Bar associations may be the answer to your career aspirations, whether it is a step up within your current law department or firm or just an opportunity to make the right connections that will catapult you to your dream job.
THE ASCENSION ON THE PROFESSIONAL LADDER FOR WOMEN AND minority lawyers can often be a lonely journey, a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows. The setbacks can diminish the glory of even the greatest accomplishments. Often withstanding many challenges and obstacles to achieve what they have accomplished, even established lawyers at the highest levels find themselves facing reflective and frustrating moments during their careers.
Rather than changing jobs or assuming that maybe you have made the wrong career choice, why not take some time to explore your local and state bar associations and use them to open some closed doors?
Bar associations may be the answer to your career aspirations whether it is a step up within your current law department or firm or an opportunity to make the right connections that will catapult you to your dream job or a prominent position on the board of directors at an association or corporation.
The first step to career advancement through bar association involvement is to make some assessments about your future objectives. It is important to be decisive about what your needs are prior to joining. In fact, carefully examining your career goals allows you to align yourself with an association whose objectives are in line with your own—whether it's increased public service involvement or exposure to additional or new business opportunities. Always look objectively at your career goals and where you are at that time.
BAR ASSOCIATIONS CAN OFFER MANY DIFFERENT opportunities to get both exposure and experience. The benefits derived from affiliation with an association have long been underestimated among more seasoned professionals who feel that such contact can only be beneficial to the new attorney. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
Bar associations offer a myriad of support-oriented programs for lawyers at all stages of their careers such as nationwide job fairs, access to member-only job banks, and affiliation with larger national entities and industry-related organizations. Possibly the greatest benefit to membership in any association however, is the access to information, professional contacts, and participation in the crucial work of the organization. Hence, while creating opportunities for yourself, your involvement enhances the work of the association and supports its contribution to the profession.
Additionally, bar associations host events which will provide you with an opportunity to network. You'll be in the company of like-minded individuals and in many cases, some of the most brilliant minds in your substantive area of practice. You can also obtain a lot of information from classes that bar associations offer. The key here is that you participate in all events and take advantage of all opportunities to reap the best rewards. By doing so, it can only be a win-win situation. Working in collaboration with others to achieve common goal, can support your own personal endeavors.
Martha Harris, director of committee services at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (ABCNY), is a strong proponent of bar association involvement, particularly committee membership as a career booster for minority lawyers at any stage of their career.
"Besides being a great way to network and get clients, bar association affiliation is a prime avenue to pursue career advancement. The opportunity to meet more seasoned lawyers, industry-related professionals such as judges and professors, gives you an entirely different perspective," she says.
As a seasoned lawyer, she states that ABCNY offers lawyers two primary ways to move ahead in their career–committee membership and providing opportunities to offer pro bono services to the community.
"The benefits of committee membership are undeniable. For example, if a lawyer wants to switch gears, let's say from corporate to real-estate law, that individual can benefit from joining ABCNY's Committee on Real Property. They get a feel for the area, exposure to background information and most importantly, opportunities to meet someone who might give them a chance," Harris states.
SERVING ON A COMMITTEE CAN BE A TRULY REWARDING experience, allowing one to shape law and public policy, network with colleagues, improve your expertise, and help people in need. These days, more and more minority lawyers who hold prominent positions at corporations or law firms are chairing key committees within associations.
Joel Hayashida, a corporate patent counsel at Clorox, offered another perspective from Harris' about networking opportunities at bar associations. According to Hayashida, "You may get job opportunities–yes–but rarely clients."
Hayashida is a member of the American Corporate Counsel Association, the American Bar Association, San Francisco Intellectual Property Law Association, the Asian American Bar Association for the Great Bay Area, and the National Asian-Pacific American Bar Association. He agrees, however, "You'll get exposure to a wide variety of leadership styles and see the whole spectrum of attorneys," which is key to developing your career.
It's important to note that once you've joined an association, you may have to attend several association meetings and a few practice specialties before gaining an awareness of what best suits your needs.
Michael Roster, executive vice president and general counsel of Golden West Financial Corporation and current chair of the American Corporate Counsel Association (ACCA) said, "Be aware there's nothing worse than going to the first meeting of most groups, ACCA excluded, of course. Very seldom will someone come up and introduce himself to you or others to you. That first meeting can be a lonely experience, so be prepared, because everyone has gone through it."
However, to get around this just put your best foot forward and be yourself. Introduce yourself to as many people as possible and make sure you contact those who you obtained cards from to ensure that you have made a connection. For the well-connected attorneys who knows everyone, remember to lend a hand by introducing some of the unfamiliar faces to others in your network.
Bar associations also host educational conferences and you may want to inquire about opportunities for visibility by speaking on a panel, which will also help boost your career. Roster added that "in the 100 or so panels I've spoken on, I've virtually never received any business solely from being on a panel. And most people I know will say the same thing. But it does establish credibility." Most important, he continues, is the "self reward when you realize you are on the cutting-edge of what's happening in law."
However, by far, the numerous opportunities that can come one's way and the experiences that can be reaped through bar association involvement far outweigh any deterrent. So, join your local bar association, gain exposure, pursue new endeavors and watch your career take that unexpected leap.
From the September 2001 issue of Diversity & The Bar®