A Digression for Struggling Lawyers - Embrace the Challenge, Eradicate the Negativity and Get Active, NOW!
The legal profession lost 2,000 jobs in September.
The American Lawyer (Seasonally Adjusted Data)
I’m extremely concerned about the employment prospects for many law students.
Several Friends
There’s a waiting list for pro bono projects.
How do I gain experience if I can’t even volunteer?
Anonymous
My division’s numbers have declined dramatically. I’m ready to fold.
Anonymous
I could write about the noteworthy absence of the “L” in “LBO” or my health care reform predictions, but those stories have received plenty of coverage recently. I’ll return to private equity and health care reform soon, but, for now, indulge me as I digress at the request of a colleague.
As a practicing lawyer, it is almost impossible to escape the stories of the staggering job losses facing the legal profession. My telephone lights up almost daily with unemployed lawyers or struggling division heads. As my assistant would attest if asked, I take each of the calls. The stories I’m told are mostly the same.
I’m fortunate that I have remained fully employed through the course of the recession. Nevertheless, my path as a lawyer has not been easy. Being a lawyer is, in a sense, a daily exercise in crisis management. I’ve also navigated my share of personal challenges. Ethics rules limit my ability to expound on lessons derived from my clients, but I can share my personal crisis with you and offer a few suggestions based upon my experience.
As a newly minted graduate, my mother was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Neither skills learned in law school – effective drafting techniques, the fine art of persuasion or negotiation tactics – nor law school credentials – Law Review Editor-in-Chief, salutatorian, top 1% on the bar exam – mattered to my mother’s cancer. Quite simply, it didn’t care. But I managed to continue my climb up the ladder in one of Cleveland’s largest law firms and, at the same time, care for her through chemotherapy and recovery. I dashed from negotiations to the hospital, read court opinions and transaction documents by day and the New England Journal of Medicine by night, all the while getting only about four hours of sleep on some evenings. I even traveled. We managed. Several years later, she is in good health, and my career has taken off. I have not, and I will not, make career decisions based upon her cancer. I’ve stayed true to my goals. Somehow, in a strange way, helping her overcome her cancer has only seemed to enhance my performance. When you watch someone overcome a disease, everything else looks easier.
Perhaps my personal experience has caused many to turn to me. When asked for my advice, I can’t help but to reference Bill George’s 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis. Crises, George writes, are leaders’ defining moments. In the words once penned by Abigail Adams to her son John Quincy, “It is not in the still calm of life or the repose of a pacific station that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulty. Great necessities call out great virtues.” Maybe it’s for these reasons that I’ve avoided asking “why me” when I reflected upon my struggle as a young lawyer and watched so many others climb without such obstacles. Instead, I have attempted to grow personally and professionally from the experience and, in turn, help others overcome their challenges.
Indeed, I do believe our crises can define us as leaders if we let them. When we write of Anne Mulcahy, we talk about how she saved Xerox from the brink of disaster. And where would Apple be without the resilience of Steve Jobs? Jobs, having been tossed from the company he founded, fired back, regained control and launched the iPhone, the iPod, and so many other incredible devices upon which we’ve come to rely. He has even bounced back from a traumatic illness. Such courage.
In my humble opinion, embracing the challenge and being resilient is key. As I tell each and every caller, trust that you will get through these difficult times and emerge much stronger because of them. The crisis can make you and define you, both personally and professionally, if you choose.
For those interested, here’s some additional advice that I’ve been giving to my callers.
Don’t Panic. Stay Calm. Think Rationally. If necessary, draw upon the strength of others. Ask for help. Find a confidant. Avoid making quick, reactionary decisions in the heat of the moment. Sometimes it’s better to walk away, then decide.
Set Goals. Where would you like to be in one, three and five years? Surely, the economy will rebound eventually. Set “BHAGS” or “Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals” (from Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras) and “SMART” goals, or goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed. Stay on plan – this is only a minor setback. Be accountable. If external factors limit your ability to accomplish your goals, what are your contingency plans?
Develop Your Skills. You want desperately to be a corporate lawyer, but are just out of law school and unemployed. My advice? Pick up a textbook on mergers and acquisitions. Read legal forms such as the ABA’s model transaction documents (asset purchase agreement, stock purchase agreement and merger agreement). Visit Ken Adams' blog on legal drafting. Check out Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William Ury. Fine tune your knowledge of corporate finance and accounting.
Network, Network, Network. Embrace social media. Sign up for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Start writing a blog that addresses hot legal topics.Read Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi.With whom are you lunching? You’ve joined your local bar association and have been attending meetings and events, right? If I’m in your workgroup and you run with a project from start to finish, turning it into gold, I’ll be thinking, “I need to hire this girl. Immediately.”
Take Care of Yourself. Continue to pursue your hobbies. Stay in shape – run, swim, play basketball or baseball, etc. It’ll keep you sharp.
Take control of the situation. Bounce back. Rock on!
