About the Blog
Having built a successful career as a diverse business lawyer, my goal is to share hard-earned lessons from my perspective and to celebrate some of the many business lawyers of color who inspire me—in-house, at large, and small law firms, ranging in experience from just a few years to north of thirty—all over the country.
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When I was a young lawyer, I dreaded criticism. I heard it as, “you suck.” It took me many years to learn that criticism — even if delivered bluntly and rudely — is a gift. It is an opportunity to learn what matters to other people so you can communicate with or for them more […]
I’m writing some articles for the pages of Above the Law on effective strategies that can be used to further diversify the legal profession. You can get to them from my blog here.
How In-House Counsel Can Increase The Ranks Of Their Minority Outside Counsel
No matter the budget constraints, championing diversity is worth it. Many law departments are revisiting efforts to diversify their outside counsel ranks through getting more lawyers of color on their cases. A plethora of benchmarking tools, carrot-and-stick models, and consultants abound. Many such activities require significant budgets or structural changes that can be hard for […]
A few of my recent posts on LinkedIn
A few of my recent posts on LinkedIn
How to Avoid a Lawyer Layoff: Think Gardening
Lawyer layoffs are everywhere. Can you insure yourself from them so great job offers and opportunities always come your way? Think gardening. You love berries, fresh spinach, juicy peaches. Do you throw seeds in the dirt a few times a year? Or till the ground and tend your garden? Tossing seed may yield some raggedy
Failure is not just an option…
its the best way to learn! Two of my favorite LinkedIn reads, Meyling “Mey” Ly Ortiz and Olga V. Mack, posted today about failure, and how much we can learn from it. And I’ve seen a few law student/young lawyer comments about how exhausting it can be to read here about other people’s successes, making
The world is on fire. Yes, this is about business.
It’s 8:25 pm in Downtown L.A. on Friday, May 29. For the first time in months, there are no cheers at 8pm sharp for front line workers. Instead, police helicopters swarm overhead, sirens and horns and voices blare. People are in the street and on the freeway, some of them taunting the police, obstructing squad
Rockstar Lawyers Lose Their Jobs Too
I’ve lately talked to multiple talented young lawyers ejected (or soon to be) from their jobs at major firms and in-house alike. If you’re worried about losing yours, or already did, you’re likely embarrassed and uncertain what to do. Here’s some things you can do RIGHT NOW: Up your LinkedIn presence. Make sure your profile
When Lawyers Get Laid Off
…there’s an urge to hide. But it’s a global pandemic so everyone understands—great lawyers are losing their jobs. Craft a narrative of Why (eg, the firm/company cut 10% of my group and I was new) and be ready for the natural follow-ups. More importantly, build up confidence delivering the message. If the first time you
Psst! In-House Counsel—maybe it’s you.
My friend Won Hur and I were talking about how outside counsel are often justifiably lambasted for client-service fails. Then we got to talking about how some in-house counsel are mediocre in making the best use of outside counsel
A very special thank you to Nishan Ardon and his team of digital marketing geniuses for developing and building this blog from my half-baked ideas. The design, layout, images, and feel are all Nishan’s doing. And it was Nishan who urged me to take my LinkedIn posts a large step forward with this blog. So, truly, it would never have happened without his support, creativity, and effort.
