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Classroom to the Courtroom: Dynamic Legal Careers for the Former Educator
By Ms. JD Editor • November 12, 2021 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues
You taught in K-12 schools and now may want to “use” your education experience in law. If so, this blog post is for you. By way of background, I went to law school knowing that I wanted to somehow remain connected to the education world. I was an elementary school teacher in local public charter schools for three years immediately prior to law school. But my law school at that time had no professors with this experience and I was the only one of my peers who wanted to go into this area of practice. The career counselors at my…
Making the Most Out of Attorney Performance Reviews
By Ms. JD Editor • October 18, 2021 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers
Every law firm or legal organization conducts performance reviews, albeit differently. Some have formal evaluations and many actually offer informal evaluations, but you have to be proactive and ask. However, I have many lawyer friends who don’t have any such system at their respective organizations or they are really on their own in terms of tracking their performance. Regardless of your organization’s way of evaluating employees, carving out some time regularly to assess your work performance is definitely a best practice for any lawyer. Some lawyers find that their own firm’s annual performance review doesn’t help them or fails to…
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…
Welcome 2021!
By Susan Smith Blakely • January 07, 2021 •Careers, Other Career Issues
Below is an excerpt from the November/December Best Friends at the Bar Newsletter published just in time to say goodbye to 2020. The newsletter publishes bi-monthly, and you can receive it by signing up on the website or e-mailing me at susansmithblakely@gmail.com. You will be joining more than 800 lawyers and law firms that receive the newsletters and rely on it for updates on news about millennial and women lawyers. As we bid an enthusiastic farewell to 2020 and look forward to the new year, the challenges of 2020 have focused my thoughts on the importance of empathy and caring for the less…-100x100.jpg)
Practice Pointers – Charting Your Own Path
By Natasha Alladina • December 31, 2020 •Writers in Residence, Careers
My first post of 2020 was about avoiding a haphazard career. Kind of a strange blog post title and topic for someone who’s changed jobs and even careers a few times over… But to come full circle, there’s a difference between haphazard and intentional career moves. What may seem haphazard to others is far from that if your career decisions all align with what YOU want and need. The more you experiment and iterate, the better you get to know yourself, and the more intentionally you can chart your own career path. Take me, for instance. I started out in…
Into the Legal World: Deciding What Type Of Lawyer Will You Be
By Anonymous • December 30, 2020 •Careers, Legal Academia, Law School, Pre-Law, Choosing a Career and Landing a Job
It's your first day at law school, you have a lot in mind but your pure goal is to become a successful lawyer. Law aspirants and even established lawyers may struggle to decide what area of law they want to be an expert in. Going to law schools may spark your thoughts that you will eventually work in renowned and large firms practicing corporate law but the truth is that may not happen and you might be directed to another path. We need to remember that all areas of the law are important and it comes in handy in different…
Everything Nobody Ever Told Me: People Skills Make All the Difference
By Paula M Jones • December 30, 2020 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Issues, Other Issues
Yesterday my colleague called me up for a vent session. She had prepared a really complicated tax filing for a client and the client responded by sending a list of about fifteen things she thought was wrong with it. Well, the clients concerns were all unfounded and my colleague patiently and politely addressed each and every complaint. The client apologized for her snippy e-mail and stated that taxes made her anxious. It was really nice to get an acknowledgement from the client that her behavior was unacceptable. Everyone gets snippy once in a while and its entirely forgivable. Unfortunately, this…
5 Reasons Why Women are Effective Leaders
By Anonymous • December 29, 2020 •Careers, Other Career Issues, Issues, Other Issues, Features, Myths & Truths
Diversity in gender is still a debatable topic especially when it comes to leadership positions. We've known that women made tremendous efforts and tons of work to be where they are currently, yet some are still struggling in proving to the world that they are equally smart as men and that they also deserve to be leaders. Take Sabahat Akhter for example, she is the Project manager for leading printing companies like Imprint. Imprint produces promotional products like custom coffee mugs, yard signs, etc, whether it's for advertorial, marketing, business, or personal use. She has experience in data management and product…