Best Friends at the Bar

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I was happy to contribute to this Law 360 article addressing what associate lawyers should know about generation credits. I hope it takes the guess work out!

How To Navigate Originations As An Associate - Law360 Pulse While a sizable portion of attorneys say their firms offer compensation to associates for bringing in new business, relatively few associates actually reap such rewards, according to a new survey.

I was happy to contribute to this Law 360 article addressing what associate lawyers need to know about generation credits. I hope it is helpful and eliminates the guesswork.

How To Navigate Originations As An Associate - Law360 Pulse While a sizable portion of attorneys say their firms offer compensation to associates for bringing in new business, relatively few associates actually reap such rewards, according to a new survey.

https://bestfriendsatthebar.com/newsletter/2023/12/12/the-perfect-stoc…he-young-lawyers/

If the possibility of a recession and the effect on young lawyers is on your mind, check out today's blog on my website at

Best Friends at the Bar™ | What Women Need to Know about a Career in the Law Susan Smith Blakely’s books are THE books for young women lawyers and all Millennial Lawyers. But her books are just the beginning.

From the BFAB Blog:

A Little Dust Up About Women Lawyers Taking Strategic Approaches to Their Careers | Best Friends at the Bar™ Did you see the article by Vivia Chen of Bloomberg Law that came out earlier today titled “There’s a New Episode of ‘Mommy Wars’ At the ABA?” It addresses the dust up over my June 29, 2021 column for the ABA Journal, titled “Are Women Lawyers Paying Enough Attention to Upward Mobility”...

From the BFAB Blog:

Career Success for Lawyer/Moms | Best Friends at the Bar™ Career success for lawyer/moms is a complicated subject because the challenges for lawyer/moms are so great. But all challenges need to be addressed so that women lawyers do not take focus off their careers while they are keeping so many personal balls in the air.

Hot off the press. My June 2021 column in the ABA Journal On-Line.

Are women lawyers paying enough attention to upward mobility? The number of women graduating from law schools and joining the profession of law are at record highs today, and that is very good news. Women were denied access to law schools and bars for too long, and the profession lost out on a lot of talent in those early years.

From the BFAB blog:

Big Law Raises and the Impact on Young Lawyers | Best Friends at the Bar™ Big Law is going crazy with raising salaries for associates and luring lateral hires with Big Money and flexible terms. That includes unprecedented starting salaries and finder’s fees for additional lawyers lateral hires can help lure over. It also includes terms which allow new hires to work excl...

From the BFAB Blog. It has been a tough week:

Beware of Ransomware! | Best Friends at the Bar™ Today I take a personal privilege to deviate from issues of law practice to issues of technology. This is a giant leap for me, and anyone who knows me well would be laughing by now. You are undoubtedly far, far ahead of me in this world of technology because most of you were born into the computer g...

This progress on fertility benefits is very encouraging. Every law firm should be doing this. Bravo to the leaders on this issue:

Law firms Cooley and Clifford Chance offer UK staff fertility benefits for first time Incentive follows boom in schemes in US that include egg freezing and IVF

From the BFAB Blog:

Young Lawyers: Are You Asking the Right Questions? | Best Friends at the Bar™ Recently I read a piece which was prepared as advice to young black women lawyers but has a broader application beyond that group. The piece addresses the right questions to ask when interviewing with a firm in this post-pandemic world. Experiences with COVID-19 have changed so much in our society,....

If the shoe fits ......

Notice And Comment: A Biglaw Associate's Lament What say you in response to this associate — amen, or stop yer whining?

From the BFAB Blog:

When A Benefit Is Not Really a Benefit | Best Friends at the Bar™ A law firm employment benefit is something of value that is conferred on or available to an employee or firm member by an employer and is a term of employment — either at the beginning of employment or added at a later date. It typically is something that the employee or firm member otherwise coul...

Food for thought:

This 41-Year-Old Just Graduated Law School After 20 Years Of Pursuing Her Dream There's no right way to live a fulfilling life! A 41-year-old shared her law school graduation photo with an empowering message for women, Good Morning America (GMA) reports. Amber Goodwin graduated from college nearly 20 years ago with hopes of attending law school immediately. After not being acce...

Here's an update on how some large law firms are handling return to the office:

The Great Law Firm Reopening Tracker: Flexibility Is The Way Of The Future The latest updates on how law firms are adjusting to the new normal.

My May 2021 column for the ABA Journal was published today. Here is the link:

https://www.abajournal.com/columns/article/whether-to-return-to-the-office-how-to-handle-those-tough-conversations

How to handle tough conversations on whether to return to the office The question is on every lawyer’s mind these days: When will management beckon me to return to my law firm office? And the related questions also weigh heavily: Do I want to do it? Can I do it? Will I do it?

From the BFAB Blog:

https://bestfriendsatthebar.com/two-ways-to-look-at-end-of-year-bonuses/

Two Ways to Look At End-of- Year Bonuses | Best Friends at the Bar™ End of year bonuses for associate lawyers are at an all time high right now. Many firms, mostly Biglaw, are celebrating what has been referred to as “stunning” profits in 2020 and sharing the largesse with associate lawyers in the form of bonuses. Some of those bonuses are far in excess of $25K,...

Are you under the weight of SO MUCH student loan debt? Check this out:

https://bestfriendsatthebar.com/the-student-loan-forgiveness-program-works-2/

The Student Loan Forgiveness Program Works! | Best Friends at the Bar™ The substantial student loan debt that many law school graduates incur follows them a long time into their practices. It hangs over their heads like dark clouds, and it affects their life style options. Those options are not limited to expensive vacations and other choices that may seem extravagant....

Women lawyers on the rise heading up top law schools. It is about time!

https://www.law.com/2021/05/12/northwestern-dean-pick-means-women-will-run-half-of-the-t-14-law-schools-come-fall/

Northwestern Dean Pick Means Women Will Run Half of the T-14 Law Schools Come Fall | Law.com Penn State University Law Dean Hari Osofsky will be the next top administrator at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.

From the BFAB Blog:

https://bestfriendsatthebar.com/women-lawyers-have-a-lot-to-think-about/

Women Lawyers Have a Lot to Think About | Best Friends at the Bar™ My thoughts this week are with the women lawyers. Not only was it Mother’s Day on Sunday, a day which always leads me to thoughts about the challenges for women lawyers with young children, but it also was a week when I took a first look at the results of the new ABA study, Practicing Law in the P...

From the BFAB Blog:

https://bestfriendsatthebar.com/well-being-week-in-law/

What are you doing to promote your personal well-being?

What is your firm doing to promote institutional well-being and culture change to protect its professional workforce?

Well-Being Week in Law | Best Friends at the Bar™ You probably were not aware of it, but this week is Well-Being Week in Law. I hope you always are focused on your well-being and especially this week. So much has happened in the last year during the pandemic to challenge our well-being, and it is essential that we are ever cognizant of where we sta...

It has arrived! The March/April BFAB Newsletter:

https://bestfriendsatthebar.com/newsletter/2021/04/28/march-april-2021-newsletter/

Enjoy!

*|MC:SUBJECT|* Happy Spring! Warmer weather is on the way, and I am happy to report that everyone in my family is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19. However, we will continue to wear masks and socially distance until Dr. Fauci tells us otherwise.

Hot off the press. Monthly column in ABA Journal: https://www.abajournal.com/columns/article/in-defense-of-the-team-what-basketball-and-law-practice-have-in-common

In defense of the team: What basketball and law practice have in common March Madness is over for one more year, and I will miss it. It is not as if I know a lot about basketball, and I can hear my son say, “Mom, why are you writing about basketball?” He knows I never played the game, and Title IX came much too late for me. But that does not keep me from being a dev...

From the BFAB Blog:

Happy Earth Day! Get involved!

https://bestfriendsatthebar.com/the-joys-of-conservation/

The Joys of Conservation | Best Friends at the Bar™ Tomorrow is Earth Day. It is always celebrated on April 22nd and has its roots in the student protests surrounding the US involvement in the Vietnam Conflict in the late 1960’s. It was conceived by Senator Ga***rd Nelson of Wisconsin, the great state of my birth, and it led to important US environ...

Will the Pay Check Fairness Act finally be enacted into law this time around? Read about the gender pay gaps and how the pandemic has inequitably affected women in the workplace:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/16/what-the-paycheck-fairness-act-could-mean-for-women-and-the-pay-gap.html

President Biden says closing gender pay gap is 'a moral imperative' as House passes Paycheck Fairness Act The bill passed the House on Thursday in a 217-210 vote.

I thought the issues of how women lawyers dress were behind us. Alas, no.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-lawyers-association-refuses-to-cancel-damaging-women-s-fashion-seminar-1.5386012

B.C. lawyers' association refuses to cancel 'damaging' women's fashion seminar More than two dozen young lawyers and articling students are urging the Canadian Bar Association to cancel a Vancouver-based seminar focussed on how women dress in the legal profession.

From the BFAB Blog:

https://bestfriendsatthebar.com/young-lawyers-listen-up-what-you-say-about-yourself-defines-you/

Young Lawyers, Listen Up! What You Say About Yourself Defines You | Best Friends at the Bar™ Marshall Goldsmith is one of the most influential leadership trainers in the country. I have taken his course and am a certified leadership counselor through his organization. I based my book Top Down Leadership for Women Lawyers on much of what I had learned from Marshall.

From the BFAB Blog:

https://bestfriendsatthebar.com/whats-happening-in-law-firms-today/

What’s Happening in Law Firms Today? | Best Friends at the Bar™ Law firms are changing. The pandemic has changed just about everything in business, and law firms are no exception. So what are the big changes that law firms and their members are experiencing these days?

From the BFAB Blog: https://bestfriendsatthebar.com/the-beauty-of-teamwork/

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