Professional Development

How to make a professional transition during the COVID-19 pandemic

Do you find yourself living with the stark reality of having to make a transition during COVID-19? Are you looking at changing practice areas or making a move to a new firm? Change in the best of times can be daunting. Add to that the various challenges we are currently facing with restrictions and lockdowns, and it may seem insurmountable. But it doesn’t have to be.

Apr 13, 2021 9:07 AM CDT

11 tips to survive your freshman year as an associate

Concerns about starting your first job after law school are justified. It is terrifying. For many, the first year as an associate will be your first professional job. Little has prepared you for the difficult, confusing and stressful first year ahead.

Apr 8, 2021 9:04 AM CDT

Law firm leadership and facilitating meaningful conversations about diversity and inclusion

Ari Kaplan recently spoke with Esther Cho, a shareholder and the chair of the executive committee at Keesal, Young & Logan, who also serves on the firm's diversity and inclusion committee.

Mar 26, 2021 10:23 AM CDT

What is holding women lawyers back?

Women’s history and progress for women lawyers have been on my mind a lot these days, particularly in March, which is Women’s History Month in the U.S. On March 8, which also is International Women’s Day, I delivered a Zoom webinar to a group of women law students at Durham University's law school in the U.K. It was a perfect way to celebrate the day.

Mar 25, 2021 9:27 AM CDT

Hiring decisions based on first-year grades miss ‘exceptional students,’ according to new paper

Selective opportunities for law students, including law review membership, judicial clerkships and large law firm association positions, are largely based on first-year grades. And the tradition leaves out many "exceptional students," according to a March 22 working paper that studied classes between 1979 and 2019 at an unnamed top 20 law school.

Mar 24, 2021 11:07 AM CDT

Most dissatisfied lawyers work longer hours and report more burnout

Burnout and long hours appear to be making life miserable for the most dissatisfied lawyers.

Mar 18, 2021 9:32 AM CDT

What’s ‘netiquette’ for lawyers on Zoom?

Even if you are on mute, talking during a Zoom meeting is rude because it shows you are not listening. It’s also a bad idea to drive your car while using the platform. And if everyone else has their camera turned on during a Zoom meeting, you should too, so work flow is not interrupted.

Mar 9, 2021 1:41 PM CST

Afternoon Briefs: California opens process for retroactive bar admission; judge suspended after election-fraud charge

California opens applications for retroactive bar admission Provisional licensure applications, for people who recently did not pass the California bar exam but would have with the new cut score, are now open. People who took the California bar exam between July 2015 and February 2020 and scored no lower than…

Feb 25, 2021 3:39 PM CST

How lawyers can reengineer our profession from the bottom up

Sometimes you just have to tear something down and start over again—like when you were a child and built a house of blocks or constructed a bridge with your Erector set, and it came tumbling down. You discovered too late that the foundation was not strong. It needed a redo.

Feb 24, 2021 9:23 AM CST

ABA’s Practice Forward group puts focus on members’ needs, well-being

The challenges confronting the legal profession as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have been a prime focus of the 2021 ABA Midyear Meeting.

Feb 22, 2021 4:51 PM CST

Tampons and pads shouldn’t be prohibited at bar exam, ABA House says

The right of bar examinees to bring tampons and pads with them was addressed in a measure overwhelmingly approved by the House of Delegates at the ABA Midyear Meeting on Monday.

Feb 22, 2021 3:53 PM CST

Top tips for lawyers to boost their online reputations

In today’s online-centric world, lawyers often get just one click and one page of search engine results to make their cases to prospective clients. It’s the first and maybe only opportunity to showcase their credibility to clients in an increasingly competitive market.

Feb 16, 2021 10:55 AM CST

How to know when it’s time to send a client packing

Unlike other relationships, a lawyer-client obligation can spawn without the lawyer even consenting to it, writes Marcel Strigberger.

Feb 10, 2021 1:42 PM CST

Nonprofit that offers mentoring to law school applicants seeks more volunteers

A new group formed by Harvard Law School students, which pairs mentors with people applying for competitive scholarships and graduate programs, helped almost 500 candidates during the most recent application cycle, and they are looking for more volunteers.

Feb 2, 2021 10:53 AM CST

Proposal for mandatory implicit bias training is rejected by Texas bar committee

A State Bar of Texas committee has unanimously voted against a proposal to make implicit bias training mandatory for the state’s lawyers.

Jan 28, 2021 11:36 AM CST