MANAGING YOUR LEGAL CAREER  

                                                                             How We Can Help

CAREER PLANNING:

Your career is your investment. An investment you have paid for with plenty of money, time and effort. It’s an asset you can use to make the most out of your life so it only makes sense to manage it properly, just as you would a monetary investment.

But most lawyers don’t plan their careers, they just let them happen. It doesn’t make sense to work so hard and so long to get that license, and then just take the first job that comes along or to drift through your career hopping from one opportunity to the next. But for the majority of us, that’s exactly what happens. Why? Many times it is because we don’t have a clear vision of who we are, what we want and where we want to go.

Important questions to ask yourself:

Whether you are just starting out or in the middle of your legal career, it is important to know what you ultimately want. Even if your ultimate goal changes from time to time, you need a clear direction to move toward. Here are some questions:

1. What do I want out of my life?

Your career should serve you, not the other way around. I have seen many lawyers put their careers ahead of their personal lives and later regret it. In planning your career, it is important to first plan your life. Ask yourself: 

• What do I want to be doing with my life in 5, 10, 20, 30 years?

• What do I want my life to have meant? Looking back on my life, what will I want to have accomplished?

• What outside interests do I want to pursue? What goals outside of the law do I want to achieve?

• How hard do I want to work and how important is money to me?

• What balance of professional and personal life do I want to have?

2. What do I want out of my career?

You can do a lot of things with a law degree, but what is it that you really want to do?  Here are some questions to consider:

• What do I want my legal career to have meant?

• How much money do I need; how much do I want? Is just earning a lot of money my goal? (That’s OK, just be sure you choose it consciously.)

• Do I want to make a difference in the world, country, where I live, in society, the environment?

• Does prestige, fame, power or changing the system drive me; where is my passion?

• Exactly how do I want to spend my time day to day: in trial, writing, researching, preparing documents, working directly with clients…?

3. What are my talents, skills and interests?

Talents are natural abilities you are born with such as athletic ability, affinity for numbers, memory and intelligence. Skills are abilities you acquire through education, training and practice such as the ability to play golf or speak a foreign language well. Interests are what drive you, what piques your curiosity, what you want to be involved in.

It’s important to know what you do well. Not that you have to do what you do best, but you should be aware of your strengths and weaknesses. It’s a lot easier to do a job you’re well suited for. If you want to be a litigator but can’t get over your fear of public speaking or if you dislike conflict, think about it. You can probably litigate if you want to badly enough, just understand the cost in time and effort. Likewise, if you’re a whiz in the courtroom but abhor numbers, paper work and detail, you might want to reconsider that tax and estate planning job offer.

Career coaches know that in finding a good job fit, the optimum is congruence between one’s talents, skills and interests.

4. What are the possibilities?

After working through the questions above, you will be ready to explore what options fit the life you want, the career you want and your talents, skills and interests. You will have narrowed the range of choices, but there are still many possibilities. It is important at this point to develop as many options as possible. Just as a professional photographer takes many pictures and chooses among them the very best photo, in your search, you need to develop many options so that you can choose the very best job option.

5. What steps do I need to take to reach my career goals? Now is the time to determine the individual steps to take on your career path. There should be a logical sequence of events leading toward your desired career outcome. For example, you might start out with a firm, build your clientele and then go solo or perhaps begin your career working with a government agency, develop an expertise in a particular subject area and then leave for industry or a law firm. An experienced attorney developing a career plan might look to how he could leverage his existing clients or use his referral network to transition to a new practice area.

It’s never too late!

Whether you’ve just begun your legal career or you’re an experienced attorney considering options at mid career, take the time to plan, the effort you invest into carefully managing your legal career will pay valuable dividends.

CAREER TRANSITION:

Do you really enjoy your work? If you don’t, you’re not alone. The number of lawyers who find their work unfulfilling is staggering. Perhaps this is because for many of us law school just seemed to be a good idea at the time and we had no clear idea of what lawyers really did or what we would end up doing after graduation. For others the reality of practicing law is at odds with the vision we had in mind. For still others the glamour just wears off or we are ready to try something new, have a different experience in life.

If you are considering leaving the law, the first thing to become clear about is whether the practice of law is the problem or if the real problem is in your law practice: your area of concentration, your job, the firm you are with, the caseload, financial pressures, a lack of balance between professional and personal life, etc. Many clients, upon reflection, realize that the law is not the problem at all and, with effort directed toward the particular problem areas they have, they are able to continue their legal career.

If it becomes clear that a career change is what you need, you are in good company. Here are a few lawyers who decided to take other career paths:

If you decide to leave the law, understand that this is a major piece of work and takes plenty of thought and planning. I recommend that you start by getting to know yourself very well. Begin with assessment tests such as a DISC type personality test and an interest inventory. Then take the time to work through exercises that help you become clear on your values, talents, skills, especially transferable skills, and interests. Next, I have my clients create a career criteria filter to help them clarify what is absolutely necessary in their new career and what would be an ideal situation; the reality will fall in between. Follow this with market research and informational interviews to learn more about areas that seem to be a good fit. Lastly, carefully consider your options, bearing in mind your values and life plan, and make a decision.  You will reap the rewards of your hard work in the joy and satisfaction of a career that suits you.

How We Can Help

The Lawyer’s Life assessment test may provide some clarity to your situation. We also offer several assessments together with valuable interpretation through our associated psychologist, John Mason. PhD. These assessments can help you better understand yourself and what you want out of your career.

TOP

_________________

Daniel Roberts J.D., P.C.C.
dr@coachingforlawyers.com
(707) 570-2227
2350 Lakeview Drive
Santa Rosa, CA 95405

© 2000-2004  Coaching For Lawyers
All Rights Reserved