Monthly Archives: February 2010

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

During this legal jobs semi-draught a number of people I know have come up with creative and effective ways to supplement their income, or, in some cases, let’s admit it, make a living. But if it gets you through the downturn and to the other side of the economic tumble, it works. The idea is to tap into skills that you have used in the past. It helps to have some credentials in the area of endeavor.

For example, attorneys have built in credentials for teaching. Having a doctoral degree should qualify you for teaching as an adjunct at a junior college or a trade school. The topics that an attorney can teach are numerous. From civics to the Constitution to writing, lawyers have the training to do this.

When it comes to teaching, some of us can also count on previous life learnings and experiences to pass on to others. One colleague majored in history undergrad and teaches U.S. history at a loop junior college, enjoys it and with enough classes can make a great supplemental income from it.

Teaching is just one example. Your own educational and work background will serve to guide you in developing ideas for supplemental or alternate income. Maybe some of you are athletes and can coach or do personal training in some way. As a law school student I turned my language abilities into income by interpreting for depositions and trials and translating foreign documents. In some instances you need a certificate or a license of some kind, but I did not have one and I was consistently busy.

Prior to attending law school, when I was between jobs, I talked my way into doing the bookkeeping for the restaurant at my health club. I do admit, the MBA helped me get this gig and I had done some bookkeeping for a manufacturing company in the distant past. I got a reduction of my membership fee and had great fun, besides learning a lot about food service costing, not to mention the delicious free lunches.

Here’s a way to do this — take a writing pad and a free afternoon and go back in time, either using your resume, or whatever method works for you to recall past jobs and skills. Start with your first job and break down the responsibilities in great detail, what functions you performed, what skills were required, what training you used to perform the functions. Maybe it was tutoring, or life guard or working in a restaurant, helping in a parent’s law office, the possibilities are as many as there are careers.

Really focus on the list you create following the above system and write down the skills you have that can possibly parlay into a paid endeavor right now. Then think about where you could apply those skills without having to get a certificate or degree or any other additional credential. Make a list of possible work scenarios and get cracking calling people you know or businesses that might have what you need, or, that might need what you have.

Jeff Berkowitz, President of JB Consulting Group, Inc., will be one of our speakers at our Wednesday Attorneys in Transition event. He took some time to answer some of our questions.

What do you hope people learn from your presentations about the job market?

Although the legal market is still a down market, there are many opportunities out there.  We’ll talk a little bit about the market for law firm partners, associates and in house counsel, but the most important thing for anyone engaged in a search is to understand his or her strengths and to know how to package, present and persuade about those strengths.  Those aspects of the search are all controllable by the candidate and therefore merit a great deal of time and energy, irrespective of the state of the job market.  Of course, all of that should be done with a sensitivity to market trends and market appetites for skills, traits and attributes.

What is your biggest piece of advice for finding that next job?

Spend considerable time thinking about what you can do, what you want to do and how you can best contribute to a prospective employer.  If you think you appear to be short of what the employer wants, ask yourself if it can be remedied.  For example, for a law firm partner making a move, a threshold of  portable business is, of course, key.  However, sometimes strong business and marketing plans can bridge the gap between what the law firm wants and what you have.  If so, develop those plans, test the plans, start executing the plans and sell the plans. Similarly, corporate law departments often want their potential hires to have in-house experience.  If you lack it, try to learn what might compensate for that and if you possess those traits or skills.

Why is networking so important?

A large number of jobs never make their way to want ads, search firms or Internet postings. Instead, they are often communicated by word of mouth.  And for those that do take the form of postings, etc., employers will often be more impressed by the candidate than the candidate’s resume. Also, if you meet the potential employer in person, you have the opportunity to adapt and emphasize the appropriate skills and traits as you learn about the position.  Further, a person you are meeting with may decide, because of who you are and what you are saying, that they should be thinking of hiring someone like you. If that happens, you have an extreme jump on being offered the job. And, of course, if you do effective networking, you will be constantly acquiring new names of people to meet, thereby constantly expanding your network. Additionally, networking is a way of preparing you indirectly for job interviews and sharpening your social skills.

Finally, networking is not about exchanging cards with or handing out your resume to as many people as you can, or telling everyone you meet you are looking for a job. No, it is almost the reverse of that. We’ll talk about that.

How should lawyers adapt their careers to this changing legal environment?

For a long time, the legal market has been changing to encourage lawyers to become individual career managers. The current, changing legal environment simply places greater emphasis on this. It is incumbent on every lawyer to ask yearly, if not more frequently, what are your personal goals for that year and how do you achieve them. You may work for an entity that does that for or with you.  However, even if that is the case, you should also do it separately. Sometimes, your targeted goals and paths will be congruent and sometimes they will diverge from those of your employer. However, it is your career. You need to set your targets and to monitor your progress.

Our next Attorneys in Transition event is Feb. 24. One of our speakers, Nicole Nehama Auerbach, founding member of the Valorem Law Group, took some time to answer some of our questions.

What do you hope people learn from your presentations about the job market?

My presentation will be more about things that I’ve learned about the industry and things that have worked for me. So it’s not necessarily a true presentation “about the job market.” My hope is that something I say resonates with at least one person in the audience, and that I perhaps say something that makes someone think about things in a new or different way and that change helps them in their search.

What is your biggest piece of advice for finding that next job?

Stay focused and positive. It is a tough market and it may be a while until you find the next thing. In the meantime, consider temp attorney work or other things to bring in some income if necessary.  Don’t fixate or obsess on this search (even though it is an extremely important thing). I find that when I most desperate – for a win, for a client, for something — it comes across subliminally, and not in a positive way. Remember to take some time for yourself, to do something you never could do when you were working all the time – even if that means sneaking off to see a movie or a museum exhibit for an afternoon.  The more human you become, the more you will relate to others, and the more you will open your eyes to opportunities you might not have otherwise thought of.

Why is networking so important?

You just never know who you will meet who might have a job for you, have a suggestion for you, have a kind word for you, or have a friend of a friend with a cousin once removed who may have something.  I can’t underestimate it, but there is a fine line between effective networking and desperately trying to amass as many business cards as possible at any given time.  Possibilities arise when people genuinely are interested in you or what you can do. Relationships can’t be forced – so just be yourself. And follow up – but DO NOT STALK!

How should lawyers adapt their careers to this changing legal environment?

I consider myself a bit of an “apple-cart upsetter” – meaning that I have always felt that the status quo should be challenged if it isn’t working right or isn’t sustainable.  I think in this changing legal environment you simply have to be willing to think outside of the box. You must be flexible, and I think you have to come to terms with the idea that life may not be as easy as it used to be. I also happen to think that change – sometimes even drastic or unwanted change – ends up causing people to do things that they never would have done, and usually that’s a positive thing.

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.

Non-lawyers always laugh when I tell them what pro bono legal services are.

They say, “Lawyers giving something away for free?  What’s the catch?”  Sheesh, when did lawyers get such a bad rap? Most of us became lawyers because we wanted to help people.  As a former pro bono coordinator, I have seen volunteer attorneys change the lives of people who could not otherwise afford legal services.  I have also seen attorneys grow professionally after handling cases in areas of law they would not otherwise have gotten experience in.

Pro bono work is an excellent way to gain experience.  Although the economy is less than desirable, employers still want to know that you’ve handled cases on your own.  If you are in transition, it’s a bit hard to get that kind of “hands on” experience.  Luckily, pro bono work allows you to be an attorney in transition but still get much needed court room or transactional experience to nail a job interview.

Many attorneys choose to do pro bono work because they are interested in a certain area of law but chose a different career path.  I have attorney friends who are artists that maintain “traditional” law jobs.  Some of them volunteer with Lawyers for the Creative Arts and do pro bono work for other artists.

On the other hand, some pro bono attorneys have a great deal of experience in a certain area and like to volunteer their expertise helping people who could not otherwise afford their services.  For example, I volunteered at a program though the Chicago Bar Association called “Wills for Heroes” and I met some veteran estate planning attorneys.

There are tons of organizations in Chicago that work with pro bono attorneys.  Generally, these organizations have an intake process so before you would meet with a potential client there will already be great deal of information about his or her case.  I recommend contacting several organizations and asking them what areas of law their volunteers handle.  Organizations like Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS) handle several areas of law ranging from adoption to consumer law.  CVLS offers an orientation session, as well as training materials for volunteers.

Coordinated Advice and Referral Program for Legal Services (CARPLS) is another great place to volunteer.  CRPLS volunteers help staff pro se desks at the Daley Center and field hotline calls from people in need of legal advice.  If you work at a firm, go talk to your Pro Bono Coordinator and ask about volunteer opportunities.  Most firms have relationships with legal service organizations.

Make sure you choose the organizations that you volunteer with carefully.  If you are someone who feels most comfortable working with a mentor, make sure that the organization can connect you with someone who is willing to walk you through a case.  I would suggest making sure that the organization locks in a mentor before you even begin working on the case.  That way, you can prepare questions from the very start.  If mentoring is something you are interested in doing, it is an excellent way to help pro bono clients.  Not only are you helping someone with limited means, you are also helping one of your colleagues learn from your knowledge and experience.

There are a lot of people out there who need your help.  Your challenge this week is to give it.

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

Today I was on the 151 bus downtown and sitting next to me was a pretty young woman with dark hair and a thin face reading handwritten notes in an elementary school-type notebook.  Of course I tried to sneak a peek at what she was studying so intently.  She was reading notes about contracts.  My visual eavesdropping left me with strange feelings.

The man sitting next to me on the other side had struck up a conversation with me and we talked until he got off the bus.  Now I could see the man who had been sitting on his other side, a middle-aged black man. He was also studying hand-written notes and when I peeked at his sheet I saw with trepidation that he was reading about covenants running with the land.   Aaaarggghhh.

I realized that the February bar is days away.  I wanted to talk to the girl next to me, to share some camaraderie with her, maybe encourage her.  But, as I tried to frame the words I would say, I realized that nothing I could say would be of any relevance. “Good luck?” No, that sounds fatalistic. “What a great thing you are doing, it is a great profession?” What if she doesn’t pass? “There seem to be way too many of us out there right now, but you will still be happy that you became a lawyer?”  Well, you can see that wouldn’t be a good thing to say in those circumstances.  I don’t know what the right thing is to say to someone going through that ridiculous and grueling process.

In the end I didn’t say anything to either one.  I watched them both pack up their notes and get off the bus at the Wrigley Building with serious faces.  I have been thinking about the two of them off and on all day.

My first thought is how lucky we are that people (well, a lot of people) of all types, ages and backgrounds have access to such an education and such a profession.  Second, why do we have such an ineffective and cumbersome system for becoming a lawyer?  Third, they will see, after they pass the bar, are admitted and start practicing, that being a lawyer is probably the best job there is.  That being a lawyer is at least one hundred times better than being a law student.  Fourth, I hope that by the time they get going with their law careers they have better access to interesting jobs than there exists right now.  Fifth, they may be surprised at the enormous responsibility that lawyers have.  I hope that they embrace that responsibility honestly and proudly.

My last heartfelt thought is — it is a very good thing, and, I am so glad, I am not one of them today.

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.

Lately I keep hearing the phrase “elevator speech.”  Here is the concept:  you should be able to give a description of what you are passionate about, to a stranger in an elevator, in the time it takes the car to get to your floor.

To most of you, that probably sounds like some sort of bizarre challenge on a reality show.  I mean, who talks to a stranger in an elevator?  Sure, I get that, but I’m sure by now you realize that this is more of a concept than an actual practice.  In our society, the best way to leave an impression is to be memorable, and the best way to be memorable is to convey passion.  An elevator speech is your personal mission statement and this week’s challenge is to devise one.

The question is, of course, how do you devise your elevator speech?  Well, first you need to hone in on your passion.  Since this is a blog that dispenses career advice, let’s stick with career-driven passion.  Say you are passionate about public interest law.  Think about why you are interested and in it and in what areas your interests lie.  Remember when you had to write a personal statement for law school?  Chances are your statement was an extended elevator speech.  In describing your passions to the law school, you were hoping to capture the attention of the admission department and stay on its radar.  Once you know what you are passionate about, figure out a way to convey your passion to someone else.  If you are truly invested in something, the person you are talking with will pick up on your energy, and that is what will linger in his or her mind.  The words will be short and sweet, but the sincerity will speak louder than your words.

If you are at a networking function, a CLE, hanging out in a coffee shop or, why not, in an elevator, you can reach someone by using your speech.  If you are looking for a job and you leave an impression on someone, that person may put in a good word for you or hire you herself.  Think of how often people ask, “so, what do you do?”  It’s really easy to say, “well, I’m in transition right now but I am really passionate about so and so for x,y and z reasons.”

When people ask me what I do, I say, “I have a brother with a disability.  I grew up seeing how kids with disabilities were marginalized and how hard their parents had to fight to get them the services that they needed.  I decided that I would become an attorney who advocates on behalf of kids with disabilities so that they receive the education they are entitled to.” I can’t tell you how many people have told me that they have a family member or friend who is a person with a disability.  I have connected with so many people by sharing my passion with them.

There is a huge chance that your passion will resonate on some level with most of the people that you meet.  You never know who you will leave a lasting impression with.

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

Several newly laid-off colleagues have mentioned to me that they wonder if they should file for unemployment benefits. They hesitate to do this for several reasons.

They wonder if they will be “blackballed” by their previous employer or by the recruiting agency and will have trouble finding a new job or contract assignment for that reason.  They wonder if the claim will be contested and then if they will have to go through the messy process of filing an appeal or backing out with their tail between their legs, having filed and then ending up with nothing but possibly a reputation as a trouble maker.

Nevertheless, as to the threshold question of whether you should file, I say, absolutely!  You should not hesitate to file a claim if you were let go through no fault of your own and the other requirements apply to your unemployment status. You can read all about the requirements for eligibility at various on line sites to make sure your claim won’t be contested.

The money you collect is, in part, money that was put into the system over years that you worked. The intended purpose of the benefit is to help you out with a safety net when you become unemployed. I know that some people are not aware of this and believe they are getting “entitlements” if they file, of which they feel somehow undeserving.  Well, disabuse yourself of that idea.

Additionally, the way the system is structured has the beneficial effect of making employers more careful about how they hire and lay people off, and of rewarding employers who make wise employment decisions. If there are too many claims against an employer, the end result is that their unemployment tax rate will increase.

You can file your unemployment benefits claim online.  Filing online doesn’t take much time, and it saves you the indignity (and the time) of having to stand in line at an employment office.  Be aware, though, that if there is anything unusual about your claim or if you answer a question incorrectly, you will have to go to the employment office in person anyway. Some of the questions in the online application are a little tricky, so think them through thoroughly before you answer them, to save yourself from possibly having to appear in person.

As to the reaction of the employer, years ago, (and there may still be some employers out there who respond this way), there were employers who fought every claim and put you through hell, but that doesn’t seem to be the case any more.  It is simply the cost of doing business: as an employer you pay into the fund and you know that at some point some of those funds will be paid out to employees who did not work out in your organization for whatever reason.

Would the employer you filed against ever rehire you if you filed a claim, or would they give you a bad reference? Probably doubtful to both, even though both are possible.

Maybe it will help you to think of it this way: you are doing your civic duty by applying for and collecting much-needed unemployment benefits and subsequently paying for goods and services that you need and that support the economy!

Any comments from filers are welcome.  Feel free to share with us any experiences you have had with regard to filing and collecting unemployment benefits.

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.

Last week I challenged you to figure out what your puzzle piece looks like.  Hopefully that exercise helped you to discover your unique qualities.  Puzzle pieces are also useful in determining your networking style.

Now, I know that the word networking causes most people to roll their eyes and say something like, “networking?  You mean pretending you’re interested in someone so they eventually give you a job?”   No, people, that’s not what I meant at all.  If you’re doing it right, networking is nothing like that.  I do a ton of networking and I am always genuinely interested in whomever I am talking with.  My goal in networking is to make new friends, and yours should be too.  It’s not just walking into a room and thinking, “okay, who here is going to give me a job?”

Rest assured, networking doesn’t necessarily mean going to a random bar association meeting, shaking a bunch of hands and coming home exhausted with an empty bottle of hand sanitizer.  In my book, networking really just means connecting to another human being.  If discovering your puzzle piece was last week’s challenge, this week’s challenge is to make a new friend.

Now, I understand that I’m in the minority of people who talk to strangers in line at the grocery store.  That may not be your style.  There are hands off ways to connect with people, like e-mail.  Say you are interested in a particular area of law like estate planning.  Figure out who runs an estate planning committee through your local bar association and shoot him an e-mail.  Has someone written an article on a topic you are interested in?  Reach out to her and ask for advice on how she became an expert.  People love to share their stories, and most people out there like to help.  The best way to reach a new destination is by meeting a person who will lead you there.

Try talking to people who are non-lawyers too.  In fact, I encourage that.  Go to a networking event for professional people and you will meet all sorts of interesting folks.  Many of them know lawyers they can connect you to.  Heck, some of them may even need a lawyer (though I am not encouraging soliciting your services).  Think about how much better it will feel to be one of five lawyers at an event instead of one of 200.  I’ve met some cool people at non-lawyer events.

Networking is a practice that has landed me all of the jobs that I’ve had in the last five years and has brought me in contact with each of the wonderful mentors that I have.  The people I have met while networking are now my friends, but at one time they were strangers.  There was once a time when you didn’t know your spouse, your best friend, your favorite neighbor and the list goes on.  Try taking a risk and getting to know someone new this week.

You cannot imagine the world that opens up when you make a connection with another human being.

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

Over the years I have read a lot about including a short description of who you are, professionally, at the top of your resume. This is a short paragraph that lists your particular talents, makes a quick reference to your experience and triumphs, and briefly highlights what you have to offer a prospective employer.

You have probably heard about the “commercial” or brief personal story that you should prepare when you start your job search.  Well, the resume summary serves a similar purpose, except that it is inserted in your resume, instead of being spoken to possible job contacts.

Career strategists and career coaches, outplacement professionals, all have their own, firmly held opinions about this summary.  Having read and evaluated hundreds of resumes in a previous career, and having myself been the beneficiary of much advice from said career coaches, etc., I come down vehemently on the side of the “pro summary” crowd.

The “con” crowd arguments are: 1) that recruiters will not read the summary; 2) the employer doesn’t care about you, just what you can do for them 3) the summary just takes up precious space on your resume that can be devoted instead to pertinent experience you have to offer. There are probably several other “con” arguments that I can’t remember right now.

All good writing provides summaries of some kind to lead the reader through the content and purpose of a piece.  Having come from a business background where speed and efficiency are hugely important I know the value of a summary.  Every business proposal contains, at the very beginning, an executive summary.  For example, as a business executive you should be able to read a high level summary of the project/idea/plan and be able to determine its value, possibly without reading the detail further on in the proposal.

Similarly, in a memorandum of law the legal issues are presented and summarized up front to inform readers of the general content to follow.  Often, for complex legal questions, a summary of the facts is used to help the reader grasp the legal questions being analyzed.

When I read a resume, I want to be able to determine very quickly whether the applicant is qualified for the job I have to fill.  I want to know if the applicant can write and, if the applicant can sell his or herself.  Every job involves selling, every successful resume tells a compelling story.

Without the upfront framework and information provided by the summary, as an interviewer you start out reading blind and have to modify your opinion of the applicant’s background and qualifications as you move down the resume, a much more laborious process.

Of course, equally important is the education section.  But, again, you can cover pertinent education right away in your summary and give the hiring manager a quick overview of your degrees, licenses/bar admissions and experience.

The summary should, unequivocally, describe what you can do for an employer and as such, is your advertising “tagline.”  The summary positions you in the prospective employer’s mind as a candidate worth considering.  For example, if you are a patent attorney applying for a job practicing patent law, you say so immediately in the summary. You mention, very briefly, what types of products/services/intellectual property you have worked on (hopefully the kind of work the employer is looking for), what degrees you have earned, special projects/cases you have worked on, major successes or special skills, languages, for example.  This format also permits you to introduce two or three key words about your work style or your personal qualities.

All this information should be laid out in an easy-to-read narrative style, in one to three sentences, altogether no more than about 50 words.   A well-written succinct summary highlighting key skills, experience and educational accomplishments, slanted to the particular position, is key.  This will give you a better chance to gain the prospective employer’s interest and continue to read the body of the resume.

I do not have sufficient space here to outline the summary idea in any more detail, but look at some sample resumes with summaries.  Ask people who regularly look at resumes.  Then decide for yourself.