May 2009

 

Career Options In and Out of Law

 

 

No CLE Credits Applied For - PARTICIPATION IN THIS SEMINAR IS CONFIDENTIAL. By enrolling you agree to respect the privacy of other attendees. Colorado Bar Association CLE does not release registrant information.

 

 

Program Highlights

 

- Where Have You Been, and Where Are You Now?

- Discovering the Career Options In, Related To, and Out of the Law

- The Steps to Career Development: Developing Clarity on Who You Are

- How Do You Get There? Developing a Career Strategy Plan

 

 

Program Description

 

Do you wish you could feel happier in your work, but you know something is wrong? If you answered “yes”, you are not alone. There are many lawyers who are examining whether the job they currently hold is the right one for them, or whether they should even stay in the legal field. If you are one of those individuals who want to cultivate increased job satisfaction, it is beneficial to spend some time reflecting upon your reasons for wanting to leave your job. You might come to the conclusion that you do not have to completely leave the profession, but instead can find a legal job that better fits your abilities, interests, and work style. And, individuals who decide to examine the various options outside of law are often very surprised at how their legal training has developed useful, transferable skills that are much in demand in the workplace.

 

 

Topics

 

- What are your current dissatisfactions? Profession, specific job, personal?

- How to evaluate your current job and develop helpful criteria to assess future jobs

- How to create career satisfaction within your current position or the law

 

- Should you stay in the law?

- Option considerations: factors and issues in job/career choice

- How to research career options

- What are the various options?

A. In Law

B. Related to Law

C. Outside of Law

- Success stories

 

- What do you have to offer?

- What are your transferable skills?

A. Generally useful skills developed in law school and legal practice

B. How to present these skills in interviewing

- What interests you, and what do you need?

A. What are your core values?

B. What makes work valued and real to you?

- Questions to help you focus on your skills, interests, and needs

 

- Networking

- Information interviews and job interviews

- Resumes

- Overcoming lawyer stereotypes

 

 

Faculty:

 

Hindi Greenberg, the President of Lawyers in Transition, received her undergraduate degree in English literature and studio art from the University of Minnesota before graduating in the top ten percent of her class from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco in 1974.She then clerked for two years for a Superior Court in California and the Chief Justice of the High Court of American Samoa. She was then a business litigator for eight years at one of the largest San Francisco law firms, in a small San Francisco law firm, and in a corporation. From 1985 to 1991, while running Lawyers in Transition, she also worked for various law firms as an independent contractor. Hindi formed Lawyers in Transition in 1985 in San Francisco to provide information and resources to help law students and attorneys identify and move forward into new career choices both in and outside law and to assist law firms to retain the best associates. Lawyers in Transition also works with law firms and corporate legal departments to assist them in "outplacing" their departing lawyers. Lawyers in Transition has assisted more than 15,000 lawyers nationwide.

 

As the president of Lawyers in Transition, Ms. Greenberg is nationally known for her experience on the topic of attorney career (dis)satisfaction and options. She consults nationally with individual attorneys and law firms, and writes articles on lawyer dissatisfaction, career satisfaction solutions and career options. Ms. Greenberg has had numerous articles on career satisfaction and options published in legal newspapers, including many major legal papers in the country, as well as in bar association magazines and business newspapers. She is the author of the highly acclaimed book, The Lawyer's Career Change Handbook, published by HarperCollins.