Monthly Archives: May 2010

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

Indirectly, the real estate implosion is at the heart of the transition issues that are affecting many of us. When the housing market declined, so did many other parts of the economy. In general, as attorneys, our fates as professionals in the workforce are closely bound to the real estate market.

The economic downturn led by the housing crash affected those of us who are real estate attorneys directly. Lawyers who were doing 20 to 30 closings a week, or a month, even, saw their revenues drastically curtailed. Dozens, probably hundreds of lawyers who were working for or with mortgage companies, or for developers or banks, lost their jobs. Many of us who had invested in real estate suffered losses.

On a personal level, we may be affected by what we can now afford to pay for shelter, i.e., rent, mortgage payments. The only people spared are those who own their houses outright. But even they may have problems, either from still rising real estate taxes or from inability to sell if the need for a job relocation arises.

No one is being spared. My colleagues who are pursuing career positions in other cities are finding it difficult to sell their properties. Those who rent are being hamstrung by their lease contracts. If the out-of-town job offer comes at the wrong time, they either break the lease or they have to turn the job down. The latter is a rare occurrence, but may happen based on individual economics. For the most part, it seems that landlords are sympathetic, but they will get the last dollar they can from someone breaching a lease contract. Their sympathy is limited because the competition for renters right now is also fierce.

It is difficult to know what advice to offer in this area, except to stay as unencumbered as you can in your real estate holdings, sign the shortest lease you can if you rent. Of course, should the market suddenly head upward when your lease expires, your rent might increase to boom market level. Not likely, though.

Unfortunately, credit ratings can take a beating when negative things happen with your living arrangements. If you break a lease, the landlord may sue for the remaining rent due. If you walk away from a mortgage, obviously, this will have negative consequences on your credit standing.

I suppose one piece of advice I can offer is to stay on the best possible terms with your landlord, so if something comes up you might get cooperation. Also, sometimes it is worth paying a couple of extra months’ rent if that will keep the landlord from attempting to enforce the lease term in court.

If you own your own living space, and you are faced with having to move, you are probably well aware of your options – if doable, accept a long commute, keep paying the mortgage and rent temporarily wherever your new job is, rent out your house or condo, try to do a short sale, try to get a modification of mortgage, etc. The possibilities will be specific to your situation.

During this time, keep sight of the really important things in your life, like family, health, and good friends, and participate in interesting activities that engage you. The income part of the picture will right itself eventually. Meanwhile, count all your blessings.

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.

Thinking on your feet is required when you are an attorney.  It’s also pretty darn helpful when you are interviewing for jobs and networking.   Most people believe that thinking on your feet isn’t something you can learn to do, or train to do better.  I disagree.

I tested this theory after my first year of law school.  After being “socratized” time and again, I figured that I could always use a little more practice thinking quickly.  My thought was that practicing improvisation would help me sharpen my ability to think on my feet and would make me more comfortable with public speaking.  So, that summer I took an improv class at Comedy Sportz in Chicago.  It was something I had always wanted to do, but the idea of acting silly in front of a bunch of strangers seemed odd, especially when I had just spent the year acting serious in front of my peers.  I’m glad I did it because it was a great experience.  I learned to be comfortable with myself and with speaking in front of an audience.  As silly as it sounds, taking an improv comedy class helped me to be a better lawyer years later.

I won’t make the analogy that practicing improv is a lot like practicing law, because it’s not.  But, there are aspects that are similar: like having to adjust to a situation or play different roles.  If you’re going to be an effective attorney, you must step outside of your comfort zone from time to time.  Why not take an improv or theater class?  It may sound totally off base to you, but I think it’s a wonderful way to build confidence and learn how to work with people on multiple levels.

Alas, if taking an improv class isn’t right for you, look into getting involved with a group like Toastmasters.  Toastmasters is an organization that teaches public speaking and gives you the opportunity to practice speaking in front of small groups of people. Public speaking is the number one fear that human beings have, but the more you do it, the more comfortable you will feel.  I have heard great things from attorneys who are involved with Toastmasters.  These attorneys have learned how to speak clearly and concisely, both of which are incredibly important skills.  Do you want to be the attorney who “um’s” the judge to death? Of course not.  So, why not get involved with a group like this?

If neither of these options sound the least bit interesting to you, try to practice thinking on your feet with friends, family or your law school’s career service office.  Answering mock interview questions is a great way to do this.  Always ask for feedback.

It feels very exhilarating to speak in front of people.  Yes, it’s a bit scary, but it’s going to be necessary at some point in your legal career.  If you don’t already have experience doing it, your challenge this week is to look into ways to get some experience.  Check out an improve class.  Besides being helpful, it’s a lot of fun.

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

Opening your own office without a financial cushion is a difficult proposition. I know a couple of attorneys that are recent solo practitioners who are struggling to survive financially. Running a practice, with all its expenses, when you are under capitalized, is a nerve-wracking and frustrating proposition.

Ideally you start with a couple of clients already signed up. Family and friends, as well as other attorneys, are reliable sources of client referrals. You may be elated that you start out with a small client base that pays you a retainer. The problem is that you may not begin to draw fees from those retainers until you have performed the hours of work to bill fees from the retainers. And, as we all know, preparing documents, filing cases, can take a little time.

You must ensure that there is no question that you have billed sufficient hours to completely account for the fees you draw from the retainers. That is how many attorneys get in trouble, when they tap into client funds without having fully performed the work they billed, among other things.

You may be practicing real estate, in which case you collect your fee when you do closings, but those fees are minuscule and closings are now few and far between for most of us. Criminal law can also be a “pay as you go” situation, where you collect and perform the legal services somewhat simultaneously for small cases.

In general, as with any business, starting your practice is a much smoother and less worrisome exercise if you have accumulated a reasonable financial cushion. That brings us to the-chicken-or-the-egg problem. How do you accumulate funds if you are not working and alternatively how do you set up your office if you have no money, so you can start creating an income flow?

Some attorneys I know work at other jobs while they are developing their client base. The problem with that is that you are pulled in several directions at once and it can become an exhausting endeavor where you are not doing either function well and are constantly running to stay abreast of both jobs. You have to be very cautious in this situation not to take your eye off the ball with your cases and miss a crucial date or make some other mistake that could land you in trouble.

That all being said, however, lots of practitioners start this way, with little money and/or other jobs and eventually are able to make the transition to only working their own practice, which then takes off.

There are many helpful sites and other resources where you can get help with starting your practice on a shoestring. There are also creative ways to raise funds. Or, you can take your time working at other jobs and wait until you have a sufficient start-up fund. Each of us knows what works for us. However you do it, good luck and good fortune, there is nothing like being your own boss and working a practice that is ethically comfortable for you and where you decide how your clients will be served.

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.

Remember how you had to write a personal statement to get into law school?  I’m betting that you didn’t write, “I want to be a lawyer because it looks like fun on Boston Legal.”

You wanted to go to law school for a specific reason, and you were able to convey that reason to the school that chose you.  When you wrote your personal statement, you became more than a test score and a G.P.A. to the admissions office.  It’s no different when you are applying for jobs.  The person who will ultimately hire you wants to know that you are an interesting person who has had experiences that are pertinent to the job they are offering.  It should be no surprise then that this week’s challenge is to write a new personal statement.

I recognize that you’re not asking to be admitted into a school, but you are asking to be chosen for a job.  Perhaps you found writing a personal statement burdensome when you were applying for law school.  Really, it was a great exercise for you to flesh out the reasons you wanted to become an attorney, and deep down inside you know it.

See if you can find the personal statement you wrote for law school and re-read it.  Has anything changed since you wrote it?  Maybe you experienced things in law school that changed your career trajectory?  Since law school, have you practiced in a certain area you never thought that you would?  Have you been in front of a jury or handled a real-estate closing?  After you read your old personal statement, smile at the person you once were and appreciate the person you have become.  Then, write a new personal statement.

This new personal statement will be just that — personal.  It’s not meant to be given to a potential employer, it’s meant to help you figure out what you want to do next.  Writing about yourself is a great exercise because it boosts your confidence and allows you to map out your experiences.  When you think about it, a cover letter is a very similar exercise, only it’s tailored to a specific position.  A cover letter serves a similar purpose as well; namely, it gives you a chance to explain to a potential employer why you would be great at the job you are applying for.

Hopefully, writing a new personal statement will get you in the mood to revamp your resume, and   possibly even change your job search strategies.  While writing, you may find that a particular experience you have had is far more interesting or important than you ever thought.  That’s the cool thing about writing, sometimes you don’t realize something is important until you put it on paper.

If writing is painful for you, sit down with a friend or loved one and dictate your personal statement.  As long as you are able to organize your thoughts and explain why certain experiences were important to you, it is still a great exercise.  If you are someone who is uncomfortable talking about their accomplishments because it feels like bragging, ditch that thought.  You have worked hard and you have earned the bragging rights!

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

Here’s a new twist on screening job candidates. You are invited, not to lunch, which is not an uncommon setting for an interview, but for drinks with your prospective employer.

Last week a colleague attended an interview at a popular bar\restaurant. The place was so crowded that they had to stand at the bar. The meeting evolved into a “you are not qualified enough for us to hire you, but let me tell you how you can improve” session. As my friend and I talked we decided that it was probably a “courtesy” interview, which resulted from a referral by another colleague.

Nevertheless, this is the format that this company uses (my friend is an attorney but was interviewing for a non-legal position) to select new employees. Had the process gone further the next step would have been drinks with a group of future peers. That’s right, come drink with us and we’ll figure out if we like you or not. Wow!

I see so many things wrong with this, so many possible pitfalls for the interviewee. First, the interview with the possible boss. How do you intelligently answer questions as you belly up to a crowded bar? How does the interviewer focus on you in that scenario? Can you even hear each other well? The possibilities for a negative outcome are endless.

As for the peer review, they have to like you. Obviously you have to strive to be pleasant and collegial. But if you are too charming, smart, and well-informed, they may not like you. So you end up in the position of trying to be liked but not too much? Ah? You certainly can’t appear to be better qualified for the job than they are, but you can’t seem incompetent, either. So, I guess your position as interviewee is to appear adequately mediocre. That is probably a hard line to toe.

I don’t even know where to start with the drinking part of this. The threshold question is, what if you don’t drink, is that a faux pas? It may be, but one that some people can’t avoid, if for whatever reasons they just can’t drink. Is that a negative as far as the interview?

Say you do drink and you are the first one to order. What if you order a mojito and everyone else orders a sedate glass of wine or a beer? Worst case scenario, you are nervous and you drink too much, and, as happened to a friend of my son’s, you get into a fist fight with one of the peer interviewers. Needless to say, he did not get that job, but he learned from the experience and later got a better one. But I digress.

To be fair, the position my friend was interviewing for requires a lot of schmoozing and networking and social connections, so interacting with him in a social situation makes some sense. But even given that, doesn’t this interview process seem risky and ineffective for both the employer and the possible employee?

If you are faced with this type of interview situation, I think the best thing to do is to  anticipate the possible pitfalls and try to be prepared. And then you are on your own. This is untrodden ground for me!

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.

If you’ve read my blog, you know that I am a huge proponent of connecting with other humans.  So, it’s probably not a shock for you to know that I started an informal group that provides members the opportunity to do just that.

Wednesday was the first meeting of the Attorneys in Transition networking group, and it went really well.  Networking events are all different.  Some of them are huge and participants can walk around and mingle with many different people.  I am all about those types of events, and I suggest that you attend them.  The goal of this Attorneys in Transition networking group is different, however.  I like to think of it like “Cheers” — somewhere you can go where everybody knows your name and where everyone is eager to help you find a job.  Okay, so that last part wasn’t technically in the song, but you get the picture.

My idea is for the group to be an intimate one, where members become friends and look forward to seeing each other every month.  I want it to be a place to come and vent about the job search, and to swap contacts.  I want everyone to know the areas of law the other members practice in so if a job opens up in that particular area, the rest of the group passes the information along to that attorney.  Wednesday night, we all came together at the Green Door Tavern and got to know each other’s backgrounds and goals. While all of us have had different experiences in our legal careers, we all have one thing in common — we are looking to find our way in this crazy market.

Not all of us are in transition.  One member works as in-house counsel at a school, but she had an intense job searching experience before she found her dream job.  She obviously did something right in her job searching process, and we are eager to hear more about her techniques.  Two other members of the group both discovered that they had experience in the same practice area.  Other members have started their own practices and gave advice to group members who were thinking of doing the same thing.

It was cool to see everyone sharing.  That’s what being a professional should be about.  At some point in our lives, someone helped us get a job or gave us advice that made us better attorneys.  I am hoping that this group continues to grow and that members will do that very same thing.  I know that I plan to help every person that I met at the meeting tonight in any way that I can.  In my career, I would not be where I am today without the help of my peers.  I plan to pay it forward.

Your challenge for next month is to attend the Attorneys in Transition networking group and share your own story.  We want to meet you.

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

As we have observed in this space a few times this year already, law firms and the practice of law are changing.  For example, law firms are employing more attorneys on a temporary, project-connected basis.  They are now often negotiating fees for specific legal assignments instead of by the hour.  There is another change that signals an empowerment for attorneys and law firms and an enlargement of their role in business and legal affairs, even in international governmental affairs.  The term being used for this new type of functioning is “entrepreneurial”, entrepreneurial law firms, entrepreneurial lawyers.

This week a posting by Project Counsel profiled an established international law firm that practices primarily in the Middle East and whose team of international attorneys work on client legal matters, but also on a much broader scope as business advisers and negotiators, foreign government liaisons, international “go to” facilitators.

In this new legal model, the attorneys become an integral part of their client’s business, understanding the client’s business to the point where they can add value and anticipate client needs.  Providing coordination of service providers such as accountants, appraisers, marketing and management experts and language services is part of this relationship.

I see an interesting merger of business and law.  Thinking of a lawyer as an advisor for other than very narrowly constructed legal questions is a huge step for the legal profession.  This type of relationship between business manager and attorney would not have been entertained even 10 years ago.  Having a lawyer advise as to business entity structure, yes, having a lawyer advise as to how to run your business or provide business resources, is not.  In fact, as a business manager I would never have considered, nor had any attorneys I worked with at various companies ever dreamed of becoming involved in the actual operations of the business.

Integral to the new paradigm is building teamwork between a company’s lawyers and its management and employees.  Knowing the client’s business inside and out, anticipating challenges and being cost-conscious are the mandates for counsel.

This entrepreneurial model for attorneys and law firms presents tremendous opportunities as well as challenges for attorneys. I anticipate interesting issues surfacing with regard to ethics considerations, accountability if things go south and attorney capabilities.  It is not easy to be an expert schooled in all aspects of clients’ affairs and to be able to straddle the business and the legal world equally competently.  But it is very exciting to consider the possibilities of making legal work more vibrant and relevant.