Community of lawyers.
Common purpose.
Shared goals.

Robert C. Dortch, Jr. | Sellers Hinshaw Ayers Dortch & Lyons PA | Charlotte

Camille Stell


Camille Stell is President of Lawyers Mutual Consulting and Services, offering succession planning, business development coaching, keynote presentations and more. Continue this conversation by contacting Camille at camille@lawyersmutualconsulting.com or 800.662.8843.

Career Transitions

Lawyers Mutual Headshots '11

Camille StellI recently wrote an article for Carolina Paralegal News identifying red flags that your job may be in jeopardy.  A reader responded with the question, “I see many red flags in my firm. I have been a paralegal for many years and it may be time to find a non-traditional legal job. Do you have any suggestions for identifying and locating such positions?

Here are some thoughts I shared with the reader.

First, I did a LinkedIn search and didn’t find her. Step 1 would be to create a LinkedIn profile. If you need help, there are lots of articles that offer tips, as well as the LinkedIn help pages.

While the job market has been bleak, there are more job postings than in years past. Make sure that you reach out to your network of contacts (in and out of the legal profession) and let them know that you are job seeking. Staying in front of people by attending association meetings and networking events is helpful as well. You should also consider meeting with a legal recruiter. A good recruiter can talk with you about non-traditional jobs, their insights on the job market and current salaries as well as review your resume and offer suggestions.

Consider hiring a career coach. At an advanced stage in your career, the financial investment will pay off. If cost is a factor, look for coaches who are early in their career and just starting to build a client base. Another option is to see if you can an online career coach or someone who offers group sessions.

I also recommend reading career articles, websites and books. There are online assessments you can take to determine your strengths and weaknesses and identify careers that match.  A young paralegal friend of mine told me about a book she is really enjoying “Be a Kickass Assistant: How to Get from Grunt to a Great Career” by Heather Beckel. I enjoyed “Secrets of Six Figure Women” by Barbara Stanny. This is a book that talks about traits that successful women have – and stories of women who have tapped into those traits to take their careers to the next level. I read “Strengthfinders 2.0” by Tom Roth and had my entire team read the book and take the accompanying assessment. I believe in working from our strengths rather than constantly trying to perfect our weaknesses. A favorite book of mine is “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi about the power of networking. There are scores of books in the marketplace about finding a new career and reinventing yourself. AARP has a new offering, Life Reimagined (www.lifereimagined.aarp.org), designed to help you create your second act.

While considering a career change, continuing education classes can be a great way to hone your skills. Local colleges and community colleges offer a wide variety of classes at very reasonable prices. These classes are often inspiring and introduce you to new connections. A few years ago, I met and hired a very valuable team member after taking a wedding planning class with her at Wake Tech. We both signed up for the class just for fun – a perfect example of how you never know what opportunities will develop.

Change is hard, but it can be exciting. Good luck as you think about your next chapter.

Camille Stell is the Vice President of Client Services for Lawyers Mutual. With over 20 years of experience in the legal field, Camille has advised hundreds of paralegals, law students and lawyers on career development. Contact Camille at 800.662.8843 or Camille@lawyersmutualnc.com.

,,

Strategic Planning vs. Strategic Thinking

Lawyers Mutual Headshots '11

Camille Stell Have you attended a strategic planning session? Was it helpful? Did you leave with a plan? Are you working the plan?

I’ve participated in many such planning sessions with various law firms, practice groups in law firms or legal associations. Why do some of them work better than others?

Perhaps it’s partly driven by what happens during the vision stage – when we visualize our strategic session do we view it with excitement and thrill or as a task on a list that needs to be checked off?

Here are some tips for planning your next strategy session and making it a success.

Strategic Thinking vs. Planning

Do we really want to leave this session with 15 pages of notes that we condense into a plan? Or would we rather enter the session committed to clearing our calendar (and our heads) of outside thoughts and spending time focused on our firm or practice? I would vote for a time of focused thinking. Set your agenda, find a few articles that set the stage for the topics you want to cover, and share those items in advance.

Small Table Discussions

If you want to have more interaction among your attendees, set up round tables for discussion rather than a conference table. If you are at an off-site location, ask your hotel staff to set your room with crescent round tables. The table is ¾ filled so no one has their back to the speaker.  More tables provide more discussion and opportunity for speaking during breakouts rather than working from a board style room set up.

Facilitator

Think about bringing in an outside facilitator. Someone with fresh ideas who is good at managing group discussion will keep you on track. Have the facilitator assist in designing the breakout discussions and questions that will get each table talking.

Debrief

Set a time limit on discussion and then call everyone’s attention back to the facilitator to debrief. Go around and have tables share their highlights of discussion. Use a white board or easels to take notes. Following the meeting, take photos of the sheets with your camera phone and use to transcribe notes.

Follow Up

Have your facilitator share ideas or suggestions for follow up. Create a master list of ideas, prioritize and then turn these ideas into goals or tasks on your business plan. Some ideas need more research, some ideas need money, some need implementation right away, while others should be trashed. Set a due date for each step which includes collecting notes from the group, setting the master list, prioritizing, identifying who handles the high priority items and implementation.

Conclusion

Strategic thinking is different from strategic planning. It’s a very useful exercise for almost every organization.  Set a date and happy thinking.

Camille Stell is the Vice President of Client Services for Lawyers Mutual. With over 20 years of experience in the legal field, Camille has worked for law firms as a paralegal, legal recruiter and business developer. Contact Camille at 800.662.8843 or Camille@lawyersmutualnc.com.

,,

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

Yes_Virginia_there_is_a_Santa_Claus

Lawyer BlogVirginia O’Hanlon wrote the inquiry and veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church wrote the response that became the well-loved “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” letter.

“Dear Editor: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in THE SUN it’s so. Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?”

“VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. . .

No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”[1]

My holiday wish for each of you is a stocking full of happy and paying clients, helpful and supportive staff, cherished legal colleagues and precious family and friends to return home to at day’s end.

Camille Stell is the Director of Client Services for Lawyers Mutual and unabashedly cries every time she reads Virginia’s letter and Church’s response.  Contact Camille at 800.662.8843 or Camille@lawyersmutualnc.com.

[1] Portion of the original editorial reprinted from www.newseum.org. The blog posting originally appeared in the December issue of the Greensboro Bar Association newsletter.

 Connect with us on: Twitter, Facebook, & LinkedIn.

,

Why Can’t Lawyers Say What They Mean?

Finger_Prints-process-s250x250

Legal BlawgToronto law firm McCague Borlack is installing a fingerprint-ID program. The new system is reportedly to improve law firm security, but founding partner Howard Borlack says a “huge bonus” of the new program is that it will also help the firm keep track of workers who abuse their hours by taking lengthy lunches of up to two or three hours or otherwise failing to focus on their work. “Some people were abusing the system and others were complaining” according to Borlack.

The firm’s paralegals and lawyers are not required to use the fingerprint-ID program, only the legal secretaries. As you might imagine, emotions are running high. An anonymous blog, “Which Finger to Give to Bay Street Lawyers” voices staff complaints about the program.

Why can’t lawyers say what they mean? If the measure is to improve law firm security, it seems a key component of the system would be that everyone would have to use it. If it’s to curtail 3-hour lunches, my question is this, why can’t a lawyer say to his support staff, “Mary, I notice you are taking 3 hour lunches. That’s unacceptable. Please stop.”

But in the twenty years I’ve spent working in 4 law firms – ranging from 7 attorneys to 2000 attorneys, I notice that rarely do lawyers say what they mean when it comes to managing their law offices.

“We’re implementing a new dress code” means “one of you needs to wear longer skirts. “ “We’re abolishing the firm holiday party” means “one of you got drunk last year”. And “we’re implementing a firm wide security system” means “one of you is abusing your lunch hour privilege”.

It seems to me that we are all adults in the workplace. And that open communication should be a cornerstone of our professional relationships. I value my job and I hope my colleagues value their jobs as well. If I’m making a huge mistake, I hope you or the office manager will tell me to adjust my dress style, stop the public drunkenness or limit my lunches to an hour.

But based on my experience, that won’t happen. Instead, some company will make quite a bit of money fingerprinting all the staff members as the one rotten apple figures out a way to disarm the new system.

Source: ABA Journal

Connect with us on: Twitter, Facebook, & LinkedIn.

,,

Ten Non Traditional Ways to Use a Law Degree

Lawyers Mutual Headshots '11

Lawyers Mutual Insurance CompanyThe New York City Bar Association has appointed a task force to analyze the lackluster job market for law grads. The City Bar President says this isn’t just a “hand-wringing exercise” but hopes the task force will be able to offer solutions.

I’m going to keep my eyes open for that report because I believe the lawyers in North Carolina can also benefit from learning how to find solutions to a poor job market. Unfortunately, lawyers are still job searching while hands are being wrung and committees are scheduling meetings.

In the meantime, here are a few thoughts on another option – finding the non-traditional law job of your dreams. If you are reading this post following graduation from law school, you are not in a position to second guess your choice of law school. But you can second guess your choice of practicing law.

Here is a list of non-traditional careers where a law degree may be helpful:

Law school – professor, administrator, career services, admissions, law librarian, other

Undergraduate professor

Court administrator

Bar Association – CLE, administration, membership services, other

Law firm administration – marketing, recruiting, librarian, personnel, other

Government – investigator, contracts, social services, other

Law enforcement

Journalism

Legal vendor – sales, trainer, marketing

Business

Make sure you talk to your law school career services office. Those folks aren’t practicing law either and they will know other alums who aren’t practicing law who are successful. Also, here are some books that may serve as references:

Guerrilla Tactics for Getting the Legal Job of Your Dreams by Kimm Alayne Walton

America’s Greatest Places to Work with a Law Degree by Kimm Alayne Walton

What Can You Do With a Law Degree by Deborah L Arron

Job Quest for Lawyers: The Essential Guide to Finding and Landing the Job You Want by Sheila Nielsen

Breaking Traditions:  Work Alternatives for Lawyers by Alan T. Ackerman

Job searching is itself a full-time job. Many graduates fear their first job determines their entire legal career. Certainly not in this economy and really, not ever. You will have many jobs ahead of you and perhaps several careers. Considering a non-traditional approach may be the new normal for a majority of recent law grads.

,,
1 2 3 … 17 18 19 20 21