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Starting A Law Firm In Your Hometown: What to expect
By Dennis Hung • November 02, 2018 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Other Career Issues
Law school typically prepares lawyers to join established firms. Many, however, want to strike out on their own. If you want to start your own firm, you might think that the best place to do is in your own hometown. Before you start looking at office space, though, you should make sure to that you know what to expect when you start practicing law. Learning the Business Unfortunately, law school rarely teaches you how to open your own firm. While there might be specialized classes taken by some students, the truth is that you'll have to figure out how…
JD Preferred Career Quiz
By Diana LaMorie • October 02, 2018 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Law School, Choosing a Career and Landing a Job
You know those quizzes in glossy magazines that promise to evaluate your personality and offer a tailored solution to any given problem according to your responses? Well, this month I've created my very own 'JD Preferred Quiz' to help jumpstart your thinking on which career path suits you best in using your JD degree in a non-traditional way. Whether you are still in law school but re-thinking the law firm path, or are a post-graduate lawyer thinking of doing something different with your law degree, this quiz can help narrow your frame of reference among the myriad options. Ideally, your…
Friend or Foe? Technology in Our Everyday Lives: Fintech
By Keisha M. McClellan • September 30, 2018 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Other Career Issues, Law School, Choosing a Career and Landing a Job, Internships and Clerkships
“Every technological revolution takes about 50 years.” Jack Ma, Co-founder of the Alibaba Group In the case of the Fintech revolution that is upending business models and competition in financial services, it is being digitized, streamed, podcasted and mobile-accessed now. It is a revolution that is taking place today as opposed to in the future. As Forbes Magazine’s Daniel Newman warns us, “If you have not heard about the Fintech revolution that is happening right now, you need to get out from under your rock.” Fintech, the fusion of finance and technology, is here with all of the subtlety and…
What Do RBG and Millennial Lawyers Have in Common?
By Susan Smith Blakely • September 20, 2018 •Careers, Other Career Issues
RBG. You have to love her! And I do. I loved the documentary about her life, and I love how relevant she continues to be. I first saw Justice Ginsburg speak more than a decade ago when she was addressing an audience of law students and young lawyers. Yes, her scholarship and her role as a breaker of glass ceilings amazed me, but it did not stop there. Her sense of humor and her humble way of speaking was surprising for someone at her high perch, and it was heartwarming. She knows how to get attention without hitting the listener…
How I Got Over My Fear of Asking for Things for Me: I Treated Myself Like My Own Client
By Claire Parsons • September 18, 2018 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Other Career Issues
In my practice, I routinely ask for—nay demand—things on behalf of my clients without a second thought: produce the documents, dismiss the complaint, find in my client’s favor, etc. But, when it was time for me to take a step forward in my own career, I was startled to see how hard it was to ask for things for me. To be honest, it felt downright unnatural. This had always been a problem for me. I remember as a kid getting jealous when my mom came home from the store with a purchase for my sister. With rather sage advice…
Why Your Law Firm Needs Good Branding
By Dennis Hung • September 10, 2018 •Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Other Career Issues
If you own or operate a law firm, then you need to improve the ways in which you do your firm's marketing. A great marketing plan can help you grow your practice and gain more clients. Without good branding or marketing, you risk losing out on major opportunities to dominate your niche. Here various aspects in which better branding can help you: Hiring and Recruiting In today's world, new recruits are becoming harder than ever to get on board. This is because they can go with any company in the world. They are using social media and other web platforms…
A Career Planning Primer
By Diana LaMorie • September 05, 2018 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Law School, Choosing a Career and Landing a Job, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life, Mentoring and Networking
Estate planning. Retirement planning. Trip planning. Family planning. Business planning. Anything worth doing is worth planning. Rarely is anything accomplished overnight. In fact, I don't think there's such a thing as overnight success. Behind the hit song, hit movie, or ascension to CEO (or fill-in-the-blank top of your chosen field), came a lot of hard work, sacrifice and dedication. Success in your profession doesn't happen on its own either. A little bit of deliberation can help get you where you want to go in a more organized fashion and help keep your eye on the prize when you're feeling disoriented…
Tips On Motivating Yourself When You Feel Like You Are Not Good Enough
By Grace Carter • September 05, 2018 •Careers, Other Career Issues
Having a bad day can certainly rock your confidence. Especially if you recently had a few of those. People in this situation delve into the darkness, doing some of the worst things that they should do during those times – comparing themselves, wallowing about not being perfect, giving up and so on. However, there are much healthier ways to handle these feelings. You need to motivate yourself and focus on getting better. Here are some tips for when you truly need some motivation and you feel like you are not good enough. 1. Focus on progress Instead of constantly focusing…
Truth Telling about Law School Debt
By Susan Smith Blakely • September 04, 2018 •Careers, Other Career Issues
Law school student loan debt. Just the mention of it can cause most newly-minted lawyers to break out in cold sweats. It is always on their minds. It is always standing in the way of getting on with their lives. My children both are lawyers, and the amounts of their student loan debt is shocking. Fortunately, our family is in a position to help them pay down a large portion of that debt. But, many young lawyers are not in that position, and I feel so bad for them. Bad because they are in situations where they cannot follow their…