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Women Owned Law Remembers Charlotte E. Ray

by Mandy Rosenblum | Law Office of Mandy C Rosenblum, LLC

Female entrepreneurship in the law is the lifeblood of Women Owned Law. We would not exist but for the efforts of the many brave women who fought their way into the profession. For Women’s History Month, we encourage you to recognize the courageousness and drive of Charlotte E. Ray.

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WOL Names New President and Officers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACTS:

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How Five Daily Minutes on LinkedIn May Lead to New Business, Referrals and Stronger Relationships

by Beth Granger | Granger Granger Consulting

LinkedIn provides all sorts of information, but rarely tells users what to do with what they learn from it. Some people limit their time on LinkedIn, when they could engage more strategically.

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15 Tech, Time and Office Management Tips for 2022

The New Year is upon us and you’re eager to dive in and make changes in your practice, your finances and managing your time.

Consider some of these tips gleaned from your Women Owned Law colleagues as you charge into 2022.

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Greet the Season with a Holiday Greeting e-Card

by Janet Falk, Ph.D. | Falk Communications and Research

If you haven’t already sent your holiday greeting card, do not panic.

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The Fork in the Road – Two Paths for Small Law Firms to Grow

by Jennifer Gillman | Gillman Strategic Group

Small law firm owners and solo practitioners are certainly aware of the phrase, chief cook and bottle washer. Not only are they aware of it, but they also live it every day. As a business owner and practicing lawyer, she must handle everything from the most important tasks to the smallest, most menial tasks. One minute, the lawyer is closing an important deal or arguing a case; the next moment she is ordering office supplies and paying the phone bill. With all these responsibilities, how can she also financially grow her firm? As a legal recruiter, I have seen two paths: merge or hire.

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Is your law firm leveraging online reviews? If not, you could be missing-out on potential leads

by Ashley Robinson | GreenCardiganMarketing.com

Reviews are considered by many as one of (if not THE) most important marketing tools for lawyers. Online reviews have become part of conducting business. With the birth of Yelp! in 2004, reviews are now increasingly important for the customer experience.

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7 Things About Sales They Didn’t Teach You in Law School

 By Jessica Shpall Rosen | Greenwald Doherty

To build and maintain your law practice, you need to be effective at sales.

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From 10 Minutes to Five Figures

by Ivy Slater | Slater Success Coaching

Efficiency equals dollars. This is especially true in the legal field when certain hours of your day are spent on billable tasks and others are spent on all the other stuff. And you know that other stuff can pile up and completely take over on any given day.

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The Do’s and Don’ts of Starting a Solo Law Practice

by Lydia S. Terrill, Esquire | Terrill Family Law LLC

On April 1, 2021, I launched my solo family law practice. I had left my position as an associate attorney at a law firm several months earlier; a comfortable position that allowed me a lot of flexibility to both work and raise a family. However, even with this flexibility, the demands of parenting two small children during a pandemic, while also trying to be an effective and productive associate attorney, became too much.

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The Value of Volunteerism

by Janet Falk, Ph.D. | Falk Communications and Research

You have to be in it to win it. That slogan about the lottery applies to volunteerism as well. The more active you are as a member of Women Owned Law, the more you will benefit.

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WOL Members Write Report on Effect of COVID-19 on the Legal Profession

by Roberta D. Liebenberg | Fine Kaplan & Black

On April 26, 2021, the American Bar Association released a groundbreaking report concerning the profound effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the legal profession and setting forth suggested best practices for legal employers and individual lawyers as we emerge from the pandemic and confront the many significant changes that have occurred in the practice of law over the past year.  The report, “Practicing Law in the Pandemic and Moving Forward,” was written by Roberta “Bobbi” Liebenberg and Stephanie Scharf, who are principals of The Red Bee Group and former Chairs of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession. The report is based on a survey of more than 4,200 ABA members, one of the largest ever by the Association, that was conducted in the Fall of 2020. Among the key findings:

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WOL 2021 Symposium - An Attendees Perspective

By Jessica M. Stauring & Denisse Garcia | ND Galli Law LLC

On March 18, 2021 Women Owned Law hosted its second annual Symposium Pivoting Forward Together: Women Entrepreneurs at the Cutting Edge of Law. The Symposium was held over a virtual platform which provided the opportunity to attend panel discussions, “fireside” chats, and an interactive speed-networking session. Denisse, an attorney with ND Galli Law, and Jessica, a co-op student with ND Galli Law, attended the Symposium and highlighted their experiences below!

The Symposium kicked off with a discussion on burnout and resilience with Dr. Paula Davis, Roberta Liebenberg, and Stephanie Scharf. The panelists discussed burnout within the legal profession and provided solutions for addressing the systemic problem that often has a greater effect on women, and particularly women of color. Importantly, Dr. Davis highlighted how burnout is more complex than mere exhaustion and provided attendees with three signs to look for to recognize the difference between stress and burnout: chronic physical and emotional exhaustion, chronic cynicism, and inefficacy or lost impact. As a third-year law student, Jessica found this advice especially helpful to keep in mind as she enters the legal profession. The feelings associated with burnout are often very isolating, so the ability to attend an event like the Symposium where successful women discuss those feelings so openly to provide concrete solutions for moving forward was inspiring. Roberta and Stephanie noted that the failure to address burnout by employers will have long-term negative effects on the type of individuals the profession attracts. Course correcting burnout is necessary for employers to ensure that they are creating diverse teams and making the legal profession accessible to all.

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And Our 2021 Superpower is....

By Gail Cummings, JD, MSS, LCSW, Executive Coach | Psychotherapist, Founder, Gail J. Cummings Consulting, LLC 

After having our world suddenly turned upside down in 2020, it seems that 2021 could not have arrived quickly enough.

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Fire Your Inner Critic and Unleash the Awesome You!

by Barbara Kaplan, BSK Strategies

Promoting our own worth can be uncomfortable for many.  Because there is still a social paradigm shift that needs to occur in how women are viewed in the workplace and how they view themselves, it is critical that we fire that recurring voice in our heads that stands in the way of showing up as the best possible version of ourselves.  

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Racist Language and Origins I Didn’t Always Know

By Gina F. Rubel, Esq., Founder and CEO Furia Rubel

Overt racism is easy to detect and has been brought to the surface for decades. It includes racial slurs like the “n” word, hate crimes, burning crosses, painting swastikas, violence against immigrants, dressing up in blackface or brownface, blatant use of stereotypes, and more. However, there are things I never knew about racist language which have come to the surface while I am learning to be an antiracist.

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For WOL Members interested in ADR and Advancing Women Entrepreneurs

By M. Echevarria, ADR LLC.

As a member of the ABA's Women in Dispute Resolution Committee (aka "WIDR"), a subcommittee within the Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR") I found my path to becoming a neutral was not that different from other committee members. While I had been a FINRA Arbitrator for years handling securities disputes in aid of my practice in the financial services industry as an Insurance Attorney and, or Chief Compliance Officer, once I embarked on developing a full time career in the area I had to ensure that I was properly trained in the process. Quality training is widely available at schools (Pepperdine University), bar association programs (NYCBA) and by service providers such as the American Arbitration Association ("AAA"). Since my interest and prior career was commercially oriented after the basic 40 hour training required for process orientation in mediation, I took specific additional training in Commercial Arbitration and Mediation. At minimum, the court annexed programs require the 40 hour training program and prior experience as a mediator (See, Part 146 Requirements). Frankly I still continue annual training not only because of licensing requirements but also because the law in dispute resolution matters is very dynamic and continues to be a growing area of practice for many lawyers. Witness the fact that mediation and arbitration courses are now offered in many law schools. That was not the case when I went to Law School.

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Three Ways to Improve Your LinkedIn Presence

By Janet Falk, Chief Strategist, Falk Communications and Research

As you know, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional database, with nearly 700 million members. Surely some of them are looking for an attorney with your experience in intellectual property law, personal injury or bankruptcy law. How can you make sure you are found there?

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Lessons from a Managing Partner: How to Scale from Solopreneur to Seven-Figure Law Firm

By Rosanna Berardi, Esq. | Founder | Berardi Immigration Law

June is always a special month for me. Our son, Salvatore, was born on June 2, 2006 and my second child, Berardi Immigration Law, was born on June 24, 2005. It’s hard to believe that I have a 14-year-old son and 15-year-old law firm. I started my firm out of my dusty apartment in Buffalo, New York with one client and a dream. I did the unthinkable—I left the largest law firm in Buffalo to start my own firm. I went from having a team of people take care of my every need (paralegals, secretaries, marketing support) to becoming the Lawyer, HR person, tax expert and cleaning lady. The first years were tough, especially since our dear son didn’t sleep through the night for two years. So how did I scale my firm over the last 15 years? Here are some key lessons I’ve learned along the way:

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Reflections on WOL Symposium

On March 11, 2020 Women Owned Law hosted its first symposium on Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Law. The event included various panels, a variety of networking opportunities and a meeting of entrepreneurs from across the country.

Live and virtual attendees had the opportunity to hear tips for running a law firm or legal business, innovations in the law, partnering with corporations and “big law”, methods for scaling law firms and a key note address on “The Transformative Power of Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Legal Profession: Why Women Owning the Conference Room Matters More Than Just a Seat At the Table” by Carolyn Elefant.

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