Legal Career Development

It's probably a good thing that it happened to me right away. About two weeks into my legal career, I had my first encounter with a bully lawyer. I was working at the Chicago office of a large New York firm. My first day was Monday, September ...

There are generally two questions that worry dissatisfied attorneys as they consider leaving the law. First, "How do I know I’m ready (really, really ready) to leave the law?” And, "Once I decide I'm ready, what do I do about it?” How ...

Want a Great New Job? Skip the Resume Black Hole

If you’re subjecting yourself to an online cattle-call and hoping it will somehow result in a new job, you’d better hope that part of the job description is “sheep-like; blindly follows the crowd and pointless instructions from people ...

The wait to hear about an online job application is often too long, and the process is often discouraging. If you don’t have a personal connection to the employer, it will be difficult to get through the screening process without matching most ...

One of the striking things about law practice is our “sink-or-swim” mentality when it comes to junior associates. They do their law studies, we recruit them through various mechanisms, and then we basically just leave them to it. Then comes ...

Two coaching situations recently occurred in close proximity to each other and the contrast was striking. In the first, Attorney A, a partner, was interested in building a niche practice in an industry in which his largest client operates. We ...

The legal world really is starting to work differently. And while the path is uncertain, change is certainly creating opportunities for new career directions. For our "New Math, New Money" download, legal careers expert Wendy Werner asked a few ...

We don’t know about you, but we are beginning to hear things might be looking up a teensy bit in the job market for lawyers. So if you had become so discouraged you tucked the old resume away in your hope chest for future generations ...

I always emphasize the importance of remaining optimistic when coaching lawyers on the topic of job hunting. And, lawyers being lawyers, I always need to provide some reason why they should remain upbeat. I have a simple answer: The job ...