Career Management
The Average Lawyer Is 90% More Skeptical Than Everyone Else: what this means for your clients, your colleagues, and your firm.
A skeptical lawyer is a good lawyer. He scrutinizes every line in a contract. He questions the opposing party’s arguments. He looks for hidden motives. He looks at the law with a critical eye. His legal decisions are guided by a healthy pessimism, which helps him guard against mistakes. At the same time, a skeptical… Read More »
Categories: Wellness and Balance, Law Practice Management, Diversity, Fraud Prevention, Practice Aids, Career ManagementEvaluating Online Lawyer Referral Services
Occasionally LAWPRO gets asked to give an opinion on the effectiveness or legitimacy of the various lawyer referral services that try to get people to sign up. All we can really say is we aren’t aware of any problems relating to them, and it’s up to individual lawyers to decide whether its a good use… Read More »
Categories: Career ManagementAre you a good chooser?
I believe that poor decision making is one of the biggest problems we face as a profession, and as a society. And that it is eminently improvable. Marc Lauritsen at Attorney At Work asks us to think about choice. Lawyers face daily choices in the practice of law and in the running of their office…. Read More »
Categories: Legal Technology, Career Management, Law Practice ManagementLawyers launching their own firms shouldn’t over look these 10 things
When making the decision to launch a new firm there are seemingly a million decisions to consider. According to the Above The Law blog, lawyers can get mentally trapped by too many of these “little” decisions and overlook some crucial things that can ensure the success of their new venture. Here are ten “big” things… Read More »
Categories: Career ManagementWhen You Find Yourself Needing A Mentor, It’s Too Late
The other day I received a call from a lawyer I didn’t know seeking help regarding a legal issue I had no expertise in. He was in court, had stepped out for a bit, and called me wanting emergency legal advice on an issue he was going to speak to in 5 minutes. Unfortunately, despite… Read More »
Categories: Risk Management Strategies, Career ManagementGiving Up Solo Practice for Firm Life
When lawyers decide to change the way they practice, it seems to be a more common story that they leave a big firm to strike out on their own, rather than the other way around. LAWPRO even has a questionnaire designed to help those considering sole practice. However, some lawyers do make the opposite change…. Read More »
Categories: Career ManagementIndependent but engaged: Support networks for solos
There are plenty of good reasons for choosing sole practice, or for transitioning into sole practice after practising with a firm. You may have chosen to practise in a small community; you may have opened a sole practice because you couldn’t find the right fit with a firm in your chosen area of practice; or… Read More »
Categories: Practice Aids, Career ManagementIs this the job you want? How to find the right fit – and then sell yourself in the interview
The following article is by Wendy Werner, owner and principal of Werner Associates LLC, a career coaching and law practice management consulting firm. It originally appeared in the 2012 Student Issue of LAWPRO Magazine. On the face of it, interviewing should not be all that difficult – particularly for lawyers. As members of a profession… Read More »
Categories: Career Management