Make it Rain

Well the rainy season in Northern California seems to be over, I for one hope that we are in for a long, warm and dry summer.  While that is a good thing for outdoor enthusiasts, a long dry spell without "rain" can be devastating, or at least very discouraging, for women lawyers trying to succeed in private practice.  The number one criteria for succeeding as a partner in private practice is the ability to bring in quality work in the quantities necessary; don't believe for a moment that good quality work as a service partner will suffice for advancement as a partner!

Here are some resources for further reading:

Women Rainmakers Through the Generations By Angela Nadler Three women rainmakers, at three different points in their careers, offer business development advice. Career Paths: Julie Broyles Interviewed by Dennis Kennedy Julie Ann Broyles, Senior Counsel at Ascension Health in St. Louis, offers insights into changing career paths. How to Make Your Services Irresistible to Clients By Ruth Fenton Strategies for adapting your practice to meet the changing needs of your clients.

Memorial Day Message from ABA

Dear Colleagues:

On this Memorial Day, I hope every member of the American Bar Association will consider how to assist and support our nation’s veterans. For more than 200 years, men and women in our country have died for our constitutionally protected freedom. In return, we can demonstrate our gratitude by doing what we, as lawyers, do so well — giving back to our communities.

Volunteerism takes many forms, and the needs are many. There are a number of existing programs serving veterans and their families where pro bono service can truly make an impact. For information about opportunities throughout the country, visit our Web page atwww.americanbar.org/veterans. This comprehensive list captures bar programs, legal aid and others to apply your skills to help veterans overcome the challenges they face.

If programs near you do not offer services within your expertise, there are other ways to make a difference. Many organizations can match you to volunteer opportunities in your community. The Department of Veterans Affairs has resources on volunteering at www.volunteer.va.gov. Programs include planning welcome-home events for returning soldiers through the president’s United We Serve (www.serve.gov) or assisting homeless veterans at a Stand Down event (www.nchv.org/standdown.cfm). Your local veterans’ service organizations have excellent resources as well.

These programs exist because men and women like you commit yourselves to volunteerism all year long. We know of your tireless efforts because the Obama administration, members of Congress and the veteran community tell us of your outstanding service. Thank you.

This year, on behalf of the ABA, I have had the privilege of visiting four of our service academies: the United States Military Academy (Army), the United States Naval Academy (Navy and Marines), the United States Air Force Academy and the United States Coast Guard Academy, to demonstrate the ABA’s ongoing commitment to our military.

God bless those in our military who throughout our history have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect and pass on to us the freedom in America we are blessed to enjoy today. Upward and onward for our military and their families.

Warmest regards,

Organizing Social Media

Confused about social media?  No wonder.  Here's a diagram that sort of organizes the social media landscape from Buddy Media; see commentary at Business Insider.  Double click to enlarge.

National Girlfriends Networking Day

Oh this sounds like such a good idea:


June 4, 2012 will mark the first annual National Girlfriends Networking Day, a day devoted to helping young women, so vastly underrepresented in leadership roles, to advance and succeed.  So mark your calendar and plan to participate.  You can attend an NGN Day Event in Your City or sponsor an event in your town. All you need is a public venue with an internet connection. Email RSVP@thenewagenda.net for more info.  

Springfield, IL	Astoria, OR
Chicago, IL	Atlanta, GA
Portsmouth, NH	Washington, DC
Seattle, WA	Vancouver, WA
Los Angeles, CA

For a heartfelt summary of all the important reasons for networking among women, check out Victoria Pynchon's post at She Negotiates.

For more information about the organization promoting the day, visit The New Agenda

Thanks to All Our Staff

As we wind up yet another Administrative Professional's Week, it's a good time to thank my secretary (again) for helping me for the last decade.  As I wrote some time ago in The Value of a Great Secretary, a talented, committed, patient, reliable, and careful assistant can make all the difference in how well a lawyer manages her professional life.  


I don't always buy in to "hallmark" holidays, but this past Wednesday (April 27) was Administrative Professional's Day, fka Secretary's Day, and it is one worth acknowledging.   Thankfully it is now celebrated over an entire week so we forgetful types have all week to express our appreciation.  


A little history might be interesting to you.   According to Wikipedia: 

"The official period of celebration was first proclaimed by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer as "National Secretaries Week," which was held June 1–7 in 1952, with Wednesday, June 4, 1952 designated National Secretaries Day. The first Secretaries Day was sponsored by the National Secretaries Association with the support of corporate groups.

In 1955, the observance date of National Secretaries Week was moved to the last full week of April. The name was changed to Professional Secretaries Week in 1981, and became Administrative Professionals Week in 2000 to encompass the expanding responsibilities and wide-ranging job titles of administrative support staff. IAAP created National Secretaries Week (now Administrative Professionals Week) with two objectives in mind: to recognize "the secretary, upon whose skills, loyalty, and efficiency the functions of business and government offices depend," and to call attention "through favorable publicity, to the tremendous potential of the secretarial career."

So, once again, I want to say Thank You to all the staff here who help me make it through the work week, especially IT (for keeping me connected), facilities (for keeping me fed), marketing (for keeping me visible), library (for keeping me informed), records (for keeping track of everything), word processing (for keeping it all in English), HR (for bringing on the support) and finance (for keeping the paychecks coming).  I couldn't do it without you!

And Mary, thanks again for the orchids.  They make me smile, every day.

Fun Sites

I am not really a techie lawyer, but I do think it is interesting to learn about new tools and useful websites.  So I perused the sixty "must-see" websites for lawyers from this year’s ABA TECHSHOW .  In the popular "60 Sites in 60 Minutes,” session legal technologists Reid Trautz, Natalie Kelly, Dan Pinnington and Catherine Sanders Reach shared a variety of must-see websites for lawyers.  I particularly liked The Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group.  I also had fun with WhoIsTheMostFamous (guess the most famous surname, using just a first name), until I realized that apparently there aren't many famous women.  Perhaps I just didn't play long enough. 


Okay, so the aforementioned sites don't really help in the practice of law.  But there are a lot of sites that do.  Take this as a reminder to do at least one techie thing today--beef up your Linked In profile and add some connections, find a new resource to help your practice, start a blog, post to your dormant blog, upload a new photo showing your true age (or devolve yourself, instead), finally get started with Twitter (you are missing out and might as well live under a rock if you don't at least follow your clients, let alone the news media, your colleagues or your local politicians).  

Then get back to work, time's a wastin.'

"Catch" the Good in Others

I have a teenage daughter at home.  She's now got her learner's permit, so on the one hand I have a personal chauffeur, but it also means that she is constantly testing limits as a driver, voicing her opinions about the rules of the road, and trying out new behaviors as she steps in a major way toward adult responsibilities.  And it also means I read her high school's parents' newsletter for the tips and suggestions on how to keep a relatively pleasant home environment for the family (I need all the help I can get!).  


A recent suggestion for parents of teens in the newsletter reminded me of a great way to bring out the best in other people:  "catch" them doing something great, and make a positive comment about it.  As young people mature, they become far more responsive to positive reinforcement than they are to negative punishment of undesirable behaviors.


That principal of "catching" the good applies as well to managing adults in the workplace as it does to influencing teenage behavior.  It's a little more difficult, I think, to give positive feedback and ignore negative, ineffective, or unproductive professional actions.  I suppose every paycheck is a form of positive feedback about adequacy of performance.  But if the goal is to coach and develop excellent professional performance, it just makes sense that positive feedback may be more likely to increase desirable performance than criticism of unsatisfactory performance will suppress the bad--it might do that, but it may also destroy morale and confidence, and it may not provide much useful feedback about what IS desired performance.  I suppose that is a pretty obvious statement, yet there seems to be far more of an emphasis in performance reviews on giving low marks for the poor performers than there is on giving "atta boys" for jobs well done.  


Try it tomorrow: "catch" someone on your team doing something well and tell them so.  It doesn't have to be a groundbreaking achievement, just good performance of an ordinary daily task that has been well done--and that you would like to see as a routine baseline for performance.  Make it a part of daily interaction, not just a line in the annual written appraisal.