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Desi Advocacy: Spotlight on Juvaria Khan, Founder of The Appellate Project
By Prianka Misra • December 03, 2020 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Other Career Issues, Issues, Mentoring and Networking
This month, I had the opportunity to interview Juvaria Khan, founder of The Appellate Project. Ms. Khan's nonprofit aims to empower law students and lawyers of color in the appellate field through educational outreach, a Civil Rights Clinic at Howard University School of Law, and a summer fellowship incubator program. Prior to her role at The Appellate Project, Ms. Khan clerked for the Honorable Michael P. Shea in the District Court of the District of Connecticut. She also worked at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, maintaining a heavy pro bono practice focusing on racial and religious discrimination claims. Finally, she has served as…-100x100.jpg)
Practice Pointers – Assessing Your Career Progress
By Natasha Alladina • December 01, 2020 •Writers in Residence, Careers
We’re officially in the holiday season… which means peppermint hot chocolate, Hallmark movies, and oh wait, annual reviews. Sorry to ruin the festive mood, but annual reviews? They’re just as important and browsing all those Black Friday deals. (I know I’m not the only one.) Obviously, annual reviews matter because they factor into your potential bonus, pay raise, and overall standing wherever you work. But they also matter because they force you to take stock of your career progress over the past year – to assess what you’ve worked on, learned, and could use more experience in. That…
Everything Nobody Ever Told Me: How to Stop Office Gossip in Its Tracks
By Paula M Jones • November 29, 2020 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Issues, Other Issues
“What you don't see with your eyes, don't witness with your mouth.” -Jewish Proverb My friend Jen used to describe her best friend since childhood, Tracy, as a complete screw-up. Every time she would mention her, she would roll her eyes and bring up Tracy’s latest failed relationship or the crazy man in her life. I had never met Tracy and I have to admit, without any other evidence to the contrary, I began to think of Tracy as a screw-up too. I attended a social gathering at Jen’s house one evening and was speaking to a woman who was…
Conflict Resolution Vis a Vis Outer Space Activities
By Alexandra Dolce • November 28, 2020 •Careers, Politics and Government
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague has adopted rules for the arbitration of disputes relating to outer space activities. The rules are “optional”. As such, parties in a space related dispute may choose to use them or not. Pursuant to the Rules, standing is very broad. Hence, states, intergovernmental agencies, NGOs, corporations and private parties may use them as a forum. The Rules provide a forum for various methodologies to be used by parties. For instance, parties may select a panel of arbitrators or just one. Most importantly, awards of the Court are final and binding, which creates…
Everything Nobody Ever Told Me: Dealing with Difficult People - The Provocateur
By Paula M Jones • October 30, 2020 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life, Mentoring and Networking, Other Issues
Just because other people are fueled by drama, doesn’t mean you need to attend the performance. – Cheryl Richardson I was busily working away at my new firm when the head of my department crept into my office, eyes wide. She hunched her shoulders down, looked around to make sure no one else was within earshot and said in a hushed tone, “Do you have a second? I have to tell you something.” She closed my office door. She proceeded to tell me that a colleague had a problem with some work that I had done. Her story didn’t ring…
Difficult Clients: Here’s How To Deal With Them
By Anonymous • October 28, 2020 •Careers, Issues, Mentoring and Networking, Other Issues
Since many lawyers began their careers with months on end reviewing documents, it is no wonder that engaging with clients can seem to be a significant achievement and a welcome break from being in the document review den. Yet as you begin to communicate with customers, you know that there is now an entirely new problem: that is your customers. While it is not entirely external to a GAP shop, legal services may have a clear sense of retail. You have to say often sometimes that the customer is wrong and always keeps the customer satisfied with their job,…
This Is What Happens When Your Employees Become Brand Ambassadors
By Anonymous • October 12, 2020 •Careers, Other Career Issues, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
We live in a technological revolution. The majority of the masses are on their smartphones, browsing through different social media platforms. Social media has taken the tech world by storm. Using social media to gain traffic is not a foreign concept. In fact, it is arguably the most favored mode of content marketing. In recent years, we have seen the emergence of leveraging Employee Advocacy as a new means of social media marketing, and living in a world where peer influence is predominant, a company’s employees are the avenues to engage and interact with the consumers. We have shifted from…
Everything Nobody Every Told Me: Visioning Really Works
By Paula M Jones • September 30, 2020 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life, Other Issues
As I was approaching thirty years of working full-time, I began much more flexibility in my daily schedule. My dream was to be able to set my own schedule instead of adhering to the schedule of others. Unfortunately, I could not see any viable way to make that happen, since I was working in a big firm where time seemed to be the master of us all. Over time, my frustration began to build. Whenever I became frustrated, I began to write out what I wanted my daily life to look like. Dreams – even those that seem impossible –…
Practice Pointers - Knowing When to Consider a Lateral Move
By Natasha Alladina • September 27, 2020 •Writers in Residence, Careers
Most lawyers (indeed, most professionals) won’t stay at their first job forever. Kudos to those “lifers” who find their perfect fit from the get-go (or decide to stick it out at their first gig), but the rest of us will likely contemplate a lateral move at some point in our careers. And if you fall into the latter category, how do you know when to consider making a move? The answer, of course, will vary depending on the individual lawyer and situation. From personal experience and now, as a legal recruiter, I’ve found that the following are good reasons to…