Will You Survive? How Trump’s Upheaval is Reshaping Your Legal Career By Chere B. Estrin I had the honor of delivering the keynote address for the Illinois Paralegal Association conference. Initially, we envisioned a lighthearted discussion on emerging job trends in the legal field where opportunities were growing and how professionals could position themselves for success. However, in just a...
Chere Estrin's "Are You Pretty Enough for your Job" was Featured in an Article on Fortune Magazine
10/27/21 Issue "Age discrimination is a problem. Botox isn’t the solution" the article's author Emily Peck jumps right in ... "Even as companies struggle to hire amid labor shortages and the so-called Great Resignation, older workers are having trouble finding jobs. Particularly women. Sixty-nine...
By Chere B. Estrin What if the hiring question for 2026 isn’t simply, “How many associates do we take?” It’s also, “Who trains the ones we do?” The 2026 Citi Hildebrandt Client Advisory provides a useful starting point. Its July 2025 survey projected an average first-year associate class of 109 for 2025, compared with 120 in 2024. That was broadly consistent with earlier classes: 109...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPXJVfh2XSY
Aligned & Amplified
hosted by Jaime Ellithorpe
Special Guest: Chere Estrin
Episode Description:
What does it really take to build a successful business in the legal industry?
Chere “Sherry” Estrin has spent decades finding out.
In this candid conversation on the Aligned and Amplified podcast, Estrin shares the story behind her...
A survival guide for Legal Professionals working across four generations of lawyers, supervisors, and colleagues By Chere B. Estrin Walk into almost any law office, and you may find a senior partner dictating a letter, a Gen X supervisor answering an email with one word, a Millennial updating a color-coded project tracker, and a Gen Z paralegal quietly automating a task everyone else has...
The Fractional C-Suite Is Changing How Law Firms Get Leadership For years, law firms had two basic choices when they needed serious executive leadership: hire someone full-time or muddle through without them. Need a CFO? Hire one. Need a COO? Start a search. Need someone to take charge of cybersecurity, AI, marketing, or strategy? Create another C-suite position, negotiate the salary and bonus,...
Bad advice. Ancient rules. Perfect interview answers. And other things we really need to stop believing. By Chere B. Estrin I've been in legal recruiting long enough to have heard approximately 14 billion pieces of career advice. Some of it is excellent. Some of it was excellent in 1996. Unfortunately, I remember it well. And some of it needs to be taken outside, thanked for its service and...
There are few workplace traditions quite as bizarre as the annual performance review. Once a year, you are invited into a conference room—or, these days, onto a Zoom call—to learn how you’ve apparently been doing for the previous 12 months. Twelve months. That’s 365 days of work, deadlines, emergencies, impossible clients, last-minute filings, partner requests, new software, staffing...
Really? Why does everyone say that? Let's translate it."I survived another week.""Only two more days until I have to go back.""For the next 48 hours, nobody can email me asking if I have time for 'just a quick question.'" Think about it. If Friday is the happiest day of your week...what does that say about Monday through Thursday? Some legal professionals worked 90 hours this week. Some...
by Chere B. Estrin Originally Published by the ABA - Jul 05, 2026 6 min read Summary Paralegals don’t leave jobs; they leave poor management, limited growth, and underutilized skills. Motivation isn’t perks or pay; it’s engagement, feedback, purpose, and meaningful responsibility. Firms that systemize management retain talent, increase utilization, and drive...
How Mid-Career Legal Professionals Create Their Own Path to Growth, Leadership, and Longevity By Chere B. Estrin At some point in every legal professional’s career, a funny thing happens. You stop worrying about whether you can do the job. You know you can. You've survived impossible deadlines, trial war rooms, impossible attorneys, impossible clients, impossible software conversions, and at...
by Tina Johnson The moments in life that take you high and low, and within all the in-betweens, have punched me hard right between my blue, saddened eyes, in connection with my paralegal career covering two decades and my personal life up through age 56. ...
