Marketing Attorney BlogABA Law Practice Today — Attorney Professional Development Goals by Generation
Authoring this blog post after serving as an issue editor for the Professional Development edition (February 2025) of the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Today webzine, I suddenly was having a sense of déjà vu. Turns out I was the issue editor of LPT’s multigenerational and multicultural issues nearly 10 years ago, in March 2015. I had little recollection of it. You can even compare what I wrote on the subject matter a decade ago in Law Firm Management Struggles with Multi-Generational Issues. News flash: We’ve been discussing this for well over a decade now.
There is significant overlap between business development and professional development within a law firm. During the four years I chaired the ABA’s Standing Committee on Continuing Legal Education (SCOCLE), and the seven years in total I served on the committee, I was involved with the Professional Development Consortium as well. Every law firm is different in the way they incorporate BD into PD, and at what stage. In a conversation I had recently with a law firm PD professional, she tossed a bunch of enlightening (if not scary) statistics at me regarding incoming attorney classes—how short their stay at the firm will likely be, demands for WFH (look it up, of you don’t know it already), work-life balance, and other “asks” that would’ve ensured I never got a job in an interview when I was getting out of law school (circa early 90s…1990s, not 1890s). But times have changed. I recently read a Law360 article with tips on how associates can thrive in a hybrid work environment…realizing that those “tips” were from a Big Law partner around my age (again 1900s, not 1800s, and certainly not 2000s)…and were what he would do, not necessarily what a young associate might find helpful.
If I’m issue editing the subject another 10 years from now, in 2025, something went drastically wrong with my retirement plans. But it will be interesting to see how things might change, or don’t.
In the January 20, 2025, episode of the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Podcast, host Terrell Turner discusses the complexities of legal marketing with me in this 30-minute discussion available on americanbar.org as well as in your favorite podcast library, including Spotify and Apple.
It would seem like a no-brainer. You or a family member, relative or friend needs a lawyer. Hey, I’m a lawyer. I know lots of lawyers. That should be easy. But in many cases, it is not. We know the practice areas we know. And in many cases, those are not necessarily typical consumer-facing ones. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had commercial real estate attorneys complain to me about getting calls from Jane Doe for a residential commercial real estate transaction. Or an employment lawyer getting a call from John Doe to represent him against the very company that is your client. I remind them that the public does not typically know the difference between plaintiff side and defense, or a real estate attorney handling multi-million-dollar commercial transactions and not interesting in reviewing your kid’s college apartment lease (which many of us have done). This all traces back to us—the “educated” consumer that is a lawyer and needs a lawyer. It should be so simple.
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