School starts up again soon. It made me think about the joy I experienced when I spoke at career day. I was frequently asked to speak at career day in the spring at grade schools in the district where my daughter taught special education  Most of the students in that school district are living in poverty. On career day, I showed up in a suit and had to compete with firemen and women who were…

Clients are unhappy with the service provided by their law firms. Surveys reveal that 75% of the Fortune 1000 general counsels would fire their current law firm and hire another if they thought any other firm would do better. What an opportunity. Instead of trying to “sell” clients and potential clients, try this. When I was the Construction Law Practice Group Leader at my old firm, I decided we needed a Client Service Policy. To…

I write often about career success and life fulfillment. Why? I coached over 1500 lawyers in the United States and Canada. I learned a great deal by listening to those lawyers. I learn now when candidates contact me wanting to join a new law firm. When I first started coaching lawyers in 2005, I coached two lawyers I will call Andrea and Samantha (not real names). They were both junior partners in firms that were…

I have a theory based on my own experience with YouTube. My theory is that lawyers neither have time or interest in sitting through an hour-long learning session, especially when there is no CLE credit. Do you agree? As you may know, Lateral Link, with whom I am working, has asked me to present a 12-part Rainmaker series.  So far, the longest video is about 36 minutes. In the first session, I covered Client Development for…

I am still thinking about blogging today.  Recently the Harvard Business Review posted a blog titled: The Moment Social Media Became Serious Business  I was fascinated reading what Harold Adams Innis said about the reduction in the cost of communication in 1951, long before anyone was blogging. What he said applies to blogging today. Redistributing knowledge and, in doing so, shifting power Making it easier for “amateurs” to compete with “professionals,” because access to knowledge…