"Young Lawyers"

Published on: March 15, 2025

ABA 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.

Published on: August 19, 2016

LPT: Great Expectations? Getting a Young Lawyer’s Marketing Efforts off the Ground

by Micah Buchdahl

LP_Today_Logo-e1401945551625 My first sit-downs with law firm management to discuss marketing strategies were 20 years ago. In the subsequent two decades, I held those discussions in the board rooms of Amlaw 100 law firms and in conference rooms of law firms with ten or fewer. Their approach to marketing expectations from young attorneys was consistently inconsistent.

Back then I was somewhat of a young lawyer. At least youngish. Not so much anymore. But there is certainly an increase in business development training and marketing support for newer attorneys. How quickly you are expected to assume a marketing role depends on the law firm. The larger the law firm, the less likely you will be asked to originate business any time soon. However, that does not mean you should not be laying the groundwork for when that expectation arrives.

Small and midsize law firms often like to indoctrinate young lawyers into marketing efforts sooner. After all, everyone at a boutique firm is a potential salesperson when out and about. There is a little more pressure to put you in a position to generate opportunities.

Published on: July 25, 2013

Buchdahl to present Ethics CLE on Building a Book of Business at ABA Annual Meeting

by Micah Buchdahl

If you are attending the upcoming ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, you are welcome to attend this complimentary continuing legal education program being put on by the ABA Young Lawyers Division, at the Palace Hotel (Presidio, Second Floor) on Friday, August 9, 2013 from 11 am-noon PT. For more information, click here, or contact me directly for more information.

Moderated by Amy Drushal, a partner at Trenam Kemker in Tampa, Florida, I will offer tips and strategies alongside panelist Walter Karnstein, in-house counsel at Hewlett-Packard, who will provide the all-important corporate counsel perspective.

ETHICS CLE PROGRAM: Building a Book of Business: Ethical Boundaries and Sound Approaches to Business Development & Marketing

Published on: March 15, 2013

LPT: Young Lawyers Survival Guide

by Micah Buchdahl

This month marks the first of our two annual “Young Lawyers Survival Guide” issues of Law Practice Today, developed in coordination with the ABA’s Young Lawyers Division. Thanks to issue editor Elizabeth Henslee for putting together an outstanding collection of articles designed with the young lawyer audience in mind–although almost all of the content is relevant to attorneys of all ages.

New to LPT this month are two rotating bimonthly features, including Professional Development (now rotating with Career Paths) and Diversity & Inclusion (rotating with Women Rainmakers). This month, Jennifer Bluestein writes about time management. Jen is the Director of Professional Development at Greenberg Traurig. She also serves as Chair of the Professional Development Consortium (PDC). LPT is working with the PDC to produce timely articles on PD. We also welcome a contribution from Aracely Munoz Petrich on watching the Supreme Court with apprehension. Aracely is the vice chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee of the ABA Law Practice Management Section. Professional development and diversity are becoming more and more significant in the day-to-day operations of a law firm. LPT’s editorial board recognizes that there is a demand and interest in more features relating to those important law practice management topics.

A renowned panel of experts from the academic world and law firm world participate in a roundtable discussion, moderated by Nicholas Gaffney of Infinite PR, on what law firms expect from new lawyers. Gaffney’s roundtable series appears a few times each year, and provides multiple perspectives on our monthly issue themes.