Episode 121-John Buckley on Building Your Executive Presence

For a long time, I’ve been meaning to invite a judge onto Counsel to Counsel to talk about judicial careers.  Going on the bench is a logical next step for many litigators and I wanted to speak to a judge who could offer some practical wisdom on the subject.

When I met Paul Wilson at an ABA conference in late 2022, I realized right away that I had a great prospect. 

At the time, Paul was still sitting on the bench, so we decided to wait until he reached mandatory retirement.

Paul is in fact now retired; but he remains very active in a number of law related activities.

In this episode, Paul shares his wisdom on judicial careers.  What does it mean to transition from litigator to judge?  What are the pluses?  What are the potential minuses?  And how do you position yourself for a judgeship?

In the Spring of 2023, The Honorable Paul Wilson retired from the Massachusetts Superior Court, the highest trial court in the Commonwealth.  He sat for over a decade on the Superior Court after being in private practice for 30 years at the law firm of Mintz Levin.

Paul spent most of his career doing real estate, land use, and environmental litigation.  He has always had a strong commitment to public service and has received a number of awards for his pro bono and volunteer efforts.

In the legal press and even in popular media, larger law firms tend to get a most of the attention.  In truth, a high percentage of lawyers in the United States practice in firms that are under 20 attorneys.  And many of those are solo practitioners or very small firms that have broken away from larger firms.

While I know that there are many lawyers who are satisfied with practicing in a large or mid-sized firm, as technology has continued to improve over the last two decades, I have seen many attorneys realize the benefits of running their own practice.

Being your own boss is not for everyone, but I can say as a solopreneur, it can be very rewarding.

I have worked with quite a few lawyers who have left comfortable law firm jobs to go out on their own or join forces with a handful of colleagues.  Most of them are happier on the other side.

The challenge for lawyers who are contemplating this type of move is that they have never run their own business.  Where should the practice be located?  What services should the firm provide?  And perhaps even more challenging:  What technology should you be using to run your practice? Should you hire anyone? What are your obligations to employees? How should you set up your books? Who should do your website or maintain it? and What things should you be outsourcing?

To answer those questions and provide some tips on how to be successful as you launch your own practice, I invited Diane Camacho.  Diane is the owner of DLC Consulting Services, LLC.  She and her team work with established law firms to improve operations and increase profits.  They also help attorneys start their own firms.

Diane has worked with many partners who have decided to break away from much larger firms. She has helped them get set up so that their launch is smooth, and they are set up for future success.

When I graduated from law school in the late 1980s, there was no internet, no email, and fax machines were widely in use.  I used a Dictaphone to generate correspondence and had an assistant to transcribe the tapes.  While working remotely was possible because of the telephone, going into an office was the norm.

In the intervening years, the rate of technological change has been truly astounding.  And while the internet, email, and social media have continued that evolution, in my opinion, the explosion of AI in the practice of law has been the most significant change in my lifetime.

Never before has it been easier to run a practice as a solo.  The array of tools for research, communication, analysis, and drafting are replacing human labor.

I’ve always been interested in technology and while I do try to keep up, technology is not my major. So I’ve invited Colin Levy to talk about the state of the art in legal tech in the practice of law.

Colin S. Levy is a lawyer and legal tech author and speaker. Throughout his career, Colin has seen technology as a key driver in improving how legal services are performed. Because his career has spanned industries, he witnessed myriad issues, from a systemic lack of interest in technology to the high cost of legal services barring entry to consumers.

Now, his mission is to bridge the gap between the tech world and the legal world, advocating for the ways technology can be a useful tool for the lawyer’s tool belt rather than a fear-inducing obstacle to effective legal work. 

Colin is the author of The Legal Tech Ecosystem which discusses the development of the legal tech ecosystem over the past two decades, and how legal technology can help lawyers work more efficiently.  In addition, he is the editor of the Handbook of Legal Tech.

A few years ago, I began seeing Colin come up a lot more in my LinkedIn feed and I realized that is was time to sit down with him and pick his brain!

In this episode we discuss his overall philosophy about the use of technology in the law, his book, the Legal Tech Ecosystem, the biggest obstacles the legal industry faces when it comes to adopting new technology, and his role at Malbek.

Additional Resources

• Episode 120-Scaling Your Law Firm with AI
• Episode 107-ChatGPT and Trends in Legal Marketing Technology-with Jared Correia

We talk a lot on this program about finding ways to build a more satisfying legal career.  While many attorneys are drawn to the profession because they care about justice, they like the idea of becoming a trusted advisor, or they just enjoy the intellectual rigor of being an attorney, status and money are important too. 

But if you are like me, one of the reasons you chose law school rather than business school is because math is not your jam.

If you are a lawyer who has been practicing for a few years and thinking about your financial health and your financial future, you may have questions about paying off your student loans or figuring out how much to start saving for retirement.

Maybe you aren’t sure how to organize your finances now that you are planning for life’s big events like buying a house or starting a family.

Maybe you are thinking about eventually starting your own law practice and you aren’t sure how to get your financial house in order.

James Grace has joined me for a very practical conversation about managing your finances as you get past the early stages of your legal career.

Jim is the Director of Wealth Management for Silver Pine Capital.  Jim worked at regional wealth management agencies and banks before joining Silver Pine.  Jim describes himself as an educator, coach, motivator, confident, coach.  He is also the host of the Modern Financial Wellness podcast.  He is also someone I've gotten to know, like, and trust through my ProVisors business network.

Additional Resources

• Episode 62- Financial & Career Planning for Senior Attorneys
• Episode 93-Planning for Retirement with Julie Jason, The Discerning Investment Advisor

In this episode, I speak with my first “threepeat” guest, Lauren Rikleen.  This is Lauren’s third appearance on Counsel to Counsel. She was actually one of my first guests when I launched the show in 2018.  In that episode, we spoke about success strategies for women and the work she has done on that issue. 

In the Spring of 2022,I invited Lauren back to talk more about her legal career including working in the field of environmental law as it was just taking off. We also spoke about what inspired her to make a career shift away from the practice of law.  If you haven’t already listened to it, I invite you to go back to episode 81.

I met Lauren in the early 1990s when I was at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education and later had the privilege of sitting on her Standing Committee on Work/Life Balance when she was President of the Boston Bar Association.  I knew soon after I met her that Lauren is someone who is not afraid to speak up when she sees injustice.

She is also a person with a big heart who cares not only about making an impact but also about investing in the success of professionals who come from disadvantaged groups.

Most importantly, she laughs at most of my jokes and keeps me laughing as well.

I invited Lauren back because she is the editor of a new book entitled Her Honor. Her Honor is an inspiring compendium of the lives of 25 female judges including many judges of color.  Most of these  judges were women who overcame significant gender and racial discrimination to get to the bench and all of them are judges who felt a great sense of responsibility to continue the fight for racial and gender equity.

I also invited her back to talk about the important work that she is doing through Lawyers Defending American Democracy.

Lauren Rikleen is  President of the Rikleen Institute for Strategic Leadership.  She is also the Executive Director of Lawyers Defending American Democracy. 

Additional Episodes

• Episode 87-The Advancement of Women in Law with Elise Holtzman
• Episode 81-Lauren Rikleen-Rebel with Many Causes

December is a great time to take stock, hit the reset button, and do some planning.   With 2024 around the corner, I’ve been speaking with my clients about setting goals for the new year. 

I’m not talking about making New Year’s resolutions.  It's important to understand that resolutions and goals are not the same. Resolutions often lack specificity and a plan of action, making them easy to abandon. On the other hand, setting clear, well-defined goals lays a foundation for measurable progress and sustained success.

In this episode, I’m pleased to welcome Wendy Merrill and Jennifer Forester, two great coaches who also work with the legal community.  Jen and Wendy are also talking right now to their clients about goal setting and they have some great tips to share.

In our conversation, we speak about setting marketing and business development goals for your law practice. But Wendy and Jen also have some thoughts about other areas in your professional and personal life where setting goals can help ensure that you are moving forward in all aspects of your life.  They also discuss creating a “To Don’t” list.

Jennifer Forester helps lawyers avoid random acts of marketing. She’s a business development coach for corporate and consumer attorneys, drawing on 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and client service roles with big law and boutiques. Jen lives in northern California with her two Boxer dogs and her husband, who is a family law attorney.

Wendy Merrill is a growth strategist, thought leader, and founder of StrategyHorse. StrategyHorse is a consulting firm dedicated to improving law firm profitability through alignment and engagement strategies. For over a decade, Wendy has been working with lawyers and firms to revolutionize the practice of law.  Wendy lives in the DC area.

Additional Resources

• Episode 109-Sarah Tetlow on Delegating and Dealing with Distraction
• Episode 57- Billable Work v. Investment Hours (Dr. Sarah Reiff-Hekking on Time Management)

As attorneys, we share many qualities that make us effective in representing our clients.  Our skepticism, aversion to risk, sense of urgency, competitiveness, and pessimism, can all be good for out clients.

But when it comes to building a practice, advancing our careers, or taking on leadership roles, we are more effective when we remove our lawyering hats.

As it turns out, these qualities can also have a pernicious effect on our mental health.

In this episode of Counsel to Counsel, I share my thoughts on why it is important to stop thinking and acting like a lawyer in social situations.

Additional Resources

• Stop Thinking (and Acting) Like a Lawyer–unless you are giving legal advice!
• Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers of Massachusetts- free and confidential mental health and substance abuse services for attorneys (check your state bar for similar resources in other states)
• Episode 70-Shailini George on Doing Well and Being Well in the Law

It is axiomatic that if you want to have a successful legal career, you need to learn your craft. Most areas of legal practice require highly refined analytical abilities coupled with good judgment. For the most part, the first developmental task of any new lawyer is to learn how to practice law.

But if you want to advance in your career, you need to be more than a good technician.  Demonstrating executive presence is also key.

In this episode, I am pleased to introduce John Buckley, Board Secretary and General Counsel for the North Carolina operations of a multinational mobility infrastructure company.  John talks about how building your executive presence is critical to advancing your career, especially if you want to want to take on leadership responsibilities.

In a great conversation, John discusses what executive presence is, who needs it, and what it looks like. He offers his practical tips on how increase your own executive presence.

Over the summer, I heard John give a great presentation on this topic for the American Bar Association and I decided I had to have him on the show.  Lucky for me, he accepted my invitation right away.

John Buckley has served 3 times as the first in-house counsel for start-ups.  He has 15 years of solo/small law department General Counsel experience.  He began his professional life as an engineer for Duke Power.

Additional Resources

• Ted Lasso (🍎TV+) and Lessons in Leadership and Performance
• 15 Tips for Leadership Success
• Episode 118-Paths to Partnership in 2023 and Beyond-With Laura Terrell
• Episode 103-Ben Sachs on Building High-Performance Legal Teams
• Episode 87-The Advancement of Women in Law with Elise Holtzman
• Episode 80-Leadership for Lawyers-Moving Up in Your Law Firm or Corporate Law Department

Artificial Intelligence continues to be a big unknown in the legal space.  It holds tremendous promise for streamlining the delivery of legal services and is already being deployed to expedite discovery, to help draft contracts, to assist with client intake, and to streamline many other functions that once required a lot more human labor. 

AI is now being used by some lawyers to help assess the strength of their cases, to expedite legal research, and to draft pleadings.

I know that I myself am using ChatGPT to help me prepare for presentations, craft social media posts, and to get quickly up to speed on an array of subjects that are of interest to my clients.

 At the same time, the use of AI raises legitimate ethical concerns. It also raises concerns about the need for so many lawyers. 

But according to my guest, Hamid Kohan, AI won’t replace lawyers.  It will replace lawyers and other professionals who don’t use AI.

Hamid Kohan is a serial entrepreneur, public speaker, and author of the book How to Scale Your Stupid AI Law Firm.

Hamid started his career in silicon valley where he served as Director of Business Development of Sun Microsystems, working alongside Eric Schmidt who is today the CEO of Google and Carol Bartz  the CEO of Yahoo.

More recently, Hamid saw an opportunity to bring his expertise in technology and business development to the legal world, and he founded Legal Soft Inc. in 2016.

In this episode, Hamid will answer some questions about where we are in 2023 with the use of AI in the practice of law.

Other Resources

Episode 107-ChatGPT and Trends in Legal Marketing Technology-with Jared Correia

In the past year, I’ve done a number of interviews with lawyers who have transitioned from the traditional practice of law into other corporate or consulting roles. In this episode, I speak with Shawn Hoyt about how to transition into an operations role in a corporate environment.

Shawn is someone who has thought a lot about managing his own career and he has a unique perspective on career advancement.

Shawn Hoyt is a Vice President at OutSystems.  He began his legal career as a corporate associate at a large law firm. In 1999, I actually recruited him to his first in-house legal job.  Over time, his responsibilities expanded way beyond legal.

Shawn brings an unusual perspective on how to get more from your legal career and how to transition into much broader roles.

Shawn is a senior legal and operational executive who has led a broad range of teams through periods of both rapid growth and transition. He has deep functional experience running commercial, Deal Desk, pricing, proposal/RFP, contracting, deal operations, vendor management, and legal teams.

But he has also managed People, Talent Acquisition, Office Operations, IT, Security, Finance, and Leadership operations through periods of transition.

Related Episodes

·       Episode 114-From Biglaw to In-house to Business Role and Back Again with Carl Berglind

·       Episode 113-From Litigation to Trial Consulting with Marc Diller

Episode 112-From Corporate Counsel to Management Consultant-Leveraging Your Legal Career with David Lesser