Career Management
LAWPRO Student Magazine: What do law firms look for?
Law students – like all students – are prone to anxiety about their career prospects. High-profile news about the employment challenges faced by new grads in the U.S. and changes in the articling requirements for Ontario have combined to create a climate of worry. But worrying about trends and generalizations can obscure the fact that… Read More »
Categories: Career Management10 Things No One Tells You About Hanging Out Your Shingle
Lee Rosen is a North Carolina lawyer and law practice management blogger. After leaving a firm in which he was an associate, he left to start his own practice. He has found success, but not without bumps along the way. He describes these challenges in 10 Things No One Tells You About Hanging Out Your… Read More »
Categories: Career ManagementParadoxically, pessimism leads to happiness
Can pessimism lead to happiness? Conventional wisdom says no: “Research shows that an optimistic outlook is good for your mental health,” said Patricia Spataro, director of the New York State Lawyer Assistance Program, a resource for attorneys with mental health concerns. “But lawyers are trained to always look for the worst-case scenario. They benefit more… Read More »
Categories: Risk Management Strategies, Career Management, Wellness and Balance, Law Practice ManagementInside the Lawyer’s Mind Part 5: Resilience
The last trait we look at in this series is resilience. A lawyer high in resilience is receptive to criticism and feedback and is not defensive. He is less likely to take criticism personally and is better at focusing on accomplishing the task at hand. If he suffers a loss or is rejected, he will… Read More »
Categories: Risk Management Strategies, Career Management, Law Practice ManagementAre You Being a Lawyer or Building a Practice?
Jay Harrington, writing in Attorney at Work, describes the journey from student to lawyer as a “well-lit path”, while figuring out the direction of one’s legal career is like venturing off into uncharted territory. There can be many routes to get where you want to be, as long as you have a clear destination in… Read More »
Categories: Career ManagementInside the Lawyer’s Mind Part 4: Sociability
In parts 1 to 3 of this series we discussed the three traits that lawyers score particularly high on in personality assessments: skepticism, autonomy, and urgency. In this post and the next we look at two traits that lawyers score low on: sociability and resilience. In some ways, these are the most surprising findings. The… Read More »
Categories: Law Practice Management, Risk Management Strategies, Career ManagementInside the Lawyer’s Mind Part 3: Urgency
In our previous two posts we learned that good lawyers score in the top 10th percentile on measures of skepticism and autonomy. A third trait that lawyers score high on is urgency, which measures a lawyer’s need to get things done and degree of impatience. Consultant Dr. Larry Richard states in his LAWPRO article that… Read More »
Categories: Risk Management Strategies, Career Management, Law Practice Management, DiversityInside the Lawyer’s Mind Part 2: Autonomy
Following up on my previous post on lawyers’ personality traits, we discuss autonomy, a trait that helps lawyers do their job but makes them poor bedfellows in a law firm environment. Dr. Larry Richard states in our LAWPRO magazine article “Herding Cats: The Lawyer Personality Revealed” that studies suggest high achieving lawyers score in the 89th… Read More »
Categories: Practice Aids, Career Management, Wellness and Balance, Law Practice Management, Diversity, Risk Management Strategies