Legal Careers Advice : An Interview with Bizymoms Top Blogger 2010 Recipients Stephen Seckler

Legal Careers Advice

Stephen Seckler is an entrepreneurial attorney who has spent the last 20 years helping lawyers with their careers. He coaches attorneys on how to market more effectively and counsels a cross section of the bar on career issues. For four years, he served as Managing Director of the Boston office of BCG Attorney Search. He maintains a blog on career and marketing issues facing the legal community at Counsel to Counsel, which is an affiliate of the Law.Com Network. Counsel to Counsel has twice been named to the ABA Journal's Blawg100, the 100 best Web sites by lawyers, for lawyers, as chosen by the editors of the ABA Journal.

1. In the legal career advice offered in your blog, what range of topics do you cover?

In my blog CounseltoCounsel, I write about career and marketing issues facing lawyers. I write about work/life balance, career satisfaction and building your law practice.

2. Please describe the importance of legal marketing for lawyers.

Thirty years ago, the law was a profession first and a business second. While law remains a profession, now more than ever, the ability to generate legal work is important for career success in private practice. A lawyer who has the ability to generate his or her own work has a lot more options in today’s environment.

3. What tips and advice can you offer an amateur lawyer about marketing him or herself?

Start early in your career. Building a law practice is like investing for retirement. The sooner you start doing it, the sooner you will yield the returns you desire. It can take years to develop the reputation and build the relationships you need to succeed. As a young lawyer, begin by cultivating peer relationships that may someday yield legal work. Develop a niche that you can use to differentiate yourself from other lawyers.

4. What are in-house legal careers?

In-house legal careers are careers where attorneys work inside a corporation. Unlike private practice, in-house practice means that you are on the expense side of the ledger. While you do not have to look for work in the same way you do in private practice (though a good in-house attorney is often marketing him or herself internally), the down side is that you are not the raison d’etre of the company. You are there to help the company manage risk. On the other hand, many in-house counsel report that it is easier to create work/life balance from an in-house position.

5. Right now, what are the best legal careers which aspiring law students should aim at getting?

It is very difficult to guess which areas of the law will be “hot” when current law students enter the job market. The best advice I can give is to follow your interests. That way, at least you will be pursuing something that interests you.

6. If a lawyer comes to you for advice for personal legal marketing, what program will you send him through?

I begin all of my coaching assignments by assessing where my clients are with marketing (or by evaluating what career issues they would like to address with me.) I then have my coaches spend some time documenting what they have already been doing in the areas of marketing and business development (to help formulate a plan of action.) The bulk of my coaching involves helping my clients set goals and stick to assigned tasks that further these goals.

7. What marketing advice can you give an up and coming law practice?

The best advice I can give an up and coming law practice is 1) be realistic about how long it can take to generate work, and 2) choose a niche that you market relentlessly through many different channels (writing, speaking, social media, general networking).