Career Management, Client, Inhouse

3 Ways to Accelerate Your Career!

  • On December 11, 2016
I recently spoke to two in-house lawyers who have successfully accelerated their careers. Their top 3 tips: Befriend your clients. Clients will then approach you early and often. From these conversations, you can get the big picture about the business goals, product roadmaps, risk tolerance, etc. than if you kept partners at arms’ length (even if you […]
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Attire, Career Management

Career Advice Lawyers Should Avoid

  • On December 4, 2016
Career advice is often obvious: arrive on time for interviews, prepare for the role, ask the interviewer questions, etc. But there are a few tips that do NOT apply to lawyers. Conventional wisdom that Bay Area lawyers should avoid: “Add a career objective on your resume.” Your resume should be 2 pages long tops (you […]
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Career Management, Women & Minorities

How to Get the Promotion & Raise You Deserve!

  • On November 13, 2016
I came back last week from the annual NAPABA conference and am summarizing useful pointers from the seminar “Pushing to the Top: Women Attorneys in High-Tech Culture.” Speakers included Hogene Choi (Baker Bott partner), Sarita Venkat (Apple senior counsel), Emily Ward (former PayPal VP), and Yuri Mikulka, (Manatt partner). Their tips apply to lawyers of any race […]
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Career Management

4 Tips on Building Relationships (Key to More Opportunities)

  • On October 23, 2016
For those who missed the October 10 ACC career panel at Facebook, leading lawyers stressed the importance of building relationships, the key to getting more career opportunities. Four tips from panelists:  Build relationships early, and be kind to everyone. You never know who will be important later. People’s jobs have been saved by junior colleagues who backed them […]
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Career Management

Top 5 Career Tips from Lawyers at Leading Companies

  • On October 16, 2016
I recently moderated at Facebook the ACC panel “When to Leap & When to Lie Low: Optimizing Both for Maximum Career Growth.” Serving as panelists were Allison Mull (DGC, Facebook), Johanna Ravelo (AGC, Facebook), Garth Bossow (DGC, Airbnb), Hannah Gordon (GC, San Francisco 49ers), Duane Valz (GC, Zymergen), and Valerie Alabanza-Cary (Director, Juniper Networks). Some key takeaways: […]
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Career Management, Networking, Presentation

How Lawyers Should Pitch Themselves to Clients

  • On October 9, 2016
While lawyers easily advocate for clients, they often have a hard time selling their own services. A leading rainmaker, James Gilliland of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, breaks down how to market yourself. These tips apply to not only firm lawyers building books but also in-house lawyers who also need to build relationships: Listen to your clients so […]
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Career Management

3 Different Paths to the Top

  • On September 18, 2016
The career path to the top used to be linear – you built your career by slowly taking on more responsibility – but now work is increasingly cross-functional. The New York Times analyzed three ways to the executive suite (below). Quoting Marc Andreesen, the article noted that most successful leaders need a mix of product, sales, finance, […]
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Career Management

Tips from a Judge Apply Beyond the Courtroom

  • On September 5, 2016
Although interviewing isn’t the same as appearing before the court, I see many parallels. You have to present a story with themes, highlight strengths of your case, and minimize weaknesses. Judge Angela Bradstreet in a recent interview with The Recorder gives a host of good tips for attorneys appearing before her that would apply equally to interview situations. These tips seem obvious, […]
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Career Management, Interview, Networking

What Does Senior Management Want?

  • On August 16, 2016
Understanding what senior management wants is key to moving ahead. I like this New York Times interview with Liz Rodbell, the president of a major retailer, because she shares these insights:  Show appreciation. An early leadership lesson she learned was to thank people: “The behavior seems so simple, but it’s the importance of saying ‘thank you,’ and taking the […]
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Career Management

Can I get a job applying online? (How important is networking really?)

  • On August 1, 2016
Applying online for a job is easy and painless, compared to the time-consuming (and vague) process of networking. However, the New York Times career column The Workologist agrees with my advice of targeting and pursuing specific companies/positions, instead of merely applying online. Some key takeaways:  If you apply online, find someone at the company to get your resume […]
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