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5 Secrets You Didn’t Know About Personal Finance
By Joshua Holt • January 09, 2020 •Careers, Law School, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
If you’re like me, you spent the holidays trying to stay warm, avoiding your phone, and curled up under a blanket watching a few lawyer movies, thankful that you’ve somehow avoided getting staffed on one of those must-close-by-December-31st deals. But now it’s the new year and you’re thinking that you need to “control your money, so it doesn’t control you.” You’ve mastered the basic principles of creating a budget, avoiding credit card debt, and keeping a close eye on your decreasing student loan balance. But what else can you do to master your money and build wealth and security? Here…
My Mom, the Lawyer
By Susan Smith Blakely • January 09, 2020 •Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
I just read a book that you all need to know about ---- to read and to recommend to all of the lawyers in your lives. By "all" I mean both the female lawyers and the male lawyers in your orbits. The book, My Mom the Lawyer, by Louisville, KY lawyer/mom Michelle Browning Coughlin, hits all the marks of my own Best Friends at the Bar project for women lawyers. Like me, Michelle and her project, Mothers Esquire, are devoted to increasing retention and promotion rates for women lawyers. And, like me, Ms. Coughlin also extends her project to male lawyers, who are parents and caregivers.…
Types of Lawyers: Deciding What Type Of Lawyer Will You Be.
By Katherine Hernandez • December 12, 2019 •Careers, Law School, Choosing a Career and Landing a Job, Issues, Other Issues
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 with. Going to law schools may spark your thoughts that you will eventually work in renown 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 handy in different situations. Whether you…
Bringing Blue-Collar Roots to the Legal Profession - An Interview with Jennifer Frankola Crawford
By Molly Timko • December 02, 2019 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Law School, Internships and Clerkships, Issues, Mentoring and Networking
For this month's post, I am thrilled to feature my fellow CUNY Law alum, Jennifer Frankola Crawford. Jennifer is an experienced attorney, arbitrator, and human rights advocate with blue-collar/working-class roots. As an arbitrator, Jennifer hears cases and renders decisions based upon New York State’s Insurance Law. In addition, Jennifer maintains an active practice in education law, representing families of children with learning disabilities and developmental delays. Further, Jennifer engages in pro bono work involving human rights issues, including handling immigration/deportation cases, and she collaborates with other lawyers to design and host CLEs. In this interview, Jennifer describes how her family's history, including her parents' immigration to the United States, influenced her career trajectory. She also offers excellent advice to first-generation…
We are the phanthoms . we are not supposed to be here
By ilise feitshans • December 01, 2019 •Ms. JD, Conference, Careers, Legal Academia, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Politics and Government, Issues, Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Other Forms of Discrimination, •Features, Superwomen JDs and What You Can Learn From Them
We are the phanthoms.we are not supposed to be here by Dr ilise L Feitshans JD and ScM and DIR In the middle of the spring semester of second year law school when students have often successfully adjusted to the rigors of a difficult almost military austerity and discipline regime one professor chose to rattle the box of security his students had constructed so very carefully I don't know why I am here teaching constitutional law professor Roy Schotland proclaimed in his squeaky unsettling voice. None of you are going to argue before the Supreme Court The year was…
“Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket”
By Leigh Bond • November 23, 2019 •Issues, Mentoring and Networking
The best career advice -- “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” -- does not even have an author. We’ve all heard the phrase, perhaps for different contexts, including dating and investing. Yet, I most appreciate the versatile nature of the idiom when applied to my nontraditional career path and future aspirations. First, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” is a sound approach when seeking opportunities. When I talk to a mentee in the middle of their job search, they often share a focus on one category of positions. As a mentor, I believe it is…
The best career advice I’ve ever received
By Katalin Tarjan • November 22, 2019 •Careers, Other Career Issues, Issues, Other Issues
I recently heard someone say that the three things they were looking for in a job was to feel maximized, compensated and appreciated. Thinking about it, I found this very true for myself and you might as well too. Knowing what your expectations are about a job is crucial to be able to find the right fit for you. Also, when you start feeling unsatisfied, this way you can identify the reasons and even do something about it. These three areas seem to cover our basic needs when it comes to professional goals. Maximized means you want all your knowledge…
Do Certain Personalities Make More Successful Lawyers?
By Amy Nouri • November 22, 2019 •Issues
Results from a study published by the Arizona Summit Law Review concluded that the stereotypical “lawyer personality,” in which thinking dominates feeling, may not apply to successful women lawyers. The study, Super Women Lawyers: A Study of Character Strengths, found that women who excel in the profession “exhibit a predominance of heart strengths as opposed to more analytical head strengths, with gratitude and kindness appearing most frequently.” After tests and interviews with women named to Super Lawyers, the study found: Gratitude was the most common top strength, followed by kindness, social intelligence, zest – all of which are termed heart strengths; Of the top ten strengths, the…
Does Gender Play a Role in Attorney Ethics?
By Amy Nouri • November 22, 2019 •Issues
A study published by Florida State University Law Review found that women attorneys are disciplined at a significantly lower rate than their male counterparts and generally incur less severe sanctions. Does this mean women make more ethical attorneys? According to the researchers that’s open to interpretation. The study found data could only support theories or confirm they weren’t applicable. Although ultimately inconclusive the report delved into broad biological, physiological, social and cultural differences, how these apply to attorneys, and how they apply to the substantial difference in disciplinary rates. Among these: Disciplinary boards are not easier on women. The study found that regressions on…