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It’s February Bar Season. But It Doesn’t Matter If You Pass. No, Really.
By Amy Impellizzeri • February 27, 2018 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Features, Advice on Passing the Bar Exam
Eighteen years ago this month, I was sitting for the Bar Exam in New York. I was already barred in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and had been practicing law in New Jersey and Philadelphia for several years, but still, the New York Bar Exam was sitting like a roadblock to my future that February. Or so I thought. I had just taken a new position in the Mass Torts Department of Skadden Arps in New York City. One of the Hiring Partners called me in December 1999 to convey the offer to me while I was sitting in my Newark,…
#MillennialMom: Law Student, Leader, and MOM!
By Katherine Larkin-Wong • February 26, 2018 •Careers, Other Career Issues, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life, Features, Guest Bloggers and Profiles of Women in the Law
Shortly after I launched #MillennialMom on Ms. JD last month, I got a DM on Twitter (you can follow me @kmlarkinwong). "Did you know that THREE of the ABA Law Student Division's Leaders are Moms? I think this is column-worthy!" You know what, I agree! So I reached out to the #MillennialMoms who are leading the lawyers of the future and asked them a few questions about being law students, leaders, and Moms. Two of them were able to be interviewed between school and Mom Life! First, a bit of biographical information: Name: Meredith Parnell ("MP") Law school: Harvard Law School…
10 Habits of Wealthy Lawyers
By Joshua Holt • February 25, 2018 •Careers, Legal Academia, Law School, Pre-Law, Issues, Other Issues, Features, Myths & Truths
Setting yourself up for financial success isn’t about making one good decision. If willpower were all it took to get rich, we’d all have a million dollars by 3 pm and on a flight to a tropical island by 7 pm. Unfortunately (or fortunately really), building wealth is about changing behaviors through developing new habits. And just like any habit you’ve ever changed, it’s not something that happens overnight. You’ll have to build these habits over time. Here are my top 10 habits of financially successful people. Habit 1: Paradigm Shift People that are successful with money believe that money…
Interview with Linda Mercurio, Esq., Founder of Transformative Impact
By Amy Impellizzeri • February 12, 2018 •Writers in Residence, Features, Guest Bloggers and Profiles of Women in the Law
Linda Mercurio is the Founder of Transformative Impact, a company providing coaching, training, and consulting services to transitioning attorneys. From 2008-2016, Linda served as the Founding Executive Director of the American University Washington College of Law Lawyer Reentry Program - a program she designed and implemented. I've followed with admiration Linda's career path for some time now, and when I reached out recently to tell her so, she sent back a same time photo of her desk with my book, Lawyer Interrupted, atop her own "To Be Read" pile. I love when life sends us those moments of impactful connection. You…
Don’t Be An Investing Clown
By Joshua Holt • February 10, 2018 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Issues, Other Issues, Features, Myths & Truths
The stock market just finished a great year. For every dollar invested on January 1, 2017, in an index fund tracking the S&P 500, the market returned a whopping 19.42% in appreciation by the end of the year. That’s not even taking into consideration the dividends paid. If you add in those, the index investor saw a return of 21.83% on each dollar invested (less fees, which of course should be kept to a minimum). Those are exciting numbers. What does a 21.83% return get you? Well, it doubles your money every 3.3 years for a start. You could get…
Mentor’s Corner: What’s the Difference in Gendered Education?
By ilise feitshans • December 28, 2017 •Features, Myths & Truths, First Women, Superwomen JDs and What You Can Learn From Them
Dr. Ilise L Feitshans JD and ScM and DIR Swiss 0041 79 836 3965 USA 917 239 9960 forecastingnanolaw@gmail.com Award Recipient MS-JD SUPERWOMEN- JD 2016 Author, Report to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE, 47 Nations Representing 850 million people) NANOTECHNOLOGY: BALANCING BENEFITS AND RISKS TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT accepted unanimously in Parliament www.coe.int (English, French and Russian). Auhtor, Handbook For Parliamentarians on the Convention Preventing Counterfeit Medicines("Medicrime") Council of Europe, in English French Russian and Spanish www.coe.int Forthcoming Chapter in the Book (Mark Hoover, NIOSH and Nathan Baker, Eds) NANOINFORMATICS: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES Forthcoming Book,…
How to Become a Top Lawyer and Love Doing It
By Tsion Chudnovsky • December 13, 2017 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Politics and Government, Other Career Issues, Law School, Choosing a Career and Landing a Job, Internships and Clerkships, •Other Law School Issues, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life, Mentoring and Networking, Features, Myths & Truths, Superwomen JDs and What You Can Learn From Them
If you do good work and can promote yourself, career doors will open for you. As a new female lawyer or soon to be lawyer, there are many things to learn as you develop who you are and what you will do in your career. One key facet that has helped me at Chudnovsky Law is to learn how to promote myself at work and build a book of business. As a lawyer you will need to learn how to market yourself and communicate your expertise to clients early in your career. If you can do that effectively, you will be an…
Failure Turned Inside Out: Asking for a Friend
By Patricia Jjemba • December 01, 2017 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Legal Academia, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Other Career Issues, Law School, •Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life, Mentoring and Networking, Features, Advice on Passing the Bar Exam
Sometimes the desire to help others is not enough. Before ending this column, I thought it was important to share my own story with my readers. It was a bit odd being the interviewee, but I pushed myself to answer some of the same questions I have been asking other women during this past year so this journey with you all could come full circle. For me, becoming a lawyer has always been a means to an end. I knew very early on that it would be the first step to evolving into a diplomat or politician championing the civil…
My Bar Exam Journey: From Pregnant to Pissed to Passing
By Shanti Brien • November 18, 2017 •Law School, Other Law School Issues, Features, Advice on Passing the Bar Exam
It felt good to have the Bar Exam on the calendar, even if it was four months away. Lilli was nine months old; she had slept through the night about three times. I looked forward to using my brain to master legal subjects I never learned in law school. And then I discovered I was pregnant again. So began the winter of endless, excruciating, pregnant drudgery. I pulled myself out of bed and spread Cheerios on the high chair so I could get dressed. I schlepped to the conference room on the second floor of a beige building next to…