Sleep + Exercise + Positivity = Energy

Business Week had a terrific article recently that posed this question: Why do inspiring leaders have a seemingly endless supply of energy? What quality is it that they possess while the rest of us navigate bleary-eyed, coffee-starved, and distractedly through our days?

According to Carmine Gallo, who analyzed the behavior of successful leaders like Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and top executives from Google, Starbucks, and Cisco, these inspiring individuals routinely and without fail do these three things:

1. Get consistent quality rest. The amount will vary from person-to-person. Some individuals may need 4 hours others may need 9 hours. (If only my two-year-old could appreciate my requirement of 8 hours).

2. Exercise. Arnold Schwarzenegger exercises 90 minutes a day, six days a week. As Mr. Gallo so effectively put it, “If Schwarzenegger could work out for 90 minutes a day and still find time to run the world’s fifth largest economy, what excuse do I have?” Enough said.

3. Maintain a relentlessly positive outlook. (See Oprah Winfrey, Eckhart Tolle, et al)

I’m signing off now to go running and get some good sleep (sorry, Tivo). And I will LOVE every minute of it! Or at least I’m going to give it a try.

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The decade in review…for associates

If you’ve been paying attention, it’s been a wild ten years on the law firm associate front. Back when I practiced law, I know I didn’t pay much attention to all the goings-on at law firms in terms of salary wars and bonuses. As a recruiter, however, an almost global knowledge of law firms and their compensation is a job requirement.

If you’ve spent the last ten years billing, you might check out this interesting read. Leigh Jones from the National Law Journal has this fascinating profile of the ups and downs experienced by associates in the first ten years of this century. Could we rewind to 2007? Please?

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Beware unscrupulous recruiters

Recently, I have had several candidates tell me that their resumes have been submitted widely without their permission.  These candidates have been disappointed and embarrassed that this has occurred.  For this reason (and for many others that I won’t go into here), I believe it is very important to choose wisely when selecting a recruiter.

When you are introducing yourself to a recruiter and you send the initial version of your resume, make sure that the recruiter understands that, at this point, they are receiving the resume for informational purposes only.  A pdf copy of your resume that indicates on the face of the resume that it “not approved for submission” can be especially helpful at an introductory stage with a recruiter.

When selecting a recruiter, it’s important to have a certain level of rapport and trust.  Do you feel that the person you are talking with understands the market and has a good sense of how to represent your best interests?  If so, this person might be a potential fit for your needs as a candidate.

And unless my candidates prefer that I submit them widely, I usually give candidates a finite list of where I am sending their resume and have them approve each and every submission.

If there is any level of uncertainty about where a recruiter may be sending your resume, make sure they understand that you must expressly authorize every submission.

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Today is a day to celebrate! No, really. Stop and CELEBRATE.

Are you like me? Did you expect the New Year to signal an end to the layoffs? Were you excited to see all the new job openings that January usually brings for attorneys? Typically, law firms hire more in January and February than any other time of the year.

Instead, we’ve seen more layoffs. Today, I saw an article concerning layoffs at a reputed U.K. firm. Yesterday, I saw news that support staff had been drastically cut at a national law firm. Contract attorneys in New York are reported to be working for scale (I exaggerate, but only slightly). This week it was reported that several firms in Texas have frozen associate salaries for 2009 (what a difference a year makes). And every day I hear from attorneys who have either been laid off or fear that they will be laid off very soon.

However, last week, I was buoyed by a miracle that came out of New York. A city so used to bad news that some have described its climate as similar to post 9/11. But last Thursday in New York, I saw the greatness of mankind and the kindness of strangers. Did you see it too? New York really needed some good news. I needed it too.

Today my phones are quiet. And I’m glad. I think everyone needs a day to forget the recent past and look forward to the future.

For it is a special day. A momentous day in history, no matter your political leanings. A day for change. A day for hope. So let’s take a day and forget the economy, take a deep breath, and celebrate!

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A light at the end of the (litigation) tunnel?

I’ve been taking stock of the current market in Texas and we are finally seeing a strong trend towards litigation work. After wide-sweeping tort reform in 2003, litigation attorneys have been in much less demand state-wide. Last week, we visited with firms in Dallas, and uniformly across the board the firms were telling us that their litigation practice groups were extremely busy. This is something we have not heard in years.

While it’s easy to focus on lay-offs, we’ve seen what amounts to great news for litigation attorneys in recent weeks. The National Law Journal predicts an onslaught of lawsuits on ballot initiatives on issues like Gay Marriage. They also recently reported on an increase in construction litigation related to failed real estate projects.

Fulbright & Jaworski recently released their 2008 Litigation Trends Survey predicting a litigation and regulatory work spike in 2008. According to Sheri Qualters of the National Law Journal:

Companies’ worries about lawsuits varied according to the company’s size, region and whether the firm is public or private.

Smaller companies, for example, indicated more concern about securities, insurance and real estate litigation than middle-market companies or companies with at least a billion dollars in revenue. Private companies worry more about contract, labor and personal injury lawsuits than public companies.

Lawsuit fears also vary across the United States: California companies have qualms about employment cases; Northeastern companies worry about environmental cases; and Southern companies expressed concerned about class actions and products liability lawsuits.

Litigators, rev your engines.

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But do you have any portable business?

The Texas Lawyer had an interesting article recently called How Associates Can Blow the Business-Development Bell Curve. It has long puzzled me how little training is given to associates in fostering and encouraging their business development skills.

After only eight months as an associate, I remember a partner I worked for told me that I should begin thinking about how to bring in new business. The conversation left me with large saucer eyes as I scuttled back to my office to keep my head down and write a memo. I remember thinking, “Is he crazy? My knees still shake very time I enter a courtroom!” A more helpful tactic would have been to actually take me along when pitching new business, so I could see how it was done.

Business acumen and legal skills often do not go hand in hand. Why don’t more law schools offer a course on business development so that associates aren’t kept in the dark, only to realize as partnership nears, that things look grim, very grim.

Here are a few suggestions from the article to get you started:

Tap into your personal network (yes, you have one. I promise). Take a contact to lunch, keep it low-pressure, and mention that you’d love an opportunity to earn their business if the opportunity presents itself.

Ask partners for help and guidance. And do it early! Ask partners how they were able to develop business. And if you have a contact that you want to develop and feel a little out of your league, ask a partner to accompany you on the lunch.

You don’t have to move mountains, just start the climb!

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What NOT to wear during your summer associate program

This week, Jenny Burg Davis and Brenda Sapino Jeffries of the Texas Lawyer had this interesting piece on dressing to impress during your summer associate programs. Four large firm partners (from Weil Gotshal, DLA Piper, Fulbright & Jaworski, and Godwin Pappas) weigh in with their thoughts.

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Weighing a Law Firm Offer?

A year or two ago, I happened upon an interesting questionnaire that NYU’s School of Law had on their website. The questionnaire was intended to assist associates contemplating full-time offers after their summer associate programs had ended. I thought it was a pretty useful tool and wished I could find something similar to send to my candidates who were considering a lateral move (because a lateral associate’s needs are often very different than those of a 3rd year law student)!

Then, last year, I was working with a patent litigation associate who had two offers from extremely different law firms (and to complicate matters, one was East Coast and the other West Coast). We talked at length about the two offers and ultimately revisited the initial reasons we had instituted the search to begin with. It was a very complicated decision for this candidate, and he spent a lot of time making pros and cons lists for each firm.

I realized my candidates could really benefit from a thorough offer analysis tool that would allow them to explore all aspects of the offer and their potential new firm. There are only so many moves that a lawyer can safely make in their career, and it’s important to look, look, look, before you leap.

Here is the article: Analyzing the Offer: A Questionnaire and Worksheet

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