Career Transitions for Lawyers

For LAP Counselors

• First interview-get job history, from their very first job to date

• Tell me about the job that you enjoyed the most

• Talk about their time line-most Lawyers can be placed in about 3 months-if they really want a job

• Some Lawyers don’t really want a job

• Find out about their self imposed limitations-the box exercise

• Money parameters-average Lawyer makes 78k-small firms and solo Lawyers make less-large firm Lawyers make more

• Geography limits-Law jobs are very unevenly distributed-some Lawyers will not move even when in dire straights-northern areas and Alberta seem to be easy to get a job

• Prestige, power and recognition-ego and entitlement are huge

• Irrational commitment to a poor choice-I took 7 years to get here and by God I won’t do anything but private practice

• Other limitations-suspensions, disbarment and non members-there are actually many jobs that don’t require a membership

• Structure is important-I like to see clients once a week and each week they have an assignment

• Lawyers should have “What color is your parachute” and “What can you do with your law degree” as texts

• General plan as follows• 1.Assessment-Lap has many and

WCYDWYLD has many-focus should be on Values and basic drivers

• 2.Skillscan is often helpful• 3.Some general areas can be

determined from this

• 4.It is unrealistic to be specific at this stage

• If a general area can be found it is time for Informational Interviews which are critical

• Clients should have several versions of a resume and cover letter at this point-samples are in WCYDWYLD

• Clients should be encouraged to make 2 applications per week-also apply first judge later should be the rule-almost all lawyers under apply and underestimate their abilities

• Getting out of a fog exercise• Most clients need encouragement

in large doses at every stage• Main objective is to keep them on

track and keep focusing on the goal

• Main problem is complacency or putting job search on the back burner

• Emphasize the networking and warm contact-most jobs will be found through networking

• Headhunters only work for in demand areas and they tend to want younger lawyers

• Good news-it is a great time to looking things are booming and government is hiring

• Motivated Lawyers will get a job or at least some great leads within a month

• Clients really value the support• Depression is a common side

effect of unemployment

• Tough cases: lawyers that have serious mental health issues or personality problems usually don’t interview well

• If they are getting short listed but not hired they need work on their interviewing skills –do rehearsals

• If they are not getting short-listed they may need help on resumes and cover letters, or they may be under applying

• The reality is that it is a numbers game you need an average of 30 applications to get 3 shortlists to get one job

• Most lawyers will have 1 or 2 shortlists for every 10 apps

• Note: applying for jobs that they are grossly over qualified for usually backfires