Counsel to Counsel - Career Advice for Lawyers

In this episode of the Counsel to Counsel podcast, I am joined by a talented communications expert, Charlotte Dietz, Founder of Speak Well Partners. Charlotte is a communications and public speaking coach and business story strategist.  She shares some great insights into how we can all do a better job communicating in a virtual environment.

Since March, most of us have been getting a crash course in how to use Zoom (or other virtual platforms). In some ways, Zoom is really just another phone call and most lawyers are very accustomed to speaking on conference calls. But Zoom has its own nuances and as many of us are learning, there are pluses and minuses of being able to connect visually from a distance. In the early days (we back at the start of the pandemic), many people were experimenting with virtual backgrounds, learning to unmute themselves (and at appropriate times, shutting off the video camera.) Some of us have tried to improve the optics through better lighting and even through better equipment. 

But the main issue that many of us are grappling with his is how to make a real connection with other professionals when we are not in the room with them.  This is true when we are one-on-one, and it is even more true when we are in a group or even delivering a presentation.  These issues are challenging when we are in person.  But in a virtual world, it is that much harder to be “heard”!

Charlotte has some great tips to help us communicate more effectively on Zoom or other virtual platforms.

Additional Resources

• If You Don’t Like Sports, Try Becoming a Sports Fan Fan
• Be Interested; Be Interesting
• Getting the Most from Networking Meetings and Troikas [podcast]
• Zoom is a Great Tool for Relationship Building—But Use it “Right”

In this episode I speak with Dave Dykeman, a Co-Managing Partner of the Boston office of Greenberg Traurig.  Dave and I met almost 20 years ago, not long after he moved to Boston and since that time I’ve watched his career take off as he has successfully built an IP practice in the life sciences. 

Whenever I coach lawyers on marketing and business development, my starting point is getting my clients to define their ideal client.  While this doesn’t always include what industries they serve, having an industry focus is a good way to differentiate yourself.

In a crowded marketplace for legal services, it is critical to define your niche and find ways to make yourself memorable.  While work ultimately comes from the relationships you build with clients, potential clients and referral sources, “choosing your lane” is the best starting point.

My guest, Dave Dykeman, is someone who has not only clearly defined himself as a lawyer, but over the last two decades, he has done an outstanding job of building relationships that have been critical to his success.   In this episode, we’ll be discussing how Dave built that reputation, grew his practice, and what it has been like to move into a management role at an AmLaw100 firm.  He talks about coming to Boston, a city where he didn't know anyone.

David Dykeman, serves as Co-Managing Shareholder of Greenberg Traurig's Boston office and co-chairs the firm's global Life Sciences & Medical Technology Group.  He is a registered patent attorney with more than 23 years of experience in patent and intellectual property law. David's practice focuses on securing worldwide intellectual property protection and related business strategy for high tech clients, with particular experience in life sciences, medical devices, robotics, materials, and information technology.

David provides strategic patent portfolio development and intellectual property advice for clients including major research institutions, multinational corporations, and start-up companies. He also performs patent due diligence to assess patent portfolios for venture capital investment, mergers and acquisitions, and licensing opportunities.

He is a prolific writer and speaker on intellectual property law.  He is also someone who has held numerous leadership roles in bar associations, industry groups, and philanthropic organizations.

David is the founding co-chair of the ABA’s Medical Devices Committee. He was honored as one of Boston's "40 Under 40" innovative business leaders by the Boston Business Journal and was named to the "40 Medtech Innovators Under 40" list by Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry (MD+DI) Magazine. David has also been named one of the top 250 Patent and Technology Licensing Practitioners in the world by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) Magazine, an "IP Star" by Managing IP magazine, a "Life Science Star" by LMG Life Sciences, one of the World's Leading IP Strategists in the IAM 300, and listed in Chambers as an IP practitioner.

Additional Resources

• Episode 39-An In-house Career in the Life Sciences
• 47 Inexpensive ways to Build Business Relationships
• Episode 18-Starting Business Conversations at Networking Functions and Beyond
• Defining Your Target is the First Step in Effective Marketing

In this episode, I speak with Steve Fretzin, a premier business coach, trainer, and speaker on business development.  Steve focuses on the legal industry but comes with experience in other industries as well.  Steve and I discuss the importance of networking in building a professional services practice, how you can get more out of your networking meetings, and how to do this in a time of social distancing.

The ability to generate work has never been more important for lawyers and other professionals. We are in a recession right now and adapting to the demands of the marketplace is critical.  But knowing what services your clients want is only a starting point.  A good business plan requires a healthy mix of marketing (or reputation building activities) and business development (or relationship building activities).  For lawyers and other professionals, it is the second leg, the relationship building, that is more challenging to master.

Attorneys come out of law school knowing something about a broad cross section of legal subjects.  Law school graduates enter the workforce knowing how and do legal research and write briefs.  While clinics and internships help aspiring lawyers to start learning how to do deals, litigate cases, or counsel clients, most lawyers enter practice with limited knowledge of how to build and manage a law practice.   In particular, as lawyers begin their careers, they often know little about building business relationships.

On this podcast, we’ve talked many times about the tremendous importance of relationship building whether to set the stage for a future job move or whether it is to generate clients and cultivate referral sources.  In this episode, we focus on the networking meeting and its close cousin, the troika which is a networking format that Steve and I participate in through our business networking group ProVisors.

Steve Fretzin has been coaching and training professionals on business growth for over 20 years. His focus for the past 13 has been working with lawyers to dramatically grow their law practices.

In addition to being a regular contributor for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Steve has written three books on legal growth. His most recent endeavor is his podcast show BE THAT LAWYER, where he interviews rainmakers, marketing gurus and legal industry insiders to provide tips and insights for his attorney audience.  He lives in Chicago.

Other Networking Resources

Is Your Networking Working Ways to Leverage Your Network 8 Do’s and Don’ts of Dating—and Networking Etiquette 11 Ways to Reciprocate in Networking Starting Business Conversations at Networking Functions and Beyond Be Interested; Be Interesting Overcoming Fear of Networking Using Affinity to Build Business Relationships-a Podcast w/Stephen Seckler Documenting Your Networking 47 Inexpensive ways to Build Business Relationships Building Business Relationships 101-Where to Begin Generating Leads Making Selling Easier for Lawyers-Transcript from Legal Toolkit Podcast

In this episode, I speak with Lisa Cukier, a partner at the law firm Burns and Levinson in Boston.  Lisa practices in a number of related areas.  We talk about how she has built what she calls a concierge practice.  We also discuss what it has been like to serve on the executive committee of her firm, and how she has modified her own marketing and business development in a time of social distancing.

Whenever I am thinking about guests to invite on this podcast, I look for lawyers and other professionals who are good role models.  Law is a competitive and stressful business.  If you want to maintain and build your career satisfaction in a law firm, it is important to keep evolving your practice and get involved in non-practice activities that give you fulfillment.

Lisa Cukier, is someone who has done that on many levels. She has developed an aggressively creative and emotionally intelligent approach to managing family conflict and mental health law issues.  She has also increased her own enjoyment in the practice of law by getting involved in law firm management.  And she is someone who gets energized from building relationships with her referral sources.

Lisa Cukier is a Partner and Executive Committee member at Burns and Levinson, a firm of about 125 lawyers. She concentrates her practice on all aspects of estate and trust litigation, fiduciary litigation, probate law, child custody, parentage issues and divorce.  She also works on guardianship and conservatorship matters,  elder financial exploitation, matters and serves as concierge trustee for many clients who feel protected by her approach to problem resolution.  Her work includes representation of blended families.

Lisa is a frequent speaker and author on the topics of trust and estate litigation, estate planning, and family law, including undue influence and financial exploitation of elders. She was named to the 2019 "Top Women of Law" list by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and named a National Law Journal - Divorce, Trusts & Estates Trailblazer in 2017.

Lisa is considered one of the most tactical, passionate and aggressively creative attorneys in her field. She is the attorney that other attorneys refer their complicated and multi-issue laden or "unresolvable" cases. Cukier serves as trustee and fiduciary for her clients upon request, orchestrating high-touch concierge level service to her clients who wish to have her personal oversight of their multiple life affairs. Attorneys refer their clients to her to serve as a private adjudicator for creative resolution of challenging custody and guardianship disputes.

Law is a conservative profession.  In law school we read the great appellate decisions and learned about the tremendous importance of precedent in our legal system.  In truth, the law is always evolving and adapting to changing societal attitudes and new developments in business, the sciences and technology.  New statutes and regulations are always being adopted to address new legal concerns and even case law evolves.

If you want to remain relevant in the profession, it is important to keep reinventing yourself.  The current pandemic and accompanying financial upheaval underscores this.  In the past two months, for example, every business and employment lawyer has needed to become an expert on the CARES act.  In the past 2 years, every corporation that collects any personal data has had to learn how to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act, GDPR in Europe and similar state privacy statutes.

The digitization of our economy has had a particularly strong impact on our legal system.  It has never been easier to create, store and copy massive amounts of data.  This has had great implications for privacy, the protection of intellectual property rights and the tension between IP protection and creating strong incentives for innovation. 

Lawyers will continue to play a key role in shaping and interpreting the competing legal interests of law enforcement, private citizens, businesses and artists. 

So where are the career opportunities in the midst of all of this disruption?

In this episode, my guest, Professor Jessica Silbey, answers that question.  Professor Silbey is Director of the Center for Law, Innovation and Creativity at Northeastern University School of Law (also known as CLIC).  She is a leading scholar and nationally recognized expert on intellectual property and the use of film to communicate about law.  Professor Silbey is the author of several books on intellectual property, creativity and invention. She studies the role that intellectual property plays to sustain and frustrate creative and innovative communities. She is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences, and a Guggenheim fellow.

CLIC combines the study of innovation and creativity with Northeastern University School of Law's social justice mission.

The faculty teach courses on information security, privacy regulation, entertainment and media law, intellectual property, Internet and e-commerce, lawyering and entrepreneurship, and creative communities.

The need for pro bono legal services for the poor has never been greater. Prior to the pandemic, legal services agencies were only able to meet a portion of the need. For example, due to lack of funding, legal aid programs in Massachusetts were forced to turn away 57 percent of residents who sought help last year.

With the coming recession and millions of families in this country facing food and housing insecurity, this gap will surely widen. Pro bono lawyering will be needed to meet the great demand and fill the gap.

In this episode, I am very pleased to welcome Sue Finegan who is a nationally recognized leader in pro bono representation. When I first spoke to Sue a year ago about being on the show, I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about how pro bono can help build your legal skills and increase your career satisfaction. Today I feel it is a moral imperative to encourage practicing lawyers to do their part in proving pro bono legal services. 

I invited Sue to talk about the benefits of doing pro bono work and where she thinks the needs will be in the coming year.  We also discuss how she has carved out her own unique career path and found great satisfaction in doing well by doing good. I’m thrilled to talk to someone who has dedicated her career to the cause.

Sue is a Member of the law firm Mintz Levin, an AmLaw 100 firm based in Boston.  She is a nationally recognized pro bono pioneer with exceptional advocacy skills and a passion for helping underserved populations. As chair of Mintz’s Pro Bono Committee, she leads groundbreaking cases and manages pro bono matters for the firm. She helped to defeat President Trump’s first immigration travel ban in early 2017, engineer the passage of a Massachusetts restraining order law for sexual assault survivors, and create several innovative statewide model pro bono programs in Massachusetts.

Sue was appointed the firm’s first Pro Bono Partner in 2007and manages the firm’s pro bono efforts, consisting of over 300 varied cases annually.  She also advises firm clients on developing and sustaining pro bono programs within their in-house legal departments.

As member and current co-chair of the Massachusetts Access to Justice Commission for several years, Sue has been a tireless and innovative advocate for low income people in Massachusetts and beyond.

Additional Resources

• MassProBono is a good starting place in Massachusetts
• The ABA is compiling a list of students interested in providing pro bono assistance. The registration form can be found here.
• This directory of non-profits seeking pro bono assistance
• PSJD, https://www.psjd.org (designed for students seeking public interest career opportunities, but is a great way to learn about different legal services agencies and can be searched by city, state)
• Pro Bono Net, https://www.probono.net/network/volunteer (offers easy ways to search by region and issue area to allow students to hone in on organizations they want to pursue, and may have specific opportunities for law students posted as well).

All professional athletes eventually face the same challenge: when to retire and what to do after retirement. For the most part, an athlete’s career is limited in time because of the physical demands of job. Lawyers on the other hand do not face these constraints. There are many lawyers who practice well into their 70’s or 80’s and some who never choose to retire.  But for many law firms and for many law firm partners, this is not an optimal strategy.   Healthy businesses need a healthy succession plan and after 40 years in practice, many lawyers are ready for some sort of change. As the pandemic has caused many law firms and partners to rethink their priorities, the issue of what to do with senior partners has become more timely. Firms are already under a lot of under a lot of financial stress. A lack of succession planning only adds to this. In this episode, I am pleased to welcome back Larry Stybel of Stybel Peabody.  At the beginning of the year, before the pandemic became a reality for most of us, Larry and I spoke about finding happiness in the practice of law.  This time, Larry and I discuss the challenges that seniority presents to both law firms and to aging partners.

For over 40 years, Larry has been providing outplacement, executive search and leadership coaching to law firms and corporations.  He co-authors a regular column on leadership and career management for PSYCHOLOGY TODAY.  He also co-authored the book Navigating the Waterfall: Your Guide to Job Search and Career Management. Stybel Peabody received the "Best in Class" Award in Outplacement four times from the Massachusetts Lawyers’ Weekly Reader Preference Survey. 

I met Larry and his wife and business partner, Maryanne Peabody, 20 years ago when I was starting my own recruiting and coaching business.  I was very pleased to reconnect with him last year through my business networking group ProVisors.  I have really appreciated the insights Larry has been able to share with me about my own career.  Larry brings years of experience in talent management and career success.

For some associates, partnership is the ultimate career goal.  But for many lawyers, a plum in-house job is the real brass ring. In this episode, I welcome Mark Levine who has won the brass ring several times in his career. Mark is General Counsel and Secretary at Flexion Therapeutics, a commercial stage biotech company.  

Mark and I speak about his path in-house, how his role has changed as he has moved into a GC position and how in-house practice differs from private practice.  We also talk about the challenges he faces in running a law department during the pandemic and what advice he has for lawyers seeking similar roles.

Mark has expertise in corporate, commercial, and securities law and transactions.  He has experience in corporate  governance   and  public disclosure, mergers and acquisitions and operating   in highly regulated environments.  He has built several law departments and worked in a number of industries.

Related Episodes

• Episode 19-Canoeing vs. Whitewater Rafting-A Career Conversation with Jose Sierra
• Episode 16-Changing Industries
• Episode 14-From Biglaw to Government to In-house
• Episode 2-In-House with Walt Pollard

In this episode, I continue my Glass Ceiling Series with my guest Lauren Resnick, who is the Chief Practice Partner for the national law firm BakerHostetler.  Lauren is someone who not only broke through the glass ceiling at an AmLaw 100 firm, but she did it as a part-time attorney.  I speak with Lauren about her path from the public sector back into private practice, and what it has been like being part-time.  We also discuss some of the challenges of being in a management role at a major law firm and how she has continually reinvented herself throughout her career.

This interview was conducted in early March before the reality of COVID had really sunk in for many of us.  At the time, Lauren and her firm had already developed a practice group to address the legal issues that are raised by the pandemic, a testament to her ability to think in a highly strategic manner.

As Chief Practice Partner, Lauren Resnick is responsible for the firm’s delivery of legal services and management of the firm’s legal talent.  She is a partner in the White Collar and Corporate Investigations team of BakerHostetler. She focuses her practice on internal investigations, white collar criminal defense and regulatory compliance matters. Previously, she served as an Assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where she was chief of the Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section.

She was a two-time recipient of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Director's Award for Superior Performance, she is regularly retained by executive management and audit committees of Fortune 500 corporations to conduct internal investigations on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-money laundering (AML), fraud, antitrust, international trade and sanctions compliance, and other regulatory compliance issues.

As a member of the BakerHostetler team serving as counsel to the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA), Lauren supervised the extensive financial reconstruction of the decades-long operations of Bernie Madoff for the ongoing liquidation and litigation proceedings.

In addition to her practice, Lauren serves as the firmwide client relationship partner and a member of the firm’s policy committee. She is also the firm's compliance practice team lead and the administrative partner for the New York office.

In this episode, I return to a conversation I started with Dr. Inna Khazan, a clinical psychologist on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. I spoke to Dr. Khazan back in February about the ways she uses mindfulness-based biofeedback to help lawyers and other professionals to achieve optimal performance in stressful situations.

In our latest interview, Dr. Khazan discusses how to use these techniques to manage the stress brought on by the global Coronavirus pandemic. She offers practical suggestions for managing the heightened anxiety most of us are experiencing.  Included in this podcast is a short guided meditation to help demonstrate the power of mindfulness.

Dr. Inna Khazan is a nationally recognized expert in mindfulness-based biofeedback. She is the founder of ARETE Institute for Performance Excellence. As a licensed clinical psychologist, she specializes. in biofeedback and mindfulness-based approaches to optimizing health and performance.

At Harvard Medical School, Dr. Khazan teaches and supervises trainees. She is considered to be a pioneer in the area of mindfulness-based biofeedback. She has conducted biofeedback and mindfulness trainings for notable institutions in the US and abroad, including the US Navy Special Warfare, US Army Special Forces, and the Stuttgart Opera and Ballet Company and author of numerous publications and a frequent speaker all over the country.