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Part 2 of Get Yourself a Sponsor — What Every Lawyer Needs to Know About Having a Sponsor
This is the second in a four-part series of articles about how a sponsor can help you get what you want from your career or practice. The first post in this series, How Mentors and Sponsors are Different (and Why It Matters), explained the benefits for lawyers of...
Part 1 of Get Yourself a Sponsor — How Mentors and Sponsors are Different (and Why It Matters)
This is the first in a series of articles about how a sponsor can help you get what you want from your career or practice. Richard went into the litigation department of a mid-sized firm after graduation. He did good work for several different partners,...
Your Clients May Not Be As Happy As You Think
You’re working hard on behalf of your clients and most of them seem pretty happy. After all, they are not complaining, thank goodness, and “no news is good news.” Right? Perhaps not. Just because your client isn’t complaining doesn’t mean he’s...
What Your Billable Hours Aren’t Telling You
Ask a group of private practice lawyers for a list of their pet peeves and, before long, the subject of billable hours will inevitably arise. For most lawyers, even many who work on contingency cases and flat-fee matters, billing time is considered a necessary...
How to Predict Where Your Next Client Will Come From
It’s the age-old question for lawyers: How and where will I find my next client? Pressure to find your next source of income can be intense, which can result in fear-based, scattershot marketing – I’ll go to a bar association meeting, join a chamber of commerce,...
How to Ask for the Business Without Feeling Dirty
A recent blog post Why Aren’t You Out There Networking? The Real Reason (and What to Do About It), discussed common reasons lawyers give for avoiding networking and what the real reason is that they may avoid doing so. Even if you are comfortable networking, though,...
Why Lawyers Avoid Networking (and What to Do About It)
Whether you are a lawyer at a law firm or practicing in-house, the benefits of engaging in networking for the development of clients and contacts are many. To name just a few perks of growing your web of contacts, attorneys who develop and nurture strong professional...
Increase Your Chances of Making Partner with These 7 Tips
These days, with law firms tightening their belts and keeping them that way, you may consider the prospect of making partner at a law firm more farfetched than ever. If you plan ahead and implement these 7 tips, though, you will greatly increase your chances of being...
6 Time Management Tips for Busy Lawyers
When’s the last time you heard yourself say that you’re overloaded, crazed, or running around like a chicken without a head trying to get everything done? If you’re like many attorneys, you’ve probably declared something similar very recently. Twenty-four...
Risk-Averse Lawyers Don’t Make Rain
Perhaps you are one of those brave (and arguably insane) souls who enjoys climbing up the sides of skyscrapers Spiderman-style and then jumping off with a parachute only to hit the ground running so you can elude the police. If so, this article might not be for you....
4 Practical Tips for Internal Networking Success
In my last post, The Networking Opportunity Most Lawyers Overlook, I listed 3 benefits you may reap from spending time and effort networking with the other attorneys in your firm. This article is about how to start developing those relationships. Here are...
The Networking Opportunity Most Lawyers Overlook
Whenever I talk to lawyers about networking, I notice that many of them are focused on “getting out there and meeting people,” handing out business cards and bringing in clients as quickly as possible. When I ask them about their internal networking efforts,...