers Want." It was a 65-minute program and contained a lot of good information on millennial lawyers, how their behaviors and expectations have developed, the responsibility that parent generations and society have in influencing that development, the values that are common to millennial lawyers and Greatest Generation lawyers, and the roles of millennial lawyers and law firm leaders in a shared solution to the Generational Divide. Admittedly, that is a lot of content, but it was a long program! That is how CLE works --- you…