Are You Playing A Good Game? How to Improve Your Career and Move to the Major Leagues

By Chere B. EstrinHave you ever participated professionally in a competitive sport? Are you familiar with the approaches in which professionals train for one? If you look deeply, you will see a strong resemblance in principal to sports and the legal professional field. The reality is, if we focus on the actual mechanics of what we do over a period of time, we can see that we receive results...

5 Tips for Making Recruiters Your Best Friend and Career Miracle Worker

  Recruiters can be your best ally in developing your career. It’s that time again. We struggle as to whether it’s time to change jobs, hang in there or be thankful we’re in the best firm in the world. Well, maybe the best. OK, the best so far. Working with a good recruiter can help make your career. Here’s the inside scoop: Recruiters, and I am talking about the staffing agency kind,...

How to Become a Virtual Legal Assistant

Is there a brand new career just waiting for you? What exactly is a Virtual Assistant or VA?  Simply put, a VA is someone who works remotely, online whether from their home or office. They are independent contractors or employees who work and use technology to deliver services. They provide administrative, technical, social media and creative services to clients. Virtual assistants specialize...

9 Passive-Aggressive Email Phrases You Are Probably Using

You might have noticed some of your bosses and colleagues and friends getting somewhat, well, downright testy during this Coronavirus time. No wonder! Huge changes, disruption of business and home life, financial woes, uncertainty about the future, little or no social contact and that stay-at-home confinement we are all getting tired of. What I noticed is the effect this crazy upside-down time is...

It’s My Birthday and I’ll Cry If I Want To…..Staying positive in the age of Coronaville

Today is my birthday. It’s one of those Big-O numbers. It's the kind where AARP tracks you down. I don’t mind, really. I feel more confident than ever – nothing much shakes me up too much anymore. With things the way they are in this upside- down world, the day has caused me to review my current situation: My business, legal staffing, is the third largest industry to be hit next to...

How to Convince Your Firm Working Remotely is the Way to Go

It's finally happened and it took a pandemic to bring it about: Law firms are finally recognizing that allowing employees to work remotely does work. Law firms have always been slow to change. That's a fact. Back in the days when computers were just coming about, lawyers felt they didn't want them because it would interfere with billable time. Fast forward several years later, and law firms did...

Do you have a Plan B that rocks? How to protect your career in the Covid19 era.

It's so tough out there right now! One day, we are not supposed to wear masks; the next, we should have been wearing them all along. One week, we are sure about a remedy based on the trials. The next week, it didn't work.  A few weeks ago, younger people were safe. That theory was based upon data from Europe. It turns out that in the U.S., younger people are just as vulnerable as...

How I Spent My Covid Staycation

For those of us with stay-at-home orders, which is just about the entire world, there are little challenges that are coming up while we bravely wait out the end of the Covid-19 virus. I know these may sound petty in the scheme of things but having your world turned upside down with no end in sight can be pretty intimidating. It does, however, give you a new appreciation for what we take for...

Are You in the Next Round of Lay-offs? Coping in the Time of Covid-19

By Chere B. Estrin It's happening all over the U.S., the world and yes, even in the legal field. Lay-offs. That ugly, depressing, stress-ridden word. I am usually a very upbeat, positive person. Yet, along with the rest of us, witnessing this world crisis is something that is impossibly hard to get your arms around. It's like living in a Kafka scene. I am not facing fear, rather, dread. I...

It Must Be Time to Quit My Job When…..

Quitting a job is tough. Sometimes, it's harder to quit a job than it is to seek a new one. You hesitate to make the move because you are asking yourself: How will the firm get along with out me? Will I have enough time to train my replacement? They just gave me a raise. Someone is going to get mad at me. I know what I have and don't know what I'll get into." And other career blocking...