Counsel to Counsel - Career Advice for Lawyers

In this episode, I speak with Beth Masterman of Masterman Executive Coaching.  Beth is a talented professional with degrees in law, psychology and certifications in coaching.  I met Beth many years ago but reconnected with her more recently through Provisors, a terrific business networking group that she has been active in since 2012 (I just joined in June).   I talk with Beth about what coaching is, how it can help lawyers, how she approaches coaching and how she transitioned from a successful career in PR and government relations.

My Own Journey into Coaching

Back in 1996 when I was thinking about leaving my non-profit job at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, I wanted to launch a recruiting business.  At the same time, I discovered that a new discipline was growing in popularity, coaching.  As it was explained to me, coaching was a way to achieve higher levels of performance, get past roadblocks that were impeding my success and happiness.  It was also a way to have a sounding board.

I decided to work with a coach and eventually hired a more business-oriented coach.  The work I did with these coaches was invaluable as I was becoming an entrepreneur.  I was hooked.

It then became clear to me that lawyers could really benefit from this service.  In my effort to try to be a different kind of recruiter, I decided that I would offer both recruiting and coaching services and so I launched Seckler Legal Consulting (which I later renamed Seckler Legal Recruiting and Coaching).

Since that time, I’ve met a very nice community of professionals who like myself, are committed to the success of others.  Beth Masterman is one of those individuals.

Beth Masterman Was Recently Named Number One Executive Coach in the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Readers Rankings Awards

Beth is a certified and credentialed by the International Coach Federation. She earned a Graduate Certificate in Executive Coaching from William James College in 2011.  She is also certified to administer and interpret the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and a number of other assessment tools.

Beth currently serves as the Vice President of Logistics and Event Management on the Board of the International Coach Federation of New England.

She earned a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, a Masters in Psychology from Boston University School of Psychology, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University.  After law school, she  worked as an assistant district attorney and as General Counsel to a state senator.

She then transitioned into public relations and government relations advising business owners, senior executives, and board committees. In this role, she also assisted elected officials and candidates for office with various aspects of their campaigns. She worked with her clients on a broad range of leadership areas including: goal setting, project management and implementation.

As an executive coach, Beth has an ability to consider possibilities and interpret the big picture.  Her comfort with uncertainty and possibility is a grounding force and the hallmark of her approach during coaching sessions. 

And she was recently named the Number One Executive Coach in the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Readers Rankings awards.

Additional Resources

Can Hiring a Coach Enhance Your Practice and Your Life (my article published in the ABA’s GPSolo Magazine).  You can also read the article in the full issue of GPSolo. 

Back in the early 1990s when I was at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, I worked with some great volunteers who were very generous with their time.  These were leaders of the bar who were committed to training the next generation of lawyers. 

While there were many lawyers who were ready willing and able to share their advice, there were a few volunteers who really stood out for their deep commitment to professional development.  John Hession was one of those lawyers. At the time, John was a corporate partner at the law firm Testa Hurwitz and Thibeault.  

John was always game to plan and deliver the next CLE program or sit and discuss our corporate curriculum.   He was also integrally involved in the internal training program at his own firm, Testa all while maintaining a busy corporate practice representing VCs and other entities.

Since that time, John has traveled through a number of major law firms. He helped open the Boston office of Cooley.  In 2015, he joined Morse, a mid-sized firm with offices in Boston, Cambridge and Waltham. John is an acknowledged authority in the emerging company and venture capital fields, has served as a business strategist and as a legal adviser to more than 400 emerging growth companies.  John has advised these companies on all phases of the enterprise life cycle, from cradle to culmination. He is also the consummate mentor and writes the best out of office messages I’ve ever read.

John is now at a stage in his career where he is focusing a significant amount of his time helping up-and-coming talent at his firm to advance their careers.

I recently had coffee with John and asked him what junior associates should be thinking about in deciding where to practice.  John had some great advice and when I asked him to join me on Counsel to Counsel, it was no surprise that he said yes.

Other Resources

Canoeing vs. Whitewater Rafting-A Career Conversation with Jose Sierra (a podcast)
Advancing Your Law Firm Career (a podcast)
Career Paths: Mapping Out Your Future (Program Notes from a Boston Bar Association Panel Discussion)

Law is a conservative business. Prior to the emergence of the internet, lawyers primarily worked for traditional law firms or in-house.  There really weren’t any other models for the delivery of legal services.  You either showed up every day at your firm job or at your corporate job.

Starting in the late 1990s, new models of practice began to emerge.  A group of lawyers who described themselves as outside general counsel began to offer legal services on a consulting basis. Because these individuals were not maintaining fancy offices or office infrastructure, they could offer their services as experienced lawyers on an as needed basis. Since that time, this model has continued to evolve and there are now a range of options for lawyers looking for alternative careers and clients looking for big firm experience at a more reasonable rate structure.

In 2002, Bill Stone saw the value of the outsourced GC model and he teamed up with his partner Jon Levitt to form Outside GC.  They wanted to find a way to scale up the outsourced model without simply creating another law firm.

Since that time, Outside GC has grown substantially and has been providing outsourced legal services at rates that are far below the rates charged by large law firms.  Under their model, clients have access to senior lawyers who have over a decade of experience working in house.  

Lawyers working for Outside GC have a lot of flexibility to work remotely and function like outside lawyers without the administrative costs and time spent on administration in private practice.

On today’s show, Bill talks about Outside GC, how he and his partner started the business and how the business has evolved.  He provides some great insights into how working for Outside GC can be a great next step for experienced in-house counsel.

Bill has served both as outside general counsel for companies in a variety of industries, and as an executive business development professional. Bill's legal practice focused on international joint ventures, mergers & acquisitions, corporate finance and general corporate counseling, primarily to technology companies.

Before co-founding Outside GC, Bill led an international business development team as VP Business Development for eBT International, Inc., a Nasdaq-traded enterprise software company. Prior to that, Bill served as Vice President Corporate Development and General Counsel for Verde Media, Inc., a venture capital-backed media company in San Francisco. 

Before joining Verde, Bill practiced law as a partner in the law firm Tonkon Torp LLP, where he co-founded the firm's technology practice group, and acted as general counsel to multiple technology, manufacturing, service and retail companies.

Immediately after law school, Bill served as a law clerk in the chambers of the Honorable Mark L. Wolf in the federal district court in Boston, Massachusetts.  He is a graduate of Tufts University where his youngest child is now a freshman and Harvard Law School.

Other Resources

1. What I’ve Learned as In-house Counsel- here I surveyed over a hundred in-house attorneys to get their input on what it was like to transition to an in-house role
2. In-house With Walt Pollard-one of my first podcasts.  I interviewed an AGC at BBH who participated in the survey above.  He has some great advice about going in-house
3. From Big Law to Government to In-house-another podcast-my guest has been particularly effective at using networking to advance her career (you can also find my podcasts on iTunes or wherever you get podcasts)
4. Mapping Out Your Future, a career panel I moderated at the BBA

 

Health law is a dynamic field that continues to offer law students and attorneys a growing number of traditional and nontraditional practice opportunities. In this episode, I am pleased to welcome Jennifer Huer, Managing Director of the Center for Health Policy and Law at Northeastern University School of Law. Jennifer talks about the Center and the work it is doing to study changes in the healthcare policy landscape.  I also speak with her about the many career opportunities that health law is presenting to the legal community and where she sees in the field heading.

Jennifer earned her JD from the University of Richmond School of Law and went on to earn her LL.M. in Health Policy and Law from Northeastern. She worked as a Senior Policy Associate for the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission and since 2016, she has been in her current role at Northeastern.

In this episode, I welcome former U.S. Senator William “Mo” Cowan.  Mo currently serves as President, Global Government Affairs and Policy for General Electric.  Mo talks about his journey from the practice of law to public service and into government affairs.

Law School as a Path to Public Service and Government Relations

Law school has always been a good path to public service.  Legal training provides an important framework for understanding legislation, regulation and how the judiciary functions and attorneys have a lot of credibility in pursuing these roles.

Elected office is a common avenue for lawyers who want to get more involved in Federal, state or local government.  But many lawyers find themselves supporting elected officials in one way or another by serving on their staff. Some stay in private practice and volunteer to serve on local or State boards or commissions.

Government relations is another avenue that is open to attorneys who want to be involved in public policy from the industry side.

Mo Cowan is someone who has worked as a litigator in private practice, served as a key aide to a Governor, worked for one of the leading government relations firms in Massachusetts, managed litigation and investigations for a major corporation and now manages government relations for the same company.

At GE today, Mo is responsible for directing the company’s government relations and public policy engagement in the United States and around the world.  Mo also leads the Global Growth Organizational national executive teams in Europe and Canada. He previously served as Vice President, Litigation and Legal Policy for the Company, overseeing litigation, enforcement proceedings, investigations and compliance globally.

Before joining GE, Mo held leadership roles with ML Strategies, a leading government relations and consulting firm, and the law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo.

On January 30, 2013, Governor Deval L. Patrick appointed Mo to serve as interim United States Senator upon the resignation of John F. Kerry and concluded his Senate service on July 16, 2013.

Prior to his Senate appointment, Mo served Governor Patrick in a variety of leadership positions, including Chief Legal Counsel, Chief of Staff, and Senior Advisor. As Chief of Staff, Mo directed strategic planning, investment and operations, including oversight of the state’s multi-billion dollar, annual budgeting process. As chief strategist and crisis manager to the Governor, Mo advised on all domestic and international affairs, intergovernmental relations and gubernatorial appointments and administered all management and personnel functions within the Governor’s office.

Before joining Governor Patrick, Mo served as Chair of the Anti-Money Laundering Compliance and Counseling Group at the law firm Mintz Levin.

Mo is a graduate of Duke University and Northeastern University School of Law

For law students who want to do good in the world, there are three conventional paths.  Some law students pursue jobs in the public interest and work for non-profit organizations.  Others find jobs in government agencies where there are many opportunities to serve the public good (in local, state or federal government). Still other aspiring attorneys elect to choose a traditional career in private practice and pursue pro bono work on the side.  But there is a fourth way to use your law degree that can satisfy a desire to do good while doing well, go to work for a mission driven practice.

There are many examples of mission driven practices.  Some firms focus on representing non-profit institutions in corporate or litigation matters.  Other firms might do civil rights work or represent individual clients who are victims of domestic violence. There are firms that represent labor unions and firms that handle asylum cases.  There are firms that advocate on behalf of special needs children to obtain services that are being denied by school systems. And there are firms that represent profitable businesses that have a mission driven good or service that they provide.

My guest in this episode, Jonathan Klavens, represents the last category of mission driven practice.  

Jon is the owner of Klavens Law Group.  His practice focuses on meeting the diverse legal needs of companies, investors, public entities and nonprofits in the areas of clean energy/clean technology, sustainable agriculture/aquaculture and food ventures, social enterprise and impact investment.

In his practice, he draws on his diverse background in general corporate, securities, project development and finance, fund formation, energy transactional, energy regulatory, environmental and nonprofit matters.

Jon founded Klavens Law Group, P.C. in 2007 to help enable innovative ventures that have positive environmental or other social impact. Jon previously practiced law at BCK Law, P.C. and Goodwin Procter LLP, and clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.  He holds a B.A. from Columbia College, a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law, a school which attracts a lot of students looking to make a difference in the world.

 

In this edition of Counsel to Counsel, I speak with Rhonda Rittenberg of  Northeastern University School of Law about innovative ways to use a law degree.

Rhonda shares some great advice for any lawyer who is looking to apply their legal training in a non-traditional way.  My Own Path to an Alternative Legal Career Started Right After Law School  Back in the 1980s when I was thinking about law school, there was a widespread belief that a law degree opens a lot of doors.  The message I got was that earning a law degree would provide lots of opportunities beyond the traditional practice of law. During college, I had been a community organizer and I thought that earning a JD would help me further develop that career.  I wasn’t particularly interested in practicing and I hardly knew any lawyers.

But when I arrived at Northeastern in 1985, I quickly realized that most people attending law school were there to become practicing lawyers and my thinking began to shift.  Like the majority of my classmates, I took coop jobs in a number of legal settings working for the U.S. Attorney, working as a public defender, working for a toxic torts boutique and finally, working in-house for a major university.  There were aspects of these jobs that I enjoyed but after 3 years of law school, I was pretty convinced that law practice was probably not for me. At the same time, my interest in community organizing had waned so I decided to look for a more traditional role in a law firm.

The job market was softening at that time and I was finding it difficult to land a role as an associate so I took a job investigating housing discrimination with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Six months after that, I saw that Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education was looking for a law school graduate to plan seminars.

One of my NU professors was on the board of the organization and she helped me land the interview.  But I will never forget what she told me. She said if I take this job, it will be very hard to go back to a traditional law position.  I heard her warning but landed the job and worked at MCLE for seven years. I’ve never looked back.  

Since leaving MCLE in the mid-1990s, I’ve been a legal recruiter and a business and career coach.  I work closely with lawyers every day to find more career satisfaction and my knowledge of the practice of law is critical to my success. But I’ve been on retirement status from the bar for many years now and very happy I made the decision many years ago.

There has always been a place in the economy for law school graduates to apply their law degrees in non- traditional ways. But after the 2008 recession, law schools began thinking more seriously about steering some of their students in the direction of these roles.

Today, you’ll find lots of lawyers doing non-traditional things with their careers.  Some are lawyers who go in-house and transition into business roles at their companies.  Today, there are many more options for lawyers who are looking for alternatives right after law school. 

Rhonda Rittenberg is Creating These Job Opportunities for Northeastern Law Students 

My guest today, Rhonda Rittenberg, has been instrumental in developing alternative career opportunities for students at my alma mater, Northeastern University.

Rhonda is the Director of New Markets at Northeastern University School of Law where she creates opportunities for students and recent graduates in new, emerging and growth areas. She leads an outreach campaign designed to develop strategic partnerships with a wide range of employers in different industry sectors. Rhonda develops programming to showcase lawyers using their degrees in innovative and interdisciplinary ways and collaborates with faculty and staff on developing curricular enhancements to incorporate knowledge and skills desired for success in New Markets.  She also advises law students and recent graduates on career paths.   She is active in NALP, the National Association for Law Placement and has served as a panelist at recent conferences. She also co-chairs NALP’s JD Advantage Work Group.  Prior to joining the staff at Northeastern, Rhonda had a long and successful legal career. She has held both legal and business positions, most recently serving as a Senior Vice President and Senior Associate General Counsel and Senior Reinsurance Officer at Lexington Insurance Company.   Prior to that, she was a partner with Prince, Lobel Tye LLP and Morrison Mahoney LLP in Boston, focusing her practice on reinsurance, insurance coverage and complex commercial litigation and arbitration matters.   She holds a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law where she actually graduated a year before me!  Related Episodes of Counsel to Counsel  A Career in Privacy
The Environmental Entrepreneur
Canoeing vs. Whitewater Rafting-A Career Conversation with Jose Sierra

When I counsel lawyers on their careers, I always encourage them to get out of their office and network with other professionals.  Sitting at your desk, you can make lists of the things you like about your current position and the things you would like to change.  You can do an inventory of the skills you have and think about your values.

If I’m working with an attorney on career satisfaction, I might also have them make lists of their professional and personal interests and think about the type of work environment that feels right.

But getting away from your desk is very important when you want to gain perspective on your career.  Meeting with lawyers or other individuals who have the job you think you would ultimately like to have is invaluable. 

When I was in college many years ago, the book What Color is Your Parachute was very popular. While the themes in the book may have changed (I haven’t read any of the 35+ annual revisions that have come out since I graduated) the basic gist of the book was to figure out what you like to do, what you are good at and then start pursuing a career that leads you in that direction.

What I’ve learned since that time is that careers are not at all linear.  They meander back and forth and there is a lot of serendipity in how our professional lives progress.

I speak to a lot of lawyers about their careers and I’ve noticed a pattern.  Many lawyers end up later in their careers in roles that they could not have predicted when they were just entering practice.  I would certainly say that has been true for my own career.

My guest in this episode, Jose Sierra, is someone who epitomizes that career path.  Jose is a partner in the Boston Office of Holland and Knight.  I was recently having coffee with him and he said to me that for some individuals, career paths are like a canoe ride across a lake.  You chose a destination and then you start paddling to it.

Jose then said that his career has been more like whitewater rafting. You eventually reach a destination, but it may not be the destination you originally set out to reach and you may not have been able to predict how you would get there.

I thought that was a great metaphor and invited him to be on Counsel to Counsel to talk about that.

Jose is a Boston attorney who focuses his practice in the areas of white collar criminal defense, government investigations, healthcare fraud and abuse, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, compliance, and business litigation. He is well-versed in the areas of healthcare fraud and life science compliance and has advised healthcare and pharmaceutical industry executives, audit committees and corporate board directors on legal, employment, compliance and business strategies, including due diligence advice in connection with corporate acquisitions. 

Prior to joining Holland and Knight he was a partner at a large IP boutique and then at a small Boston firm.  He began his legal career as a clerk for the 5th Circuit and then as an Assistant US Attorney in New Jersey.  Before entering private practice, he served as senior vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer for two pharmaceutical companies.  In this episode, he talks about how he has always sought opportunities for career growth and how that has taken him in many unexpected directions.

 

Generating legal business requires a healthy mix of sales and marketing.  For many attorneys, marketing is the easy part.  If you publish articles, give presentations, send out client alerts, post on social media, and participate in bar association committees, your reputation will grow.

Building your reputation and developing your niche are important.  But as any marketing professional will tell you, marketing is not a substitute for sales.  If you want to build your law practice, you need to build relationships with clients, potential clients and referral sources.  Marketing can support relationship building. However,it is not a substitute.

For many lawyers, relationship building is less natural than getting involved in reputation building activities.  Marketing activities can feel a lot like practicing law.  Speaking and writing about your practice area is a comfortable complement to providing legal services.  The brief you write today might become the basis of an article you write or a client seminar you deliver tomorrow. 

Building business relationships is entirely different.

There are many ways to build business relationships. One of the simplest things to do is to meet someone for coffee or invite them to a social function at your firm. Introducing them to professionals they want to meet is particularly effective, especially if those individuals become their clients.

Other common relationship building activities include taking someone to a basketball or baseball game, helping one of their children find a job, or sending them articles you think may be of interest.

Growing Your Network

If you want to increase the size of your referral network, getting involved in trade associations and non-profit causes is often effective.

But what happens when you are just starting to get involved and don’t know many people?  What if you attend networking functions where you don’t recognize anyone in the room?  How do you get the conversation started?  How do you approach strangers in a way that feels comfortable and which may lead to referrals down the line?

In this episode, I speak with Deborah Scaringi, who has some answers.  Deb is a talented marketing and business development thought leader with over 25 years of experience in the legal industry.  As an outside consultant and in-house professional, she has advised a broad mix lawyers and law firms on all aspects of selling legal services.

Through her consulting business, Scaringi Marketing, Deb helps her clients to undertake strategic business development, build marketing plans and coaches attorneys to execute upon their plans. She also works with lawyers and law firm to develop effective websites, blogs, and social media programs.  She manages events and helps firms to transition established marketing programs during mergers. 

Deb functions as both a fractional CMO and as an on-call project manager. She has worked with many of the major law firms in Massachusetts and has served as President of the New England Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association and the Immediate-Past President of the inaugural Board of Directors at the launch of the LMA’s Northeast Regional Chapter.

Additional Resources

Other episodes of Counsel to Counsel

Using Affinity to Build Your Network

Business Planning for Lawyers

The Social Media Maven

Blog posts

Starting the Conversation at Networking Events

New York, New York

Be Interested; Be Interesting

Tapping Your Tribal Connections

Overcoming Fear of Networking

Documenting Your Networking

What’s Your Story?

Focus Your Marketing Message Like You Focus Your Camera

Building Business Relationships 101-Where to Begin

In Building Your Referral Network, Look for the Bright Spots

Making Introductions that Generate Referrals

If You Want to Build Business Relationships, Go for Small Gatherings

Don’t Be a Stranger

Articles

Inexpensive Ways to Build Business Relationships

For most of us, once we are in the working world, travel is something to do on vacation.  Academics have the opportunity to take a sabbatical and live and work in another country with their families.

As the world economy continues to become more integrated, many lawyers and other business professionals end up finding themselves on international business trips.  Some in-house lawyers have the chance to spend time in other countries when they are temporarily transferred to international offices.

Lawyers who work for large international law firms, also have this chance.  But for most lawyers in private practice, international travel is limited to vacations and the occasional business trip. 

Robert Finkel, is a lawyer who figured out a different path.

For many years, Bob had been in private practice at a mid-sized firm; but he and his wife had a strong desire to spend time living in Israel with their three children.  They had visited the country many times, but they knew living there would be different.

Since they were not independently wealthy, they knew that at least one of them needed to continue to work. One option was for Bob to leave his role partner of a law firm in the Boston area, Morse, Barnes-Brown and Pendleton and find a legal job in Israel.  This presented some challenges.

So Bob came up with a creative solution. He would continue to work for his firm but work remotely from Israel.  In this episode, I speak with Bob about how he made living abroad a reality and what were some of the challenges and benefits to him professionally and personally.

Bob is a partner at the New York firm Moritt, Hock and Hamroff. Bob has over 30 years of experience as a tax and business lawyer. His practice focuses on the areas of individual and business taxation including tax controversy and tax litigation.