|
|
|
To contact Cordell about conducting training seminars for your attorneys or speaking at your law firm retreat: Call Joyce Flo @ 214-866-0550 or Email Cordell
|
Recent Articles by Cordell
Developing Peak Selling Practice Groups and Rainmaker Junior Partners: A Game Plan for the Business Development Professional - LSSO Review Q307
"Cordell, you are not a real lawyer. You are nothing but a salesman." With those words, a former partner thought he had paid me the ultimate insult. Instead, he helped me understand what you, as business development professionals, deal with every single day. Business development for lawyers is frankly not very complicated. I think your biggest challenge is finding creative ways to get lawyers away from their desks to actually do it. As a lawyer who has spent a career "selling," I believe you can make a significant impact with practice groups and junior partners by starting with the basics. In this article I want to share with you how you might help them get started.
To read the rest of this article: 
Download PDF Document
Developing The Next Generation Of Remarkable Lawyers
The Practical Lawyer - October 2007
Are your star associates staying with your firm? Are they learning the skills that make them valuable to your clients? Are your partners behind the effort to train and develop the associates? What are effective ways to train and develop them?
I got the opportunity to answer these questions during a presentation to managing partners at an annual bar association meeting. I loved the title they gave me. It gave me the opportunity to focus on how to connect with the "next generation," make the business case for developing them, and then give specific ideas on how to do it. Here are my thoughts on this important topic.
There are likely several reasons that focusing on developing the "next generation" is important. But, I want to address two reasons here. First, Stephen Covey, the famed author and speaker talks about our desire to live, to learn, to love, and to leave a legacy. As law firm leaders we can only leave a legacy if we are developing the next generation of our lawyers to make our firm even more special. Second, when we use the term "next generation," we must realize they are unique, special, and differ in many ways from our own generation. Much has been written about the "X" generation and the "Y" generation and how their ideas and values differ from those of us who are baby boomers. I learned this the hard way when I was made the partner in charge of attorney development. New lawyers want to be part of a law firm that:
To read the rest of this article: Download PDF Document
Career Success and Life Fulfillment
Marketing The Law Firm - August 2007
I have always enjoyed trying to understand why some people are very successful and why others are not. Interestingly, I have found many of the most successful people also have greater fulfillment in their personal and family lives. How can this be so? Put simply, they understand both their career and life priorities, they develop a plan based on these priorities, and they use their time wisely. Most of us start our law careers with great enthusiasm and then, to borrow a phrase from a new Seth Godin book, "we hit the dip". This clarity of career and life priorities helps successful lawyers get through the dips.
ATTITUDE
You must have the right attitude to succeed. We all talk to ourselves. What are you telling yourself? What are you telling others? What you say to yourself and others often conveys your attitude, the way you think about things. I listen to what young lawyers are saying so I can learn what they are likely saying to themselves. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, less successful lawyers see the problem in every opportunity, and successful lawyers see the opportunity in every problem. I have found that less successful lawyers frequently say: "Yes, but ... " Successful lawyers say: "Sure, how?"
VISION
Second, successful lawyers have vision: They know what they want to accomplish this year. They know where they want to be five years from now. Many successful lawyers even have lifetime goals. Having a clear vision and a definite purpose for where you want to go in your career enables you to accomplish your career goals; it's also how you find more time for your family and those other areas of your life that are important to you.
WHAT TO DO
Do you want to feel in control of your career and focus on your priorities? Would you like this next year to be your best year ever? If your answer is "Sure, how?" then you will want to review, and even implement, the following tips. I created these tips from reflecting on what I have done over the years that helped me in my career, and by examining the lives of lawyers and others who found success in both their career and personal life.
To read the TOP 10 TIPS FOR CAREER SUCCESS AND LIFE FULFILLMENT: Download PDF Document
Cordell's Latest Books
Rising Star |
Prepare To Win |
||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||
|
"Rising Star is a motivating book that not only tells the compelling story of a young woman trying to juggle family and a challenging law practice, but also provides all the tools a lawyer needs to put his or her career on the path to success. Rising Star should be mandatory reading material in law school." Karen Crump, Attorney |
|
A Lawyer's Guide to Rainmaking, Career Success and Life Fulfillment In Prepare to Win, Cordell Parvin teaches young lawyers in small and large firms how to become rainmakers by taking responsibility for their careers. Prepare to Win is written as a workbook. As you answer the questions, you will learn to define your purpose and priorities. Go ahead - Prepare to Win |
|
Free e-copy sample of Ciao, Rising Star, or Prepare to Win
For those who own Rising Star, download Business Plan
Look At These
Video |
Audio |
Blog | ||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TexasBarCLE / TYLA
|
PBA YLD Summer Conference 2006: Strategies for Your Career and Your Life
|
Law Consulting Blog
Get involved in our online discussion about careers, goals and life.
|
