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Join Ms. JD as our Social Media Coordinator!
By Katie Day • September 10, 2019 •Ms. JD, Careers, Law School, Pre-Law, Features
Do you have crazy social media skills? Is your smart phone always ready to Tweet, Pin, and Post? Do you have a passion for women helping women? If you answered yes to these questions, you might be just the person we are looking for! Ms. JD is seeking a part-time Social Media Coordinator to join us as an independent contractor to help build and manage our social media outreach strategies. As an independent contractor, the Social Media Coordinator will exercise her or his own independent judgment and discretion to support Ms. JD’s online presence. What will you be doing? As…
Young Lawyers: Ask for What You Want!
By Susan Smith Blakely • September 18, 2019 •Careers, Other Career Issues
Asking for what you want? Ah. It is much harder than it sounds. But, you must master the fine art of identifying what you want and asking for it. Especially at work where every opportunity lost can negatively affect your career path. My friend Anne Loehr just posted an article about this, and I thank her for that. As a leadership consultant to companies and firms, she has done a lot of thinking about this. She isn't always writing for lawyers, but the same rules apply throughout the working world. Anne rightfully points out that the response "I don't care" is…
What All Lawyers Need to Know about Origination Credit
By Susan Smith Blakely • September 11, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
If you are a lawyer just beginning your career, you probably don't spend a lot of time worrying about origination credit. In fact, maybe you never heard of the concept. That makes sense. You have a lot of other things to worry about that affect you on a daily basis in pursuit of improving your skills and becoming the best lawyer you can be. But there is a difference between "worrying about" and "being informed about." As far as I am concerned, every private practice lawyer, regardless of experience, needs to at least be familiar with the concept of origination…
The Future of Billable Hours—- What All Young Lawyers Love to Hate
By Susan Smith Blakely • September 04, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
Billable hours. Ugh. The end all and be all in most law firms today. Together with client origination, billable hours have been the measure of success for law professionals for generations. 2200 annually. 2000. 1950. It really doesn't matter. The ounce of flesh that is exacted to reach those numbers is considerable and should be of primary concern. Wellness of professionals, wholesome law firm values, training young lawyers to become law firm leaders, and client service should matter most --- not billable hours. Despite these countervailing considerations, we keep concentrating on leveraging and law firm profits, all of which derive…
Five Tips to Maximize Your Efficiency When In-House
By Jenny Patten • September 01, 2019 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Issues, Other Issues
When someone asks what in-house practice is like, I often reply that it is like drinking from a firehose. The legal department is the starting and ending point for a lot of projects and issues, and tackling everything that hits your desk without a game plan can feel daunting. While everyone takes a different approach to managing their workload, I’ve outlined a few tips that I’ve initiated during my in-house practice that help me maximize efficiency while in the office. 1. Keep Organized. Staying on top of your various task lists, emails, meeting invites, updates and follow-ups can feel like…
Something Blue: Bringing Blue-Collar Roots to the Legal Profession – On Foie Gras & Food Faux Pas
By Molly Timko • August 30, 2019 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Issues, Other Issues
As I mentioned in my first blog post, I experienced heightened self-awareness about my blue-collar roots once I entered the legal profession. For this month’s blog post, I wanted to share some of my awkward workplace encounters involving food. I am fully aware that these awkward food encounters are trivial in comparison to larger socioeconomic issues such as structural inequality. However, I think it’s important for us first-generation lawyers to share our personal experiences, frustrations, and lessons learned. As a newly minted lawyer, I found that the majority of my coworkers appeared to possess sophisticated palates and expansive culinary vocabularies. Casual lunchtime conversations typically revolved around food (in addition to work…
Ethics and the Burden of a Criminal Lawyer
By Anonymous • August 30, 2019 •Careers, Nonprofits and the Public Interest
Defense lawyers have a difficult job. While these lawyers work in the confines of the law, and they work similar hours to other lawyers, they carry an ethical burden that a lot of other lawyers do not. A criminal lawyer may defend a murderer or rapist. They can be ethical, or they can be unethical attorneys. You can work helping inmates on death row clear their names, and this can be a tremendously rewarding experience. But a criminal lawyer may need to live with the fact that a guilty man is going free. There's also the issue of an innocent…
Why An Attorney Is Essential When Starting A New Law Firm
By Alex Newman • August 29, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
Every business needs a lawyer. Be it simple management of accounts or complex procedures of handling a new law firm, the necessity of lawyers are imminent. With the help of attorneys, you can get assistance and advice regarding compliance with the rules and regulations surrounding the formation of a firm or institution. Before going into the details, let us take a look at the types of attorneys. Contracts: Here, you will get the support regarding the contracts that you will need for the various suppliers, customers, and clients. These contracts can be pretty tricky, and getting the advice of an…
Law Firms Should Follow Corporations In Looking Beyond Self-Interest
By Susan Smith Blakely • August 28, 2019 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector
Law firm greed. I have been writing about the negative impact of greed in the law profession since 2016. It was then that I first discussed how the greed manifested by large law firms is undercutting the professionalism of the business of law. Those comments appeared in an article I penned for Corporate Counsel in its September issue that year, and I have discussed the concepts many times since in articles and remarks to legal audiences. In essence, I argue that it was the greed of Wall Street that brought our economy to its knees in 2008, and it will be the…