Not long ago, if someone applying for a job in a law firm was emphasizing his "project management skills," he was probably applying for a litigation support or IT position. In the current economic climate threating traditional law firm models, however, project management skills can help differentiate attorney job seekers.
The author of recent post to the Fight the Hypo blog about finding a job as a non-traditional law graduate emphasizes her "complex project management" experience as an example of a non-legal skill "that a 24- or 25-year-old T20 law school grad lacks even if he goes to a "better" school than I do and as an evening student it's an important asset to leverage in your favor." Casebook Sherpa, Fall Recruiting and the Evening Student, Part 2: Selling Your Experience, Fight the Hypo, Aug. 6, 2009, at URL.
A review of David Galbenski's book Unbound in the Nashville Business Journal discusses the author's prediction that the legal market will become increasingly project oriented. It is a rather self-serving prediction given that the book's author is also CEO of legal staffing company Lumen Legal. That doesn't, however, mean he's wrong. I think he's correct and is a smart entrepreneur to capitalize on this trend.
A typical scenario within this new projectized environment is what Galbenski terms the "movie production" model, where:
a lead attorney would be called on to assemble a legal team to handle a case -- akin to a project or production manager hiring a crew for a movie or a concert tour.
"It may not be the resources underneath them at the law firm," Galbrenski says.
Business skills such as leadership and project management will become more highly prized in law, he says. And attorneys may do what many physicians have done -- set up more small group practices -- a movement he says is already taking place as top talent nationwide flees what they perceive to be a sinking ship of Big Law.
Jeannie Naujeck, Shifting strategies: Recession may have long-term effects on law firms, Nashville Business Journal, July 31, 2009, at URL, discussing David Galbenski, Unbound: How Entrepreneurship is Dramatically Transforming Legal Services Today (2009).
So does this mean passing the bar exam isn't the end of lawyers suffering through standardized tests? Should lawyers look to acquire a project management certification?
I'm not sure.
I think that law firms will find management experience desirable, but the legal community does not yet give project management standards and credentials their due. Having the PMP credential, for example, may be valued by potential employers because of the experience it is supposed to represent, but it is the experience they will value, not the certification. In other words, it is the job experience listed on your resume that recruiters care about, not the initials "PMP" or the words "Six Sigma Black Belt" on your name card.
Thanks for the thoughtful post, Paul.
I was trying to express an idea that you capture much better here and at other places on your blog that I ever have, which is that the term "project management" suggests a bundle of skills that, together, enable you to function more effectively as a professional whatever the field. My hope is that an evening student's (presumably) additional years in the professional world give him a leg up on his day division counterparts.
I'll continue to follow your blog to, hopefully, learn more about how project management skills are gaining respect (or not, as the case may be) in the legal community, particularly as I look for summer positions and begin to consider life following graduation in a few years.
Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to share your comments. I wish you the best in your summer job search.
Currently, legal education in the United States supports a law firm model that is broken.
As the current economy continues to wreak havoc on Big Law, my hope is that room is created for new and creative approaches to the provision of legal services. Small, nimble firms willing to experiment with alternative billing models; virtual law offices; contract attorney agencies; legal process outsourcing firms; and other non-traditional legal-service providers seem better poised to take advantage of the skills non-traditional law graduates can offer.
I'd be interested in your thoughts about how law school can better prepare students for the current job market. Can rainmaking be taught? Should clinical programs, negotiation and alternative dispute resolution training be given greater emphasis or even required as part of the core curriculum? Do non-traditional students have a leg up in the current environment because they have more practical experience and what can law schools do to help them leverage this advantage?
I continue to think that non-traditional law students have a leg up because of their practical experience. I'd love for my school to develop tools that assist me in leveraging that advantage.
In terms of legal skills, I'm much less qualified to speak as I'm still outside the legal field. I work in PR by day and go to law school at night.
While my school (Catholic University law school) doesn't push students into clinical programs, they do highlight the "lawyering skills" type classes. ADR and the clinics are always in high demand and have a good reputation. And generally CUA grads have a reputation for being very competent when it comes to skills needed to be an attorney. One thought I've had is to develop a certificate program that focuses on a set of specific skills - including, e.g., negotiation, ADR, interviewing, project management - used in the "real world." That could provide an incentive to students and develop into a credential that firms recognize and look for.
What that means the lawyers will now have to learn management courses before starting their legal practice.
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This is really just a new form of the old argument over whether law schools should focus more on teaching lawyers the practical skills needed to practice, or whether their job is primarily to teach lawyers to "think like lawyers" and leave the practical skills as the responsibility of law firms and on the job training.
With corporate clients increasingly unwilling to pay for this on the job training, including placing restrictions on the use of junior attorneys in the billing requirements for outside counsel, it is increasingly important for lawyers to leave law school with the ability to hit the ground running.
Training in practice and project management are surely part of what is needed to hit the ground running.
I enjoyed your article. Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts. As a practicing attorney with considerable about of experience I have found company's are looking for younger attorneys (roughly 2-8 years experience) for positions. Therefore seasoned experience means nothing. Company's tend to hire younger attorneys with little to no experience so the advice given to highlight experience falls short in my experience. As you age in the attorney profession the career choices made while young are extremely important. My advice is you better choose wisely in the begining. Most employers value youth and in-experience rather than experience.
While I agree that many firms have a myopic preference for youth and "mould-ability" over experience, I don't agree that translates into "seasoned experience means nothing" or that there is no point in highlighting your experience.
A more interesting question, however, which I didn't think of earlier in this discussion, is whether highlighting project-management experience can harm a seasoned attorney applying for a non-management position. In my experience, one of the hurdles that older job applicants struggle to clear is the stereotype that older employees are more difficult to manage--especially if the supervisors are younger.
If you are fresh out of law school or only have a couple years of experience and are looking for work, highlighting your project management, team leading, and organizational skills can be ways to differentiate yourself. If you have 20 years of experience, however, your management experience might further intimidate the hiring party.
While it is an interesting exercise, I think it is beside the point. If an employer is already adverse to hiring someone because they are too experienced or too old, I doubt that sweeping your experience, management or otherwise, under a rug is going to make much of a difference at all.