Tips for Lawyers Podcast

Despite the increased tendency towards autonomy, many lawyers and law firms still rely heavily on support staff for leverage.  The result is that there is an entire team of individuals who perform crucial functions within a firm that the lawyers simply don’t get involve in. In particular, the relationship you have with your secretary/legal assistant/PA […]

Even as junior lawyers, the moment you have a single file under your control you start to concern yourself with one big issue – getting your bills paid. I have found that there are some people who manage to always get paid, and others who seem to have a constant problem with debtors. There are […]

The word “happy” can seem a little trite, but it can be a vital missing element to legal practice in the lives of many young lawyers. In a profession replete with stress and mental illness, having a few strategies on hand to keep you in a positive frame of mind can be extremely beneficial over […]

Today my message is this: there is no time like the present. Every day I see young lawyers putting off decisions, habits and lessons that they need to adopt earlier. I know this, because many of these I look back and wish that I had done years ago. Instead, I am now playing catch up. […]

There are many ways that young lawyers have been trained which are actually adverse to their overall chance for success. One way is their inability to embrace the possibilities that come with thinking like an entrepreneur. However, once you get over whatever stigma you have about the word, acting like a new business owner and […]

There is a natural tension in legal practice when you work for a law firm. When you develop relationships and build your brand, are you doing it for yourself? Or for your firm? Obviously your firm would like you to do it for them, but is that really the best way?  On the one hand, […]

Playing to your strengths, or working on your weaknesses?  That’s the question in today’s podcast. While I address it, I give you a little insight into my own strengths (at least, according to the test I just did) and a bit of information about why you need to do something similar, and how you need […]

Have you ever considered that you have been trained to specifically avoid engaging in any activity that looks to the future, rather than referring to the past? Well you have. In effect, the methods you have been taught in terms of finding the right legal answer, while suited to that task, are completely unsuited to […]

A Lawyers Weekly article  contained quote after quote of management level lawyers saying, in effect, that it was too expensive and not worth their time to train lawyers. On they went to say, effectively, that young lawyers should be skilling up themselves if they were going to be employable. After hunting to make sure this […]

Giving a good presentation can be a burden, and many lawyers don’t have the training or inclination to do something that is memorable, educational and has a lasting impact. Sounds like an opportunity, doesn’t it?  And you’d be right. Developing a great presentation takes a lot of effort, but is absolutely worth it. Microsoft PowerPoint […]

Lawyers write a lot of articles – it’s just a fact of life. As a result, it’s a little amazing to me that lawyers have basically no training (any many express no interest) in actually having their articles read. You know – the audience, right?  They actually matter? Our job doesn’t end when we have […]

Are you a bird in search of a cage?  Recently an article by Seth Godin really caught the attention of a number of Tips for Lawyers readers. I couldn’t help wonder why. Is it because that’s how you feel?  Desiring to get out that door and spread your wings, but when faced with the opportunity […]

We’d all like to have it, wouldn’t we?  That feeling of control, serenity, energy and positivity going in to each day. Of course, the usual advice is to eat well, don’t drink too much coffee, exercise sleep right, and leap out of bed full of beans. But that advice is for other people.  It might […]

Some of the most frequently Googled things which lead people to this website are phrases like “I hate being a lawyer” and “Why do lawyers hate their jobs”. Does that disturb you? It sure disturbs me. It leads people to one of my articles about why lawyers hate their jobs, and so I wanted to drill […]

You know you’re supposed to build a network, but you’re not sure why, or how. As a young lawyer the process of building a network of relevant, meaningful industry contacts can be daunting. As a result, we let our fear and uncertainty get in the way, stopping us from working on it from the outset. […]

All lawyers have a personal brand, one way or another.  But is it the one that they actually want to have? How do you want to be perceived?  Clever?  Arrogant?  Funny? Silly?  Engaging? Aloof? Perhaps you know you need a personal brand but you’re afraid of putting yourself out there?  What are the risks?  What […]

You’ve probably decided on some aspirations right?  Set some bold targets? Well that’s not enough. You’ve got to set goals that are meaningful, optimistic, achievable but most of all you’ve got to drill down to things that you can actually do, not just an aspirational target that you probably won’t bother working on until you […]

One of the most common things I come across amongst lawyers is a perception that using social media for business development is a complete waste of time. It’s an interesting perspective, because all the same people are happy to waste a tonne of time on Facebook for personal reasons – they just haven’t figured out […]

What do you view as the essential elements of legal practice? Well in this podcast I discuss what I see as the four main pillars of legal practice, with a preview for you of the Essentials Library. The Essentials Library is a compilation of material that I’ve put together to take young lawyers through the […]

It’s the yearning of many young lawyer – to travel overseas, earn money, eat good food and generally explore the world while not going broke in the process. But as we start to convince ourselves that overseas travel is a good idea, a few little white lies begin to creep in. Sorting the truth from […]

One of the transitions that all young lawyers need to make after they start in the profession is to begin to understand their sense of worth. In today’s podcast episode I explore how young lawyers can begin to appreciate their worth through three major areas of legal practice. Attitude to Legal Practice First I take […]

Lawyers have an overarching problem.  We’re all fundamentally defective when it comes to our own ability to progress our careers. The problem is fear of not being perfect. You see, our training requires us to be so averse to something going wrong, that we ultimately end up paranoid with fear about doing anything at all. […]

In the ever increasing job market that’s not too favourable to young lawyers, we’re seeing a never ending string of clones applying for jobs. Endless resumes full of identical grades, achievements and desires. False promises about dedication to the field. One trick ponies. People who just happen to have volunteered only in law, worked only […]

Closing off on our series about people who hate lawyers, in this podcast I talk about how I suggest reacting to the “anti lawyer” approach that some people have. Specifically, I talk about: What to do when Uncle Bob tells you at a family barbecue how much he hates lawyers; The Zorro Circle; Why people who […]

Lawyers have a special place in the community. At their highest, the legal professional is a trusted advisor, assisting their client in all aspects of their decision making in business. However, variously, lawyers are also the butt of jokes, the object of skepticism or hatred, and viewed as a necessarily evil.  We can be told […]