Don’t mistake technical abilities for future potential

One of the biggest mistakes I find in law firms and young lawyers is that they mistake current high performance for future potential. Superstar technical performers will have to step up into more complex roles if they want to achieve partnership: they’ll have to become business developers and inspiring leaders.  Aspiring candidates should be tested for their abilities and ambitions in these directions—and long before they might be expected to demonstrate them.

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The facts of legal career progression laid bare

In today’s “The Careerist” blog post, it’s author Vivia Chen lays bare the facts—as substantiated from a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL).

Facts that we all know are true, but which Big Law firms try to dissimulate.

1. Women only make up 15% of equity partnership.
2. More than 60% of staff attorneys (those with the least care prospects) are women.
3. Part-timers are viewed as “less committed” to their careers.
4. Part time is NOT a route to partnership.

For more details, see the full post.

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It’s all in the attitude

A lawyer friend of mine recently lost her job (very unexpectedly and—in my view—quite unfairly): a job that she had really invested herself in and thoroughly enjoyed.  So I was extremely surprised (though equally impressed) when, rather than view her situation as horribly unfair, she chose to view it positively as an opportunity to recharge her batteries.  Her attitude reminded me of a story I once heard that demonstrates that any situation can be viewed as positive or negative, depending upon how we choose to see it…. And a negative situation can very quickly turn into a positive one.  

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Want respect? Ask for it

In his book Life Strategies, Dr. Phil McGraw suggests that we teach people how to treat us.  In every interaction, we play a role in how the other person behaves because we choose to either accept or reject their behavior.  If we accept bad behavior and don’t communicate how we feel about it, then we can’t expect positive results—and it’s partly our own fault.

I was recently coaching a lawyer who was stressed out because she felt completely unsupported by her boss.  Projects were dumped on her desk and she was given responsibilities far more demanding than she thought she could handle.  She felt that she was sinking fast under a weight of impossible expectation; and her boss was never around or available to help.  As we talked through her issues I learned that this was not the first time that she had endured this problem, and that in fact, she had felt unsupported by most of her bosses.  In fact, to me this was beginning to look more like a lack of communication from my lawyer friend than a fault on the part of her boss.  (Which is not to say that her boss shouldn’t have been more supportive, but that my friend clearly needed to be more assertive about her needs.)

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Great presentation requires practice

I’ve been doing a lot of presentations lately and it’s not unusual for someone to come up to me afterwards and tell me that they just couldn’t possibly give such a presentation, not through lack of ideas but because of public speaking nerves.  I’ll tell you what I always tell them.  There are a few people born to do great presentations, but I’m not one of them, and you may not be either.  For most of us it just takes planning and practice—and lots of rehearsing.  Rehearse your presentation over and over, leaving nothing to chance.  You need to know your message so well that you never have to hesitate or worry about what’s coming next.  In fact, you should spend even more time practicing your talk than preparing it! 

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