The investment strategy of value investing-seeking fundamentally sound companies with strong balance sheets and price-earnings ratios (properly audited, of course) provides a good analogy for lawyers in the recession.  Because the fundamentals of law practice remain constant , this environment requires all lawyers to perform a rigorous self-assessment of their goals and their skills and to plot a career strategy:
1. Determine how do your academic credentials stack up objectively (e.g, law school ranking, class rank, honors, clerkships) and how are lawyers with your experience and skill  set faring in the current market.
2. Are you organized, analytical, and outgoing? What non-legal education and work experience and life skills do you have that will help you enhance or retool your practice?
3.  Establish honestly your career goals and priorities, both near and long term.  What is your dream job?  Do you want to stay in the law? Do you want to maximize your compensation or your personal time? Do you prefer a more or less structured work environment? Do you want to be a “headliner” or a staffer?  Do you like working with lawyers?
4. Be informed-what jobs are available?  How do they stack up against your current job and your dream job?
A good career counselor or recruiter can aid you in this self-assessment and developing a career strategy.  Good consultants give you the tools to evaluate your situation and determine the way forward.  That requires you to examine closely what you want to do, what you can do and what is available. You may decide to stay where you are, to test the market aggressively or to invest in yourself though education.
Establishing a strategy based on your fundamentals: your experience, skills, priorities and goals and on accurate market information can grow your “portfolio” personally and professionally.  You can do nothing more important for your career.
© 2008 David Bargman
President,  Baum, Stevens

Interview preparation significantly improves your likelihood of success.
In an increasingly competitive legal market, what can you do to stand out from the competition?  Properly prepare for your interviews.  
Sound like common sense?  You would be surprised how many attorneys can’t find the time to prepare.  Yet well-prepared candidates almost double their likelihood of success.  Here are some tips to help you get started.
DO
•    Research the employer and the opportunity.  Most of this information is available on firm websites.  When you do research an attorney beyond a firm’s website, you probably shouldn’t emphasize it.  It can be perceived as “stalkerish.”
•    Arrive on time.  All attorneys have last minute client emergencies, but tardiness or rescheduling can raise questions about your multi-tasking skills.  The firm may also see it as a lack of interest.
•    Be enthusiastic, optimistic and confident.  Take care not to come across as overly eager.
•    Anticipate questions, planning and practicing responses.  Practice will give you a level of comfort that comes across as confidence during the interview.  Take care not to sound over-rehearsed. 
•    Ask thoughtful questions.  (Asking if the firm has an office in NY or how many attorneys are in the office won’t impress interviewers.)  This is a terrific way to learn more about what the employer wants and to share how your abilities match the hiring needs.    
Now that you know some of the things you should do, what about the things you should avoid?  Here are some of the most common “don’ts” we hear from employers.
DON’T
•    Don’t be a “Negative Nelly” or “Negative Ned.”  This is the most common complaint about candidates.  This includes not attacking other firms.  You never know where the interviewer’s spouse, siblings, parents or friends work.
•    Don’t disrespect recruiting coordinators, secretaries or other staff.
•    Don’t approach lateral interviews like OCI interviews.  With lateral interviews the roles are reversed, especially given the current economy, so ask not what the firm can do for you but what you can do for the firm.
•    Don’t answer a question by telling the interviewer that someone already asked the question.  If you are meeting with more than one person, you’ll likely hear the same question from different people.  When you hear the same question again (and again and again) answer as enthusiastically as the first time you were asked.
•    Don’t go into too much detail about personal matters.  Maintain a good balance between being personable and effectively expressing your professional interest and qualifications for the position.
These tips will give you a strong start to take your interviewing skills to the next level and to take the next step in your career.  Good luck!  
Questions?  Contact Elite Laterals recruiter Amy Savage at amy@elitelaterals.com or 202.280.2408.

It is no secret that the country is in a recession. You can’t open a newspaper, turn on the TV or surf the internet without being smacked across the face by the reality of it. The financial markets have collapsed and the jobless rate is at its highest since 1974. Over 533,000 people were laid off in November alone. Included in this number are hundreds of attorneys who have been laid off by their firms because of the current economic conditions. Firms are using the financial situation as an opportunity to ‘clean house’. Included in these layoffs have been some incredibly talented lawyers. This has arguably become the most difficult job market the legal community has ever encountered.  
 
All the more reason to count yourself as one of the lucky ones if you still have a job and are not at risk of losing it. But what if, even in the midst of all this downsizing, you have just realized that you can not spend another day practicing at your current firm? What should you do? Join the legions of exceptionally well-qualified attorneys flooding the job market or play it safe and tough it out at your current job? This is one of the questions for the ages – at least this age.
 
First, don’t think you’re crazy. Attorneys, like most highly-intelligent, driven individuals, generally believe they are overworked and understimulated. Rarely are lawyers content with their current employment.  
 
Second, make a careful assessment of the market. Firms are being inundated with resumes of exceptionally well-credentialed candidates right now. Those firms that have positioned themselves well financially are able to pick up very talented and motivated attorneys.  
 
In past years, most attorneys anxious to find a new home would wait until after the start of the new year to begin their search. The few attorneys who entered the market in the last month of the year found very little competition for the open positions. This year that has all changed, so when
you enter the market needs to be given as much thought as the firm you ultimately join.


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Many home-based recruiters enjoy the flexibility and independence of working at home; but many are not sure how they can measure their success without the feedback of others.  Well here are a few indicators that can help a home-based recruiter measure how successful their business has become.

1.    Gross revenue.  How much money have you earned as a home-based recruiter this year?  Or this month?  Start out with a base figure and compare your earnings over-time. Increased revenue could be an indicator that your home-based business is experiencing some measure of success.

2.    Profits.  Gross revenue can sometimes be a misleading indicator because of the overhead factor, that's why it's also important to measure how much of your revenue is NOT eaten up by overhead costs.  Profits are an essential indicator of a home-based recruiter's long-term success.

3.    Growth.  Did you increase your sales, profits or the number of clients over time? An increase in business growth can be a clear indicator of success. Take the time to carefully track growth in all areas of your business.

4.    Improved offerings to clients. A home-based recruiter's ability to offer services to clients based on market needs and changes is another indicator of success.  How well did you adapt to changes in the marketplace by offering clients new and improved services?

Don't feel limited by these measurements; feel free to add your own. Each home-based recruiter has his/her own ideas about how success is defined in their business.

You've got the right resume design, style, structure and the experience to match; but what can give your legal resume that special edge above all the rest?  The right words!  Using powerful words in your resume can catch the attention of overloaded HR personnel and make your legal resume stand out from the bunch. Here are some examples of how the power words "success" "represent" "negotiate" and "implement" can be used to your legal resume's advantage:

1. Successfully negotiated a lawsuit settlement worth $5 million.
2. Represented 30 high profile CEOs.
3. Successfully implemented cost-saving measures for XYZ Law Partners.

Other power words include:

Instrumental, Developed, Initiated, Designed. Coordinated, Achieved, Introduced, Managed, Contributed, Influenced, Coordinated, Broadened, Devised, Diagnosed, Eliminated, Generated, Launched, Streamlined, Uncovered, Upgraded, Executed

Below are more examples of how these words can be used in your legal resume:

1.    My research was instrumental in winning the case.
2.    Devised business plan for TRS Law Partners
3.    Generated 40 new clients a month.

These are just a few of the many power words that you can use in your legal resume.  Remember, when choosing verbs, use active verbs only to give your resume that special edge.