Avenue Blog

Q: I failed my state bar exam. Will I be fired from the law firm where I work?

A: Failing the bar once, even more than once, is demoralizing and depressing. But it happens, and, yes, it happens to graduates of Ivy League and Tier One schools. Most BigLaw firms will hand out a ‘Get Out Of Jail’ card for failing the bar if they really think it was a mistake that you failed the first time. In my experience, though, some graduates in your position may have to take time off from the firm to concentrate fully on passing the bar exam. But if you have been with your firm for, say, a year or more, and still do not pass the bar, I recommend leaving the firm, and doing contract work — maybe non-litigation work — or sell your BigLaw experience to a mid-size or smaller firm.

– David E. Behrend, M.ED., director, Career Planning Services For Lawyers
www.lawcareercounseling.com

Q: Are law firms making hiring decisions now based on more than traditional interviews and GPA?

A. Yes. At least one BigLaw firm (McKenna, Long and Aldridge) has gone “corporate” to make sure they make the right hiring decisions. Soon after the recession hit in 2007, the firm’s hiring committee identified the factors and characteristic of someone who would succeed at their firm. The defining element was one’s attitude toward teamwork. Now, in addition to the traditional job interview, the firm administers a 30-minute Myers-Briggs-type test to help interviewers ask more probing questions. For example, what teams has the candidate been part of … what was their particular role … what specifically did the candidate do to develop productive relationships with their team members? This new corporate approach is the experience of just one law firm. But others, too, are taking new steps to learn how candidates feel about collaborating: whether they took leadership roles; whether they avoided being part of teams in the past; whether they built rapport with others. As firms begin adding head-count again, they want to be sure that new-hires fit into their work culture.

– David E. Behrend, M.ED., director, Career Planning Services For Lawyers
www.lawcareercounseling.com

Q: I am a non-equity partner/senior associate in a mid-size firm. I’ve always done respectable work, but I’ve never been good at business development. I’m concerned that I am at risk of getting pushed out to make room for a younger, less-experienced lawyer at the firm. How concerned should I be?

A: In the current firm environment, you have every reason to be concerned. Although you have done respectable work as a non equity partner/senior associate, the fact that you haven’t developed … or perhaps been encouraged to develop … new business could put your position in jeopardy. You need to meet with the managing partner or partner in charge of your practice area to determine where they see you in this changing business environment. Also, since you have not brought in new clientele, you might want to consider a position in government, or in-house, or with a non profit institution organization.

– David E. Behrend, M.ED., director, Career Planning Services For Lawyers
www.lawcareercounseling.com

Q: I make a good, six-figure income as a 4th year BigLaw associate, but I’m putting in sweat-shop hours … 2300/year. I’d like to move on when I’m able to pay off my school loans next year. But does it make sense to leave the firm … and all that goes with it … both good and bad?

A: This is tough one. Only you can decide whether a six-figure income is an appropriate trade-off for working 2300 hours to maintain your standing. Or whether the demands are so great that you would be better off applying your skills in a less demanding environment whenever you can pay off your loans. If your aim is to become a partner there in a few years, then do consult with the head of your practice area to determine if it is worth staying put. You do recognize that only a small percentage of partners ultimately become equity partners in the firm?

– David E. Behrend, M.ED., Director, Career Planning Services For Lawyers,
www.lawcareercounseling.com

Q: I graduate this year. But with my grades/class standing, I’m not sure I can get a position in major or mid-size firm. What are my options in this economy?

A: Give serious thought to a position at a small firm, preferably in a non-major city. Once hired, you probably will get as much — if not more — of the client skills that your classmates get at a BigLaw firm. At this stage, your primary goal should be to build on your early experience and knowledge, recognizing that you will most likely move on. So, unless you already know what practice area you want (IP, personal injury, municipal law, etc.), I recommend working with a small firm where you have a generalist opportunity that can enhance your career.

– David E. Behrend, M.ED., Director, Career Planning Services For Lawyers, www.lawcareercounseling.com

SEATTLE, Nov. 8 – Twenty percent of America’s lawyers practice in towns smaller than 50,000 population, but with the legal job market still in free-fall more lawyers than ever before are actively considering opening a small town or rural practice.

In the absence of any current resources, LawyerAvenue Press, publisher of Solo By Choice, signed Bruce Cameron, a Minnesota-based solo practitioner, to author the first-ever handbook for new grads and unemployed BigLaw associates who dream about leaving the big city to practice law in a smaller, less frantically paced small town or rural community. Cameron, a popular law blogger (www.rurallawyer.com), balances his own small town practice by writing about practicing law in rural America, where, as he says,“… good neighbors are a mile down the road, the next lawyer is two towns over, and the nearest Starbucks is a good hour away.”

To kick off the book project, Cameron has launched a nationwide search for small town/rural solos at all stages of their careers who are interested in sharing their insights and experiences practicing law in the heartland. To add your voice to the rural lawyering handbook, contact Cameron at b.cameron@cameronlawpllc.com for further information.

California trial attorney Martin Grayson, author of The View From the First Chair: What Every Trial Lawyer Really Needs to Know, is the subject of a future profile in Student Lawyer magazine. It’s a wide-ranging interview, but one section caught our attention as it applies to students who see a future for themselves in court. The question put to Grayson went like this, “Are there certain academic courses, clinics, or part-time work that law students should partake to better prepare themselves for trial practice?”

Grayson: “There’s no doubt that any advocacy clinic would be helpful if you’re interested in trial work. Getting actual court experience, dealing with clients … any experience [of that sort] is good. But my advice to students is this: go to court. Walk into a courtroom — a civil courtroom, or a criminal courtroom, if that’s your interest — and sit there for the morning and watch the docket move, watch how the judge handles the attorneys, watch how the attorneys present themselves and their cases, and watch how the clerks handle the procedural flow of the action. As Yankees great Yogi Berra once said, ‘You can observe a lot just by watching.’”

The Student Lawyer profile isn’t scheduled until next year, but Grayson’s thoughts and advice about the art of trial practice are available in his book, which comes with a recommendation from Trial Magazine. The book is available on our site (free shipping) or from Amazon.

Raise your hand if, at your last job interview, the interview asked you one of these five questions:

a) Why are you interested in working at this firm?
b) Tell me about your last big mistake? How did you handle it?
c) What attributes do you have that would instill client confidence?
d) What is your favorite and least favorite aspects of teamwork?
e) If you had an extra hour in the day, what would you do with it?

Of course, the point of the exercise is to get inside your head, and see whether you’ve got The Right Stuff to work longer and longer for less and less.

But what if there was a way to get into the firm’s head to see if it’s the kind of place you really want to invest the next 2200 + hours … and nine years on a partner track. Ah, but there is a way, according to ex-Kirkland & Ellis partner Steven Harper, now an adjunct at Northwestern. The trick, says Harper, is to interview the interviewer. Subtly, of course.

In a recent blog post, Harper said that at some point in job interviews, a recruiter or interviewer will ask whether you have any questions. And that’s when you jump in with something like this: “Can you briefly sketch your own career highlights at the firm as, say, a second-year associate, a fifth-year associate, a non-equity partner, and now?” Lawyers love to talk about themselves, says Harper, and if you pay really close attention – that is, listening between the lines – you can learn important truths about opportunities, mentoring, lifestyle, work environment, and firm culture. In short, whether you even want to work there.

For more on “interviewing the interview”, see Harper’s original post at: www.inthebellyofthebeast.wordpress.com.

What do you say to a recent law school graduate?

“A double-shot latte to go, please.”

Cruel but often true.

From New York to LA, the downturn of the past two years has hit the legal profession with unprecedented severity … and it’s certainly not limited to new grads. Tens of thousands of lawyers and staff – more than 31,000 at last count – have lost their jobs in the Great Recession. Now, with the country’s unemployment hovering around 10% — and summer just around the corner — many professionals are on the hunt for the right job. But what job?

To the rescue are a handful of effective, inexpensive online career-assessment tests that aim to help unemployed lawyers and others identify suitable jobs and work environments.

The first four were recently identified in a recent Wall Street Journal, and we at LawyerAvenue found a half-dozen other assessments that are definitely worth considering:

CareerKey (www.careerkey.org) — Assigns users to one or more of six personality types and helps identify occupations most likely to fit their profile. Developed at North Carolina State University’s College of Education. $9.95

Kolbe Corp. (www.kolbe.com) — A 36-question instrument that measures innate skills and talents and matches you with careers that lets you use them. The Kolbe A Index and the Career MO+ assessment. $63.95.

Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential (www.assessment.com) — The online package offers a vocational analysis, a narrative interpretation of your ratings in nine trait groups, a personalized 20-page report, and a summary of your top six motivators. $19.99 for test, and a list of 20 likely professional fits, and a narrative about your results. More detailed analysis available.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (www.capt.org) — $165 for online assessment, a one-hour phone appointment, and reading materials.

Here are a few other notable online assessments:

Career Discovery (www.CareerDiscovery.com) — Career assessment tool co-developed by Tim Butler, director of Harvard’s MBA Career Development program, and author of Getting Unstuck: How Dead Ends Become New Paths. The test defines a “universe of possible business careers” in which one could express their interests. $95 (password-protected, good for 60 days).

DISC Classic Profile (www.discprofile.com) — Well-established online assessment tool. Identifies and measures work style patterns in four personality categories. From the home page, click on the DiSC Classic Profile ($25.95), or an enhanced version called The Classic 2+ ($59.95).

Focus Career (www.FocusCareer.com) — Developed by the same design team that pioneered IBM’s computer-based, career-planning program. Widely used career-planning system; $39.95.

Jackson Vocational Interest Survey (www.jvis.com) — This educational and career-planning tool offers a detailed snapshot of interests and how they relate to the world of work. Created by a former President of the American Psychological Association’s Division of Measurement, Evaluation and Statistics. Takes about 40 minutes to complete; highly detailed report, $19.95.

The Keirsey Temperament Sorter (www.keirsey.com) — A temperament and work personality assessment. Inividualized, 70-question assessments range in price from $11.95 to $19.95.

Self-Directed Search (www.self-directed-search.com) — Discover the careers that best match your interests. An online assessment based on the occupation codes popularized by Dr. John Holland. Requires 20-30 minutes to complete. A personalized report is e-mailed to users along with a list of the occupations and fields of study that most closely match their interests. $9.95.

According to the Institute of Women’s Policy Research, working women on average earn only about 77 cents for every dollar that men earn (up from 59 cents in 1965), and part of the pay gap may be explained as a result of what happens at the salary negotiation table.

A recent story in the New York Times (“A Toolkit for Women Seeking a Raise“) identified at least six issues women lawyers and others might consider before knocking on their boss’s door:

* Do you know how to much more to ask for? A study found that men and women who recently earned a master’s degree in business negotiated similar salaries when they had clear information about how much to ask for. In industries where salary standards were more ambiguous, the pay gap was wider; in fact, women accepted pay that was 10 percent lower on average than men. Go to www.Payscale.com , www.Salary.com, www.Glassdoor.com, or www.Vault.com, to research what people are getting paid for a particular position in your area.

* Are your negotiations persuasive? According to Hannah Riley Bowles, associate professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, women need to take a different approach than men. Women, she says, should frame salary requests in more nuanced ways – i.e., explaining why the request is appropriate now – without undermining their relationship with their boss. “The trick,” says Ms. Riley, “Is trying to do both in a way that feels authentic and fits within the norms of the company.” For example, instead of explaining why you deserve a raise directly, it’s better to frame the request in terms of why it makes sense for the organization or for the person you’re trying to persuade. Make the company the focus.

* Have you been visible AND proactive? “A lot of women think, ‘As long as I work really, really hard, someone will notice, and they will pay me more. [But] people don’t come and notice,” according to Karen Pine, a British professor of psychology and co-author of “Sheconomics.”

* Do you know the best time to approach your boss? Evelyn Murphy, president of the WAGE Project, a nonprofit organization, who runs negotiation seminars for women, says it makes sense to approach your boss after an annual performance review … or if you just took on a major responsibility … or if you won an award.

* Are you talking just with your peers? Women tend to be less connected to male networks in the workplace and are more likely to compare themselves to people they think are similar. So, if a woman asks her girlfriends how much they are paid, and a guy asks his guy friends, Jane and Jim will come up with different numbers.

* Have you anticipated and prepared for your boss’s objections? Try to envision what objections your boss might raise and think about your responses. If you’re unsuccessful, ask your boss for recommendations on what you could do to move to the next level in your job. That way you’re still in control … and are still being constructive.

– Source: NY Times (Section B1), Saturday, May 15, 2010