New lawyer skills focus: client development by cross-selling

Every lawyer working in a law firm is aware that she will someday be expected to bring in new clients. Rainmaking is a key skill for professional advancement, and it’s never too early to begin building those skills.
New lawyers face particular challenges in beginning to build a business development program, simply because they’re new. [...]

Q&A follow-up

Thanks to the several people who called in for yesterday’s Q&A session on the Lawyer’s LifePosts Integration Series. I thought I’d share a couple of the questions asked here. I’ve boiled these questions down to the meat here, though I appreciate the tact that yesterday’s callers used in asking them.
One key one is, [...]

More on loyalty (or the lack thereof) between associate and firm

Associate retention continues to be a hot topic, especially as law firms seek ways to hold tight to the associates they’ve attracted at least in part by paying top dollar… and as associates eye the rising pay scales.
Arnie Herz of Legal Sanity has posted an interesting discussion on the disengaged employee, using a lot of [...]

Underpromise and overdeliver

One of the most critical parts of establishing a career, as well as finding work/life balance, is conducting oneself in a way that lets others know they can rely on your word. We’ve all had the experience of counting on someone to carry through on a promise and discovering that they didn’t. Even [...]

Announcement: Two scholarships available for Lawyer’s LifePosts Integration Series!

I am delighted to announce that a sponsor has pledged funds sufficient to allow two lawyers to attend the Lawyer’s LifePosts Integration Series for only $25 a month!
The sponsor is an attorney with some 30 years of practice who wants to encourage professional development among newer lawyers. He has expressed his support for the [...]

New lawyer skills focus: Are you losing time?

Note: This is always an interesting time of year, when thousands of new lawyers are being unleashed on the legal world, and thousands of summer associates are taking a trial run at practice. And thousands of lawyers are looking at their calendars and realizing they’ve been practicing for a year, two years, or more, and [...]

Relationship or one-night stand: how law firms view associates (and clients)

David Maister wrote a fascinating article titled, “Do You Really Want Relationships?” He suggests that lawyers generally say we want relationships with our clients, long-standing interactions that tend to lead to more work in the future, more referrals, fewer challenges on billing, and more effective working relationships. This, Maister describes as the “romance” [...]

Q&A Sessions for Lawyer’s LifePosts Integration Series

If you have questions about the Lawyer’s LifePosts Integration Series, or if you’d like to hear more about what we’ll discuss during the series, please join me for a Q&A session.
I’ll host two sessions:
Wednesday, May 24, 6-6:55 PM EDT
641/297-5900, access code 87917
and
Thursday, June 1 at 12-12:55 PM EDT
641/297-5900, access code 56683
I look forward to talking [...]

More on (some) partners’ view of work/life balance

I recently posted about the negative view that some partners have of associates seeking work/life balance and suggested that perhaps transparency in employment is one answer to ensuring that those who want a “balanced” lifestyle (whatever that may mean) are able to find it in law firms composed of other lifestyle-focused lawyers. I wondered [...]

Why women are leaving law firms — and why they’re staying.

Red letter day here: two posts in one day. This is a short one, though, just linking to an article worth reading.
Remember the much-discussed (here, here, and here, among others, though not on this blog) New York Times article titled, “Why Do So Few Women Reach the Top of Big Law Firms?”
A BCG recruiter [...]