Career Audit For Associates

My Career Audit for Associates is now available on the BCG website. This is a tool I created to help law firm associates evaluate what they like and dislike about their present firm. It is not meant to be a substitute for career counseling. Rather, it is a quick way to take stock in your current job (and measure it against your career objectives.)

Women Internalize Stereotypes of Themselves as Weaker Leaders

An article appeared in the WSJ on why 50.3% of all managers and professionals are female but women still comprise fewer than 2% of Fortune 1000 CEOs and just 7.9% of Fortune 500 top earners.

Carol Hymowitz of the WSJ reports that Catalyst (a women's leadership organization) analyzed more than 40 studies of men and women leaders, and found no real difference in leadership styles. Despite this reality, many women perceive themselves to be weaker leaders than men.

Don't Forget About Face Time w/Clients

A blogger reminds us (check 10/15/05 post) that face time is an important part of developing your client relationships .

Closing Business--How to Get the Clients to Commit

Here a marketing consultant suggests a somewhat agressive technique for "closing business". For a more organic approach, here is an article I wrote a while back for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.

Salaries in CT on the Rise

CT law firm salaries continue to lag far behind Boston and New York. But CT firms are following the upward trend already seen in California.

Focusing Your Job Search

The Career Journal of the Wall Street Journal publishes an array of free career resources. A recent article suggests that the shotgun approach may not be the most effective way to look for a job. I've been telling this to recent law school graduates for years. It's just another application of the concept that "less is more". In other words, if you say you are open to "anything", then you do not provide people in your network with a memorable way to think of you (or help you.)

New NALP Publication on Work/Life Balance

In Pursuit of Attorney Work-Life Balance: Best Practices in Management provides new data on the strategies utilized by employers to support attorney work-life balance and on the nature of the conflicts attorneys experience between their work responsibilities and personal/family priorities.

Excellent Marketing Checklist

Here is a marketing checklist for large firm associates. It is nice the way Larry Bodine has broken the list down by class year (i.e. he does a nice job of illustrating why it makes sense to start thinking about marketing early in your career.)

Use of Temps on the Rise

Large law firms continue to increase their use of temp attorneys on large, document intensive cases. An article in the National Law Journal shows that the numbers at some firms are growing signifcantly. I clearly see the benefit to firms. Temp staffing allows for much more flexible hiring and eliminates the problem of having to carry extra staff when there is nothing for them to do.

But temp assignments may not offer much of a career opportunity for the lawyers doing the work. Certainly, I would never fault anyone for taking on a temp assignment in order to generate some needed income. On the other hand, I think it more the exception than the rule that doing this kind of temp work (i.e. large document review in litigation or corporate transactions) will lead to something bigger.

Anyone looking for a stepping stone to a better legal job would do better to identify temp opportunities through networking. There is more leg work involved, but the opportunities are likely to be higher quality.

Creating Job Security for Yourself

Job security really doesn't exist for most of us. The best we can do is prepare ourselves for the next potential move. Even if you are a partner at a law firm, things can change quickly (Testa Hurwitz is a recent example in Boston.) A career counselor offers some good tips for protecting yourself. You have to do a little translating to make this relevant to a legal career but the basic concepts are still there.

Ward Bower of Altman Weil on Globalization

Ward Bower offers some interesting observations about the impact of gloablization on the legal industry. He sees increased competition for the best legal talent and observes that over 100 U.S. law firms now have an office in London.

Survey on Median Billing Rates by Practice Area

Altman Weil has just published the results of a national survey of median billing rates by area of legal specialty. No big surprises here but it is still interesting to see the numbers.

When in Doubt, Leave it "In"

Accuracy in a resume does not mean documenting every single life accomplishment since high school. On the other hand, employers have a right to expect that your resume is a reasonable summary of your relevant experience. If you were fired from a legal position after a relatively brief period of time (e.g. 3 months), leaving that job off of your resume could later get you into hot water. (Remember, it is the cover up that got Nixon in trouble.)

If there is a blemish on your professional record, find a way to disclose the blemish that demonstrates how you have learned from your mistakes. For a more complete article on the subject, click here .

Making the Most of Volunteer Activities

Volunteering is a great way to build potential business relationships and enhance your career (while feeling good about doing good.) Here are some good tips to help you get the most out of your volunteer efforts.

Marketing Myths Debunked?

Rain Today has a free newsletter which offers some good marketing tips. But don’t believe everything you read. For example, I'm not sure if I agree with myth number four in an article I read today. Finding out what is "keeping a client up at night" is certainly not a fool proof strategy for identifying selling opportunities (and probably not a good way to start up a conversation with someone you have just met.) But it should certainly be one of the tools in your marketing tool box.

Five Myths of Professional Services Marketing
By Michael W. McLaughlin

For decades, professional service providers, including consultants, accountants, lawyers, and others, rarely marketed their services. Instead, they thrived in a cozy world where personal relationships and word-of-mouth generated enough new clients to grow a profitable business. Those days are long gone.

With so many business advisors to choose from, clients can quickly tap the minds of an army of experts for help. To compete in this market, professional service providers must challenge the conventional wisdom on marketing and selling professional services.

A good place to start is to dispel the following five myths.

Get rid of law school altogether?

A law professor at Emory believes that our existing system of legal education is in some great need of reform.

Law School: Make It Optional?
Why is a Mercedes education necessary for a lawyer seeking a Corolla legal practice?

Sounds a little extreme though he does raise some thought provoking questions about the ABA standards for legal education (i.e. does a "one size fits all" approach make sense for educating lawyers.)

Am Law Survey of Mid-level Associates

Midlevel Associates Survey: Communication Breakdown?
The American Lawyer

Nearly 6,000 associates took part in The American Lawyer magazine's 2005 Midlevel Associates Survey, offering, among other things, a glimpse of what upper management and youngish associates think of each other. Sometimes it's not pretty. Are midlevels a bunch of "slackers," or is slavish devotion to a firm simply no longer worth it? Is anyone even listening? Plus: See midlevels' attitudes by locale as well as the best places to work.

For several years now, the American Lawyer has been surveying mid-level associates about their experiences in the largest law firms in the United States. But the AmLaw survey is just one of many information sources to consider when evaluating a law firm. For starters, if you look at the sample size from some of these firm, the number of respondants can be quite low. If you are going to look at these surveys, you should probably look back over a few years to see if there are trends. If a firm is consistently ranking high year after year, then that probably means something. But a survey is only one of many ways to evaluate what it might be like to work at a firm.

Why use a search firm

I have collaborated with my colleague, Dan Binstock (managing director of the BCG office in DC) to put together an article on the benefits of working with a search firm. In rereading the article, I realize that there is one potential benefit that we forgot to mention.

If you are a lawyer with great credentials but you have something in your background that needs explaining (e.g. a gap in employment, an involuntary termination), a recruiter can help you get over this hurdle by being your agent. In other words, the recruiter can explain the problem to potential employers in a more neutral way.

Edward Angell Palmer & Dodge

Another big merger is underway in the Boston legal community. Is the mid-sized firm showing further signs of weakening?

From Law.Com: "Edwards & Angell is joining forces with Palmer & Dodge, another New England law firm known for strengths in intellectual property and finance. The two firms set a Nov. 1 target date to complete their proposed deal. The newly combined firm, which will be called Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, will have 520 attorneys and nine offices in the United States, with 55 percent of its lawyers operating out of Boston."

Even if there will now be two fewer firms in this middle space, it seems that rumors of the death of the mid-sized firm are quite exagerated. In Boston alone, several firms with 100+ lawyers are still having very profitable years. The AmLaw 200 still lists several firms that operate principally in New England.

Tips for delegating

Ellen Ostrow, a career consultant in D.C. who does a lot of work with lawyers, publishes a career newsletter that is very good. You can read her archive on her website and subscribe for free for future issues. The latest issue has a very good article on delegating.

I didn't see the newsletter on delegating in her archives, yet, but I'm sure she would be happy to send it to you if you subscribe to her newsletter.

Career Audit Tool

I recently published a career audit tool for law firm associates. You can link to this tool on the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly website. It is an exercise for any associate who wants to think more critically about their experience at their law firm.

For partners who are interested, I have also created a similar tool. Just send me an e-mail message and I will forward it to you.