The Lawyers Career Blog

You’ve got a dynamite candidate who is eager to work for your organization. He or she has the right background, expertise, people skills and other traits necessary to hit the ground running. But this scenario doesn’t always turn out as … [more]

Imagine a scenario where you need to hire an attorney, and your team is confident and organized in its interview process. After the interview, you collectively debrief on common sets of competencies, skills, practice areas and traits. That would be … [more]

As we noted in the previous chapter, cross-training is a useful approach to building a succession plan. Other helpful strategies are stretch assignments, special projects and developmental opportunities. Stretch Assignments and Special Projects  Stretch assignments and special project opportunities allow … [more]

Succession planning can be exact and precise, or it can be open and loosely interpreted. The format will depend in part on your organization’s culture and resources. Below are suggestions on how to supplement what you may be doing or … [more]

If a member of your legal team has ever resigned at the worst possible moment, the memory of the stress on you and your department likely was present for a long time. You can avoid, or at least alleviate, that … [more]

By their very nature, hiring plans are fluid and subject to change. But you can’t alter your plan if you don’t have one to change. The art is being flexible while staying the course. Let’s start from the beginning. The … [more]

We often see situations where a legal team becomes insular and/or isolated from the larger management team. This can happen for a number of reasons, and the outcomes are generally not successful. Therefore, securing a buy-in from the senior management … [more]

Long-term vision may have different definitions for different companies, but here are some statistics to frame the conversation: The interview process in America has grown by 3.3 to 3.7 days since 2009. “Today it stands at 22.9 days on average.” (Source: Glassdoor) Eight months is the … [more]

Over the course of your legal career, you should be aware of career paths available to you and have a general sense of what your current opportunity can offer. Does the opportunity fulfill one or part of your career objectives? … [more]