Attorney Work Life Balance
Messaging on Growth Important to Attract Top Talent and Prospective Clients
Jesse Dungan and Nicole Tackley
By keeping these communication tips in mind, firm leaders can ensure that their most important stakeholders understand the significance of their expansion and why it is a win-win for the firm, its people and its clients.
How Many Is Too Many? Billable Hours Can Reach Diminishing Returns
By now, it is well known that this year has been defined, at least in part, by the furious pace at which lawyers have been working. At what point do high billable hours mean diminishing returns for both the lawyer and the firm?
'Staying Bonuses' Can Help Keep Associates, But More than Cash Is Needed
Andrew Maloney
While bonuses have kept some associates from moving to midsize firm competitors or outside Big Law entirely, large firms must also be more creative and holistic in the long run to retain top associates when the barriers between home and work life are eroding.
Is Your Firm Prepared for the 'Silver Tsunami'?
A Silver Tsunami of aging partners is threatening the legal profession. There's a way to higher ground.
COVID-19 and Working Remotely: Embracing the Changes and the Challenges in a Pandemic
The idea of working together while apart has prompted many law firms to reevaluate and analyze their strategies for operating safely, securely and efficiently. In this roundtable discussion these experts share their experience and insight on driving productivity and engagement during these uncertain times.
Want to Increase Creativity to Solve Marketing Challenges During the Pandemic?
Cindy Kremer Moen
Skip the Doritos and Try Meditation
Women's Initiatives: Women's Initiatives Create Opportunity and Benefits in Law Firms
Vivian Hood
One of the most significant means of support law firms can have for women lawyers is adopting women's initiatives that provide a means for women lawyers to support one another within a firm and deliver a commitment to the advancement and understanding of unique issues that women face at their firms.
Legal Tech: Stop, Collaborate and Listen -- Collaboration Tools Are a Brand New Invention
Michele C.S. Lange
Today's workplaces require tools that enhance employee productivity and provide the flexibility to never miss a critical business opportunity. Organizations in other industries have already experienced the benefits of enterprise collaboration, and now this technology is making its way into the legal sector. The rise of enterprise collaboration is redefining the modern law firm and legal department.
As You Are Taking Care of Business, Are you Taking Care of You?
Kimberly Rice and Damien Smith
The daily demands and vast portfolio responsibilities of a legal marketer are weighty and, in too many instances, never ending. The highly charged, rigorous, deadline-driven culture of "more is more" stands in drastic contrast to a well-balanced body-mind-spirit experience.
Marketing Tech: Fail Frequently This Fall to Succeed
Ari Kaplan
Engage in initiatives that will allow you to fail and succeed simultaneously.
Professional Development: Firm Culture As Your Competitive Recruiting and Engagement Advantage
Future attorneys are seeking the right place to launch their careers; therefore, by promoting your firm's unique culture, you can more effectively attract and retain the best talent for your firm.
Professional Development: The Quest for Work-Life Balance
Jennifer Bettencourt
Designing Your Week
More than ever before, law firms are recognizing the importance of work-life balance for their employees, offering benefits such as flexible work schedules and working remotely. The acknowledgement itself is important, but unfortunately, it does not guarantee the balance we hope to achieve, especially for younger marketing and business development professionals looking to advance in their careers.
The State of Lawyer Well-Being Is Not Strong
Stacey Dougan
A 2016 study found that between 21% and 36% of lawyers fall into the category of "problem drinkers." As for other mental illnesses common to the profession, 28% reported struggling with depression, 19% with anxiety, and 23% with stress. What can be done?
Role and Responsibilities of Practice Group Leaders
Ideally, the objective of defining the role and responsibilities of Practice Group Leaders should be to establish just enough structure and accountability within their respective practice group to maximize the economic potential of the firm, while institutionalizing the principles of leadership and teamwork.
The Cost of Making Partner
Brenda Sapino Jeffreys
Making partner isn't cheap, and the cost is more than just the years of hard work and stress that associates put in as they reach for the brass ring.
The Law Firm Value Proposition
Glenn Tannous
How to Successfully Hire Lateral Partners
While a law firm asks for specific education, experience, contacts and portables at certain law firms, what if the candidates were to ask for their own list of must-haves? How would a firm measure up?
Motivating Attorneys To Accomplish Firm Objectives
Absent the willingness or inability of first tier partners to create an environment in which blossoming attorneys can achieve their personal, professional and economic objectives, the likelihood is that these very attractive partners may leave to join other law firms.
'I Can't Get No Satisfaction' — Or Can I?
Bruce Lithgow
How Lawyers Can Maximize Job Satisfaction
Multiple studies suggest that lawyers are among the least satisfied of all professionals. What many lawyers fail to realize, however, is that satisfaction is not as elusive as it seems. If you are among the majority of attorneys who fall somewhere below 85% on the satisfaction scale, you can do something about it.
The Role of Mindfulness in Effective and Ethical Lawyering
Brenda Fingold
Beyond Knowledge and Good Intentions
A 2015 Harvard Business Review article, "Mindfulness Actually Changes the Brain," concludes that "Mindfulness should no longer be considered a "nice-to-have" for executives. It's a "must-have": a way to keep our brains healthy, to support self-regulation and effective decision-making capabilities, and to protect ourselves from toxic stress."
Big Law Heads Home
Meghan Tribe
Will It Work for Your Firm?
Flexible working arrangements support greater productivity and employee engagement while enhancing millennials' personal well-being, health and happiness, according to a survey by Deloitte. And what do employers get for giving millennials this flexibility? Loyalty.
Mastering the Art of Self-Promotion
Carol Morganstern
Self-promotion makes many people uncomfortable and unsure. However, to really maximize your hard work as a lawyer, you need to let the world know about your successes — and nobody can do it all for you.