Monthly Archives: January 2010

Tiffany Farber is a solo practitioner who has been practicing law since 2008. As someone who has been through transition in her career, she understands the challenges lawyers in this situation face.

“I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to let you go.”  My boss’s words hung in the air like a cartoon thought bubble.  Suddenly, I was awash in a sea of confusion and HR paperwork.  I had officially joined the ranks of the unemployed, yet highly employable, Chicago attorney population.

If you’re anything like me, and I know that many of you are, you had to start over.  Sure, I wasn’t thrilled about being let go, but I was working for a struggling non-profit organization so I saw the handwriting on the wall.  I’m sure that many of you saw it, or see it, as well.  No matter what, you’re never quite prepared to be let go.

In this blog, I will share with you my journey and my advice for important steps you can take as you embark on your own journey. From networking to job searching to starting your own practice, if that is something you are interested in, you will grow leaps and bounds with each step.  I have experienced so many things within the past year and, while I may not always feel like bursting into song, I do feel that each day I learn something important about myself.

The thing you can always remind yourself is that you’re not alone.  If you have to write that on a piece of poster board and stick it to your wall to believe it, do it.  Many others are experiencing what you are right now.  You can dwell on the fact that you are one of many talented lawyers out of work, and that increased competition lessens your chances of finding employment, but I would suggest that you don’t.  Don’t think of yourself as one of many fish in the sea.  Instead, picture yourself as one of many puzzle pieces in a box.

If you think of the legal market as a huge puzzle, and yourself as a piece of that puzzle, you will see that there is a place where you fit.  A fish zips around in the sea with no real direction; a puzzle piece has a fixed place on a map.  Without one piece, the puzzle is incomplete.  No two lawyers are identical, and the experiences that you’ve had might fit perfectly with an employer in a way that another attorney’s wouldn’t.

My first suggestion for you is to take some time to really think about how your puzzle piece is designed, and where it fits into the whole puzzle, the legal market.  We each have qualities that make us marketable, the challenge lies in articulating yours.  My puzzle piece is made up of bright colors, because I am an extremely outgoing person.  I am a very approachable person, and I have a great deal of client contact in my practice, so the edges of my puzzle piece are rather smooth.  You may think puzzle pieces sound silly, but determining what type of person you are is extremely important.  It will help you narrow down your search and lead you to people who can help you on your journey.

Aurora Donnelly is a solo practitioner always looking forward to the next exciting transition.

I met with a new financial planner last week to do a routine personal financial check and to set my financial position going forward.  After serious admonitions to immediately take my money out of stocks and never think of doing that again, the conversation with the financial guy turned, of course, to how to economize in daily living so as to leave more funds unspent.

We have all heard and read more than we needed to know about giving up the daily latte, walking or taking public transportation instead of cabbing it, keeping your aging car going a little longer.  All of these ideas make sense, but there is another level of thriftiness to consider.   Here are some cost cutting ideas pertaining to health care and household necessities that may be available in your neighborhood. And, of course, you can probably uncover myriad other opportunities to economize that fit your lifestyle.

Regarding health care, since my husband and I often work as independent contractors, we sometimes pay for our own health insurance.  Even during times when we were salaried employees, we noticed that the employee portion of the health cost tab was becoming larger and larger every year.  A couple of years ago, like thousands or millions of other people, we decided that the option of insuring ourselves was no longer reasonable.

I panicked, of course, and envisioned immediate catastrophic consequences to our decision.  But soon I discovered that St. Joseph’s Hospital offers extensive testing through a reduced-cost program available to everyone, regardless of income level. This type of testing is probably replicated in dozens of neighborhoods around the city.

The tests include blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, arterial pressure and an electrocardiogram.  The service included a consultation with a cardiologist at the Hospital to discuss the results.  The cost of this set of tests was $40!  I signed up immediately.  The test day was easy, pleasant and took less than an hour.  For other tests, I contacted the City of Chicago and received thorough and professional tests and services at a beautiful, brand new neighborhood clinic for nothing, no cost to me at all.

Exploring neighborhoods in Chicago, we made another astonishing discovery.  Shopping at some neighborhood grocery stores reduces our grocery bill by 20to 30 percent over buying groceries at our local Jewel.  Not everything is less at Tony’s Finer Foods, but most of the food we purchase on a weekly basis is less.  The Entenmanns outlet store sells breads and pastries for at least 40 percent less than Jewel or Tony’s.  The rest of our groceries we pick up at Jewel, Dominick’s or Trader Joe’s.  Costco is probably also a good alternative for certain things.  You do have to allow a little extra time to go to the various stores.

We made these discoveries some time ago and have embraced this way of shopping.  Even when the economy bounces back and there is less angst about finances, we will continue with these good money habits.

Instead of paying for a personal trainer to examine my swimming and running issues I have an appointment at another health-care facility in a couple of weeks for a free screening of my sports form.

The new financial planner said we are not his first clients to tell this story and that one of the great benefits of this financial downturn is that people who have learned to overhaul their personal finances to live more frugally are likely to carry this on when times are flush.  A good thing, don’t you think?

Julie Maeir, director of placement at Providus, is one of the speakers at our upcoming Attorneys in Transition event. She took time to answer our questions.

What is the number one piece of advice for those lawyers going through a career transition?

Think outside of the box.  Today’s legal job market is remarkably different than it was just a few short years ago. Take the time to think where you want to be in your career and what steps can you take to achieve that goal.  Sometimes you may have to verve off that path for a while, but often that can lead to new opportunities you would have never considered in a traditional job market.

What do you hope people get out of next Wednesday’s event?

I hope people will hear new and different perspectives and options for themselves during their transition.  Events such as this allow lawyers to meet with others in similar situations and exchange advice and experiences, in addition to the speakers’ presentations.  It is great to build a “job search” network with others that can understand your situation and offer support and encouragement.

What are the challenges lawyers face in this economy?

I have noticed different challenges for lawyers based upon where they were in their careers before they entered or re-entered the job market.  Obviously, for all levels of experience, the biggest challenge is supply versus demand.  We all know that there are too few jobs to accommodate all the skilled attorneys seeking employment.  For those recent graduates, their challenge is the lack for experience and how to gain that experience. For some highly experienced attorneys, the challenge is finding the right opportunity that can utilize their experience to the fullest potential.

Christina Martini, a partner at DLA Piper, will be one of the speakers at Wednesday’s Attorneys in Transition. She took some time to answer a few of our questions.

What is the number one piece of advice for those lawyers going through a career transition?

I would recommend that folks in this position have faith that things work out for the best, and sometimes life presents you with situations that you may not have expected, envisioned, or necessarily wanted at the time they arose.  If you have faith that things happen for a reason, and that sometimes your life is meant to change direction at certain times and in certain ways that can be unpredictable, it will make the whole experience much easier. Success and failure are often driven by your attitude, and being open and receptive to change and optimistic about your future can make a huge difference in the ultimate outcome of a career transition experience.

What do you hope people get out of next Wednesday’s event?

I hope that people learn some valuable information as to how to go about exploring different options during this time, and that they leave the session much more hopeful about their situations.  I think all of us at different times during our lives go through huge transitions in our careers and lives, and it is normal to feel very uncomfortable and scared.  Hopefully, folks will feel like they are not alone and that they do have support from those around them during this time, and that this period can actually be a really great opportunity for them!

What are the challenges lawyers face in this economy?

The challenge is that there are too many people for too few jobs, and that it is a 24/7 responsibility to think of ways to distinguish yourself from others and to make yourself indispensable to your employer.  What is really challenging is that decisions to terminate an employer/employee relationship are incredibly difficult and are generally driven by circumstances beyond one’s control (such as a huge drop-off in the organization’s revenue).  Thus, there is an intense feeling of a loss of control, which is incredibly difficult to deal with (especially for lawyers) and can have some very significant life consequences.

Aurora Donnelly is a solo practitioner always looking forward to the next exciting transition.

The Sunday New York Times is one of my favorite reads on weekends. In this Sunday’s edition, lawyers are featured in both the SundayStyles section and in the Magazine, in a first-person story.

Both these articles paint a dire picture for lawyers. The SundayStyles story headline is: “No Longer Their Golden Ticket,” and the subhead is “Young associates are stuck with depreciating law degrees.”

The gist of the story is that as bad as conditions were for young lawyers pre-2008, with the devastating work schedules and having to deal with unreasonable senior associates, new associates were automatically advanced in rank and pay scales if they were modestly competent. And, they made huge salaries for their pains. Now, the story says, everyone is working even harder just to make sure they are not laid off in the next round, as many of their colleagues have been.

The story in the Magazine is by a middle-aged lawyer who is returning to the workplace after being a stay-at-home mom. She mentions that she used to represent clients with household names. In the story, she is now working in a fulfillment house for $12 as a seasonal worker.

Had she come back to the workplace when the employment picture was more positive, would she have found a law position making what she did before her hiatus? I doubt it. Her career situation would still have been difficult.

Well, I went to law school in 1998 and the reason I went to law school, quite simply, was that I believed (and still do) that one of the best ways to improve things in our world is through legislation and enforcement of the law, by, you guessed it, lawyers, judges, etc. That has not changed.

The people I tapped for advice when I was in the process of applying to law school were sole practitioners, members of small practices or people who were in jobs where being a lawyer was useful but not a requirement. These people faced the daily work of getting clients, doing the work, having their fees paid, or, sitting in a cubicle and having to deal with the inevitable crazy boss.

All of these people are still doing what they did before. The solo and small practices may now be scaled back and the corporate workers may have jumped jobs a few times, but none of them are crying over the loss of a six-figure salary at a major law firm.

But now, most of the stories we read about lawyers out of work are about big firm lawyers being laid off from what is depicted as a life of wealth and privilege and now not knowing what to do. Well, in my experience, and that of countless others that is not reality. Among lawyers, there exist a wide variety of experiences in this post-financial crisis world.

Lawyers are subject now to the same low employment that other professions are. So why are we being singled out as being particularly destitute and as having lost the respect of the world? The financial meltdown is not limited to lawyers. Pretty much all professions are in this recession together. At least, as lawyers, we have the option of setting up our own practice or doing contract work in the interim.

So I am no worse off as a lawyer now than anyone else is in any other profession, most of which have been adversely affected by the economic downturn. And in my view, I have more options than people in a lot of other careers.

So, media, stop making out that as lawyers we were all making $160,000-plus a year and that we are all now crying because we are out of work. We all have to weather the crisis, do the best we can and maintain the dignity of our profession or of whatever job we happen to be doing — just like everyone else. For many, if not most of us, a law license was never a “golden ticket.”

Aurora Donnelly is a solo practitioner always looking forward to the next exciting transition.

Half of the written material (by my informal count of the sample I see) being published this month consists of lists. Lists of New Year’s resolutions are probably the most common, followed by wins/losses attained or suffered last year. Also, lists prompted by subsets of the resolutions, that is, for example, for those of you who resolved to eat better in 2010, lists of the healthiest foods.

These January lists are a tradition, year after year, and I thought, baahhh, too boring, too trite to write. But I found myself thinking of one after another activity connected to a new year that I wanted to mention to you as worth doing, and, voila, I ended up with a list. So here it goes:

1. Update your contact list. Go to all your sources: your online sites, Christmas cards returned as undeliverable, your email, publications, web sites that “find people,” etc. Make sure you have an accurate contact list. I have a fistful of little pieces of paper, cocktail napkins and random business cards secured by a clip that I am going to immortalize in my computer contact list TODAY.
2. Test your list by sending out a greeting or a thank you to all your contacts. The new year is a great occasion for renewing contacts or initiating new ones. The new year, unlike the other end-of-year holidays, is religion-neutral and connotes renewed hope and positive, fresh possibilities.
3. Sending out a greeting to your list at this time serves a couple of purposes besides verifying that you have correct contact information: It keeps you in their sights so that when you need a specific contact you don’t look like you only think of them when you need something; indicates to the recipients that you are organized, disciplined, on the ball, etc.; updates your status (you can mention what you are currently doing, whether you are still job searching, or have landed a position or are opening your own office, whatever); gives you the opportunity to thank contacts that have been helpful to you during the past year.  You can also add personal notes if they help your professional image: e.g. I have started training for a triathlon in 2010, wish me luck, not, I am determined to overcome my excessive drinking habit in 2010.
4. Please, please, go to Borders or Barnes & Noble or Amazon or wherever you like and get a grammar and style book. Spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes are instant killers to your job search, whether on a resume, cover letter or networking communication. Have someone proof read your materials whenever possible. I have seen horrifying errors lately, even in professional publications. “Keeping someone in your sites” is not only incorrect, but leaves the reader wondering exactly what the writer is referring to: websites or eyes. Calvary instead of cavalry, this from AP! Aaagghhh. The plural of ”medium” (yes! singular for TV, newspaper, internet outlet) is “media” (more than one TV, newspaper, internet outlet or these, in general), not “medias”, yikes! Needless to say, as lawyers, correct language is even more crucial, since words are our stock in trade.
5. Finally, take a good look at your physical self and maybe ask a friend to critique your appearance and demeanor. Take stock of your wardrobe, update what’s needed, get a haircut, order an exercise DVD, work on improving some part of yourself right away. It will focus your attention on something positive and prepare you for a great year!

Aurora Donnelly is a solo practitioner always looking forward to the next exciting transition.

Allyn O’Connor is an attorney whose career story intrigued me and I want to share it with you, my colleagues in transition.  Describing her current position, she says:

“I run the ABA Business Law Section’s Business Law Pro Bono Project.  I’m able to interface with Section members and business lawyers, as well as legal services organizations and their lawyers.  I provide technical support to organizations providing pro bono transactional legal services to nonprofits and very small businesses.  I also provide assistance to organizations that help individuals with consumer-related needs like foreclosure, bankruptcy, and debtor defense.”

Prior to law school Allyn worked for the regulatory arm of what was then known as the National Association of Securities Dealers.  She decided to go to law school to advance her career.  She was excited about learning new things and the challenge of graduating law school.

After law school she returned to the financial services industry, working for Alex. Brown and Sons Inc., which at the time was the nation’s oldest investment banking firm.  She enjoyed the experience of working with talented individuals in an exciting field in which she was very knowledgeable.

At a point in her career, however, the market for attorneys at financial services organizations, however, began to change.  Financial organizations began to consolidate and consequently there were fewer opportunities for in-house attorneys.

This blog is about career transitions and Allyn is a leader who has taken stock of her talents and abilities and successfully adjusted to the changes in the legal marketplace. As her career evolved, she created new objectives and directed her career in an exciting new direction, achieving success in a non-traditional attorney role.

Allyn says, “It’s a variation on (what I wanted to do after law school) it.  At times, I miss the challenges and rewards of being in the private sector.  The work I do now, however, is very important.  I’m indirectly making sure business lawyers have opportunities to lend their talents to organizations and individuals that need legal help but can’t afford it.  This assistance can have remarkable results:  affordable housing preserved, a small business staying afloat, and the like.”

Where does she see her career going from here? “ I’d like to stay in this field a while longer.  After that, who knows?”

To the question, “Do you have unfulfilled career desires?” Allyn responds, “It depends on the day!” Isn’t that how most of us feel?

Aurora Donnelly is a solo practitioner always looking forward to the next exciting transition.

As the new year is upon us, some of us are considering changing our career paths and veering in a new direction.  Maybe we are ready to implement plans we have been working on for a while or maybe something new comes up that we become interested in doing.

Often, new ventures are presented to us by non-lawyers or involve working with non-lawyers in some capacity. Given the current economic situation, we may decide to try out business arrangements we might not have considered had we been on a traditional legal track.

Occasionally, people I know or who are referred to me approach me with an alternative business idea that seems worth pursuing.  My first reaction, of course, as you can see by my description at the head of this posting, is to jump on novel, interesting ideas.  I am always excited about doing new things, especially those that will help other people and make money, while offering me a new learning experience.

Being a member of a partnership can be beneficial to the lawyer, the non-lawyer and the general public.  Some partnerships may seem to hold out great promise as a rich melding of professional and nonprofessional skills and experience.

But as lawyers we have to keep front of mind the rules of professional responsibility. Especially pertinent to the situations I am describing is, in Illinois, Rule 5.4, Professional Independence of a Lawyer, in part:  (b) a lawyer shall not form a partnership with a non-lawyer if any of the activities of the partnership consist of the practice of law.

This particular Rule sounds fairly straight forward, but can be difficult to interpret in specific practical situations. For example, you are offered a free office and administrative help in exchange for providing legal advice to the general public on a specific range of legal matters. Does that fall under the provisions of Rule 5.4? Is there a way to structure the business arrangement so as to obey both the letter and the intent of the Rule?

You have probably also been approached by friends or colleagues about participating in interesting partnerships that simply cannot pass the “good lawyer” test where it comes to professional ethical responsibility. Keep the ethics rules handy and refer to them carefully before you agree to any type of working arrangement involving non lawyers.

I find it somewhat difficult to explain, sometimes, why I cannot lend my expertise and knowledge of the law to certain endeavors.  Sometimes I simply have to say, “I cannot do that” and leave my potential, but never-to-be, partner wondering why I am so vigilant of rules that do not make sense to him or her.

That is, however, how it is.  No matter how tempting or harmless an idea may seem, keeping a tight and cautious hold on our hard-earned law licenses is always the winning proposition.