Ever wondered, “why did I become a lawyer? Maybe a career in law isn’t for me?”

You aren’t alone. We all question our decisions from time to time.

A career in law isn’t one thing. It’s not one skill set. It’s not one specialization. This diversity of options and trajectories can make it such a valuable career choice and a challenging one.

Finding the legal career that fits you may take some effort. It can mean making several transitions. What’s important to know is that this is a process of learning about yourself and, in turn, learning about what will . . . [more]

This for you who don’t love the law. You often wonder if you should do something else, if you chose the right career path, if you have wasted a big chunk of your life as a mercenary of justice. If you divvy up your time the way you want to, your priorities would be ordered from highest to lowest: family, travel, exercise, beach, reading, work, Netflix. But an accounting of how you actually spend your time shows your priorities are backwards, starting with work and work-friends, then moving on to Netflix and sports-watching, and last and least, family. Reflecting on . . . [more]

I provide a wide range of services to law firms, so I can always tell what’s happening in the industry by the run on certain types of services.

Sometimes I seem to do nothing but coaching; lawyers wanting to improve their personal skills in a range of business areas. Other times, it seems that everyone wants to sell their firm. We’re sort of in the middle of that right now. But the real push this year so far has been for strategic plans. Normally, each plan looks completely different because each law firm is different. They are in different stages . . . [more]

An interesting article in a US legal periodical last month discussed the rising incidence of an already widespread problem for new lawyers. Impostor syndrome — “the internal experience of doubting your abilities or feeling like a fraud” — has afflicted junior lawyers for a long time. But the pandemic has made it worse:

“Many [new lawyers] have spent very little time in physical offices, which means they have less opportunity to commiserate with peers and may feel as if they are somehow ‘uniquely deficient’ when they are not…. For many lawyers, a lot of confidence is instilled by being immersed

Are you a people pleaser?

Do you agree to things before you’ve had a chance even to think it over?

Do you find yourself overcommitted and taking care of so much business for others that you have no time left for yourself?

Altruism is the instinct to help others and is a significant value. When I ask lawyers what they like most about their work, the answer will often touch on how they help. Helping people out can be intrinsically rewarding. It feels good.

People-pleasing is the dark side of altruism. It is saying ‘yes’ and doing things out of . . . [more]

During my time with a strategic consultancy several years ago, one of our group retreats turned to the subject of marketing. Ideas were floated and plans were drawn up for a series of articles, speaking appearances, and other means by which we could raise our individual and collective profiles and drive more business through the door.

Eventually, I put my hand up to make what I felt was a salient point: Before the meeting began, we had all been chatting about how busy we were and how crammed our schedules had become. Before we engage in a business development campaign, . . . [more]

Janet is preparing for the review she’s having in the afternoon. She knows she’s going to get some positive feedback, but she’s also going to hear about some things that did not go so well, and some of it may surprise her.

To get ready for this meeting, she says to herself, “I’m going to use this as an opportunity to learn about where I can focus on getting better in my legal practice.”

Maryann is stuck on a tough assignment. The partner she reports to is busy and trusts Maryann to take a run at drafting something quite complex . . . [more]

Why We Wrote This Article

The President of Sensei Enterprises, co-author Sharon Nelson, is a woman. She is involved with multiple groups and associations of women lawyers. For two years, she has been hearing that women suffered more than men during the pandemic and that they have “lost ground” professionally. So . . . along with her co-authors, who are accustomed to a woman leader, we set out together to learn and report on what has happened to women lawyers in the last couple of years and what they now want for their professional lives.

Life Pre-Pandemic was No Bed

These days, I’m being asked to do a lot of presentations and training on law firm leadership. People with a marketing background tend to gravitate toward this area because so much of what we do focusses on helping to improve the leadership skills of the lawyers we work with – be if for practice groups, client teams, or simply to improve management of their own practice.

I’ve been focussed on this for years, but it’s taken a while for law firms to get here…to understand how critical strong leadership is. Back in my days in a national firm, I created . . . [more]

How to Be a Good Litigation Junior is the title of a CLEBC full-day conference every two years.

This year as I prepared for my presentation, I couldn’t help but think about what I might say if I was invited to a similar conference aimed at senior lawyers: “How to be a Good Litigation Partner.”

Many well-meaning, kind and ethical litigation partners have some blind spots when it comes to their leadership.

Leadership is a learned skill that develops with attention and effort. There are so many books and courses on leadership because it isn’t easy. It is all about . . . [more]

Jane is sitting with her partner at the dinner table, but her thoughts are miles away. She is thinking about an offhand comment she made to a client and worrying about how this could become a significant problem. Maybe he will complain and ask the partner to take her off the file. Perhaps the partner will complain to others and drop her from other files. Could she get fired?

Jane is so anxious she can’t get to sleep. She returns to work the next day expecting the worst, but nothing happens. There are no complaints. Later in the week, the . . . [more]

Very few lawyers in modern law firms devote much attention to whether their firm will still be around a generation from now. They’re far more focused on the next hour to be billed, the next call from the client, and the next round of draws and bonuses. They’re immersed in today, and as far as they’re concerned, tomorrow — and the law firm — can take care of itself.

But if you’re taking the time to read this column, then you’re different. You’re one of the few people giving serious thought to whether the firm will still be around in . . . [more]