Job Search

Managers Reveal What NOT to Do in a Job Search

  • On September 20, 2015
I recently spoke on a career panel hosted by Women in Technology and the Women’s IP Lawyers Association. My fellow panelists were hiring managers from technology companies. Although they came from different departments (Legal, Engineering, HR), and their companies ranged from pre-IPO to public and global, their advice to job seekers on what not to do remained consistent: Don’t have […]
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Career Management

Top 5 Things to Do Now for Your Career

  • On September 13, 2015
The top 5 things you need to do while the market is still hot: Build a professional presence on LinkedIn. Your profile needs to succinctly describe your skill set and include a professional-looking picture. Increase your connections so you have higher odds of knowing someone at a potential employer. Self-assess. What sets you apart from […]
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Career Tips

How’s the Legal Job Market Doing?

  • On September 7, 2015
As the stock market can’t decide what to do, you may be worried about the legal job market. How’s it doing? It’s still strong. Legal job hiring usually lags the economy and tech market; so, you won’t be surprised by an inevitable slowdown in the legal market. For example, after both the dotcom bust and […]
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Interview, Presentation

The Most Critical Part of Presentation

  • On August 30, 2015
You may think the most critical part of presenting yourself professionally is dressing the part or speaking with confidence. While all that is helpful, telling a clear story about yourself is most important. For example, in an interview context, do you explain why you are interested and how your past naturally leads you to this point? Or is your story a complicated […]
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Presentation

5 Elements of Persuasion (Essential to Drive Your Career).

  • On August 23, 2015
Lawyers persuade for a living. But advocating for themselves? That can be hard. Below are some pointers from a recent post by Travis Bradberry, the author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0, on how to be persuasive: Know your audience, and connect! Asking your friend to talk you up to a client requires a different approach than presenting a case to a […]
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Career Management, GC, Inhouse

How Do You Get the Top Legal Job?

  • On July 26, 2015
I listened to four GCs recently share their best tips on how they got to the top:  Evaluate where you want to go, and work backwards. Brian Cabrera of NVIDIA says to ask yourself what skills are you missing for that top job, and then go get them. Always take on new opportunities, even if […]
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Inhouse, Networking

The Most Important Soft Skills for Career Building

  • On July 19, 2015
GCs do more than opine on legal issues. They are being evaluated on strategy, influence, and executive presence. To climb the in-house ladder, lawyers need to understand what are the corporate dynamics in play and how to get things done. The key soft skills top lawyers must have, according to the GCs of Varian, NVIDIA, AOptix and […]
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Client, GC, Presentation

How to Advise GCs

  • On July 12, 2015
At a recent forum, four general counsels (from Varian, AOptix, NVIDIA, and AdRoll) talked how about how they want to be counseled by firm lawyers. The advice below clearly applies to in-house lawyers as well when communicating with their own top lawyer or business team: Make your advice practical. Brian Cabrera of NVIDIA noted he can Google black letter […]
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Career Management, GC, Inhouse

4 Things GCs Say You Need to Do to Build Your Career

  • On July 5, 2015
I recently heard four GCs describe their path to the top: John Kuo of Varian Medical Systems, Jan Kang of AOptix, Brian Cabrera of NVIDIA, and Stephanie King of AdRoll. Despite having diverse backgrounds and working at companies in different industries stages, they gave consistent advice to lawyers aspiring to be GCs: Get your foundation. […]
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Career Management

Key to Getting Ahead: Understanding Executives

  • On June 28, 2015
Attorneys expect steady advancement in their careers, but legal jobs are structured like a pyramid. Many junior attorneys line the bottom of the org chart, and very few senior jobs are perched at the top. One way for attorneys to leapfrog ahead is to gain the trust of a senior executive. How do you know […]
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