Zen & the Art of Legal Networking

Join us for this week’s rainmaking recommendation from trainer and coach, Jaimie Field.

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We all know that attorneys hate the words “sales,” “selling,” “sell,” and so forth.  To lawyers, these words are genuinely offensive.

One of the biggest excuses I get for lawyers not becoming Rainmakers is “I didn’t go to law school to become a salesperson.”  In fact, I had used this excuse when I first started practicing.

This afternoon, I have the great fortune to be sitting in on a program by the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession on “Deconstructing Racial Bias.” Their first speaker was Sharon Jones, the CEO of Jones Diversity Inc. and author of Mastering the Game: Strategies for Career Success. She had many brilliant and sobering things to share with the audience, but the one that she left us with was the idea that firms and companies shouldn’t be striving for color-blindness. You may be familiar with this idea as  people saying “I don’t see color,” or “the ideal world is where we don’t recognize color.” But what we should be striving for instead is color-inclusion.

Almost ten years ago, I attended a general counsel panel about achieving greater collaboration and the clients who participated shared their top takeaways for lawyers and law firms. I’m not sure whether it speaks to the constancy of the legal profession that this advice holds true for today, or we are just still not getting it, but while there are definitely some sophisticated clients needs in the market today, the basics remain the same:

Join us for our latest episode of the Law Firm ILN-telligence podcast!

Join us for this week’s rainmaking recommendation from trainer and coach, Jaimie Field.

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In this very brief Rainmaking Recommendation, I would like to both vent my annoyance as well as tell you how to avoid ticking off your clients and prospects.

Please join us for a guest post from rainmaking trainer and expert, Jaimie Field.

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For the past 4 Rainmaking Recommendations, we have been discussing the Rainmaking Cycle.  Today, we discuss the last part, creating relationships. And while to some attorneys this may sound a bit woo-woo or spiritual, the truth is that people do business with people they know, like, and trust.

I’m working on a new podcast with some friends of mine, and our topic for yesterday was the idea of “self care” and what it means. One of them mentioned that she hadn’t even heard the term “self-care” until 18 months ago, and while it was more familiar to me, we did delve into the idea that had it not been for the pandemic, we didn’t think it was something that we would have come to reflect on as much.

As someone with a MAJOR type-A personality (ask anyone who knows me), who is a wee bit of a workaholic, my idea of self care has always been things like guiltily scheduling a massage during one of the hours I get to myself during a work conference or not checking my email while with family (I live alone, so…that’s not very often). This might sound noble, but I assure you, it isn’t.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not that…the ILN’s Corporate Guide has been released!

The International Lawyers Network’s Corporate Specialty Group is delighted to announce the seventh release of its corporate publication, “Establishing a Business Entity: An International Guide.” This collaborative electronic guide offers a summary of key corporate law principles in 45 countries across the globe, serving as a quick, practical reference for those establishing an entity in these jurisdictions.