Not sure what you should be doing with your life? Are you where you're supposed to be? Have you hit a career speedbump and not sure what's next? In this episode, executive coach and former CHRO and military pilot Jim Reid is in The Legal Department to help you chart your next move. Jim contributed to Jim Collins new bestselling book, "What to Make of a Life." He advises that to move forward past a career cliff, we should get clear about what we are "genetically encoded to do." By anchoring to what's important to you and what you deeply enjoy, you can have the life (and career) you really want.

Feeling unsettled at work? Things are "good enough" but not quite right... You have a nagging feeling that there's something different out there for you, but you're not sure what it is or how to find it.

Or maybe, you know what you want to do, but you feel like you can't make a change. You've invested years working towards the career you have, can you pivot into something else?

In this #GoalGetter episode, executive coach Shayna Bergman shares her story of how she pivoted from an executive career at a major consulting firm to start her coaching practice. She knows first hand what it takes to shift away from a job that seems to "check all the boxes" into something new and unknown. Shayna shares key questions to help you figure out if you're ready to make a career pivot.

We also talk about the unique challenges of working parents and how Shayna supports this special group of professionals.

Thanks to StreamlineAi for sponsoring the Goal Getters series.

Tariffs have been front page news since the 2024 presidential campaign. In February 2025 (and again in April 2025), President Donald Trump issued executive orders levying tariffs that threatened small and large businesses alike. But only one CEO of a small family business stepped forward...with only one major law firm.

In this episode, Rick Woldenberg, CEO of Learning Resources, Inc. and Hand2Mind, and his counsel, Pratik Shah, Head of the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice at Akin Gump tell the impossible story of how they  overturned the Trump tariffs in less than a year.

Woldenberg and Shah met on Good Friday in April 2025 and by Tuesday after Easter weekend, filed a complaint in District Court challenging the tariffs, having never met each other in person. This is a story about how aligning on goals, committing to clear and honest feedback, and being engaged and open to other opinions can be rocket fuel for a successful client relationship (and result).

Ever feel like you’re stuck in place? You have excellent technical skills, get the job done and do excellent work. So why aren’t you progressing? In this Goal Getter episode, executive coach and former GC Sheila Murphy is in The Legal Department to show you how to get noticed as “high potential.” Spoiler alert: no one hands you a promotion, you have to raise your hand. Sheila shares how stepping forward, seeking out feedback and adopting clear, business-focused communication style can help you level up.

Thanks to StreamlineAi for supporting Goal Getters!

Join the Goal Getter community and subscribe to the companion newsletter on Substack to receive actionable career frameworks, diagnostic templates, and professional development tools directly in your inbox. Destination: http://legaldepartmentpod.com/

In this Office Hours episode, Deborah Solmor, founder of GC development program "Ready Set GC" is in The Legal Department to answer questions from aspiring general counsel.

Tough questions include:

• How to show that you're a "strategic advisor"
• How your organizational skills change when you become general counsel
• How to keep your confidence up when you don't get a job you really want
• How and why you need to dedicate time to "extracurriculars"

Stacy and Deborah also chat about the Ready Set GC Ascend program, which helps deputy GCs and other aspiring legal leaders get ready for their next big role.

Have you ever thought about a career in academics? You've learned a lot from practicing law in the "real world," but do these skills translate into the classroom? And without an academic pedigree, can a practicing lawyer even break into the ivory tower?

Dean Parrish believes that lawyers (especially in-house counsel) can be great teachers. Parrish says that legal skills are academic skills--writing, public speaking and the ability to distill complex topics make lawyers the best teachers.

In this episode, Parrish shares how he pivoted from a career in Big Law into academics, eventually landing leadership positions in top law schools including serving as dean of three different law schools.  He says that teaching can be a natural progression for practicing lawyers.

He believes this so strongly that he invited Stacy and other in-house lawyers to develop a certificate program for aspiring general counsel at UCI School of Law.  Learn more about the program called, "From Lawyer to Leader, the Road to the General Counsel Seat," in this episode.

Are the bots coming for our jobs?  Will law firms crate when AI erodes the leverage model? Law professor Jonah Perlin advises us to keep calm and bill hours: AI is but another technology to add to the legal toolbox. In this episode, Perlin explains that time is but one element of the billing ecosystem. In this episode, we talk about the value of legal services and how lawyers and law firms can demonstrate value (and adjust fee models) in the AI age. Perlin also hosts the incredibly popular How I Lawyer podcast and supports law students and early career lawyers to find career fulfillment.

Ever wonder why people aren't performing the way you want them to, why your team hasn't gelled, why the project is delayed, or why or your boss never seems to be happy?

There's a way to avoid all this frustration; start with expectations. Rarely do we take the time to think about what we really expect from others at work or communicate those expectations.

Stop suffering in silence! Executive coach Hanna Hart is back in The Legal Department with specific tips on how to talk about expectations. She explains the three different kinds of expectations we need to address and shares tips for communicating them to our teams and our bosses. From on-boarding to performance management, expectations are key to harmony at work.  Bonus: we talk about how to bridge generational differences about work.

This is a great companion episode to Hanna's debut on the show, Episode 63: "The 'F' Word: Feedback in The Legal Department."

In this Goal Getter episode, Janet Thompson Jackson, executive coach and founder of attorney wellness platform "Well-Law" shares a three-part strategy she calls "ABS" to help you set and achieve goals that really matter. By Anchoring in what you really want, setting Boundaries to help you stick to it, and identifying the Steps needed to get there.

Janet challenges us to ask ourselves how we are defining success--what does it mean to us to be a good professional? and whether those standards are realistic (and necessary) to succeed at work.  She encourages setting boundaries to hold ourselves accountable so we can make progress toward living the life we want.

In this Goal Getter episode, Stacy's executive coach, Charles Holmes, is in The Legal Department to explore how asking the right questions can lead you to the career you really want. He shares the three questions that can help you identify what you want and how to get there. Stacy and Charles also explore how "tolerable conflict" keeps us stuck between what we want and where we are today.