As we enter 2020, I am reflecting on more than a decade of work on behalf of young lawyers. Although I am proud of my body of work, which includes three books for women lawyers and a fourth book for all millennial lawyers, I also am aware of how little we have learned about developing talent in those 10-plus years.
We knew this year was going to be an especially bad one for the flu. In its November 2019 issue, Scientific American, one of the country's leading science publications, included a twenty-page article titled "The Influenza Outlook", which highlighted the escalating threat of influenza for the year 2020. Unfortunately, at present, the emergence and spread of the novel coronavirus makes the flu pale by comparison.
Have you ever sent an email to a prospective client and not received a reply? Perhaps, you followed up by sending another email or two, and after still not hearing anything in response, you gave up. All too often, lawyers drop the ball when it comes to effectively following up…
As general counsel at Checkr, one of the most interesting challenges I face is staying on top of the ever-changing laws and regulations in the background check industry and communicating these changes back to our customers.
I regularly meet with regulators and government entities, and I advise general and…
We feel the heat and breathe the smoke. We read about immense wildfires, vanishing ice, animal extinctions, drought, massive sea levels rising and threats to the food supply, and wonder what will be left of life on Earth in the coming years.
The legal industry is principally focused on technology, new models, competition, reregulation and the sustainability of the traditional partnership model—issues that impact stakeholder livelihoods and career trajectories. Defending the rule of law is a less concrete but seminal challenge the industry must focus on in 2020 and beyond.
I have a confession. Until 2016, I thought criminal justice reform meant urban criminal justice reform. I’d been to rural jurisdictions and worked in a rural prison.
But rural justice challenges seemed like brutal realities, not policy-driven injustices. One day in rural Louisiana, I learned that I was wrong.
Looking back at the past 50 years, life as a lawyer has been fairly stable and good. The legal profession has served as a foundation for all societies around the world, and legal services are in demand both during recessions and economic booms, which has secured legal professionals some incredible salaries.
Showing up on my first day as an associate at a prestigious law firm in Manhattan, the receptionist asked me whose daughter I was. She assumed I was visiting my father, presumably a partner.
The ABA Journal wants to host and facilitate conversations among lawyers about their profession. We are now accepting thoughtful, non-promotional articles and commentary by unpaid contributors.
