Legal Career Development Tips from a Bar Association President

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Before becoming president of the D.C. Bar Association, Sidley Austin partner Tim Webster was a trial attorney for DOJ's Environmental Enforcement Section. In a lengthy profile, Webster discusses his legal career, as well as career development issues impacting lawyers today. Some of my favorite bits:

On the transition from government lawyer to private practice in BigLaw...

"The transition was very interesting. Private practice is quite different from government practice. Clients expect that you know everything about everything for the rate that you’re charging. But even in the environmental area, it’s impossible to know everything. "You have to adapt."

On work-life balance...

"People talk about work-life balance as if it’s a right. I think it’s more of a myth. It is extremely difficult and there is no one solution. Making it all work involves priorities and resiliency."

On the differences between solo practice and BigLaw practice...

"I think there’s something to be said for truly being your own boss. That sounds great. "But being a partner at a large law firm brings with it an aspect of being your own boss, because fundamentally, you work for clients. There is firm bureaucracy, of course, but I don’t report to someone else on an organizational chart, I report to the clients. "The great thing about the large law firm setting is the breadth of high-level work, meaning precedent-setting, high-profile cases in a wide array of areas."

On mentoring for lawyers...

"[I]t’s hard to have a sense of perspective without talking to somebody else. If you sit locked up in your office all the time, you don’t really see the broader picture or have a forum to discuss issues and concerns. "But you can’t force a mentorship. You can assign mentors, and sometimes those relationships work, but the best mentorship relationships develop organically."

Read David O'Boyle's "Meet the President: Sidley Austin's Tim Webster" in the D.C. Bar Association's Washington Lawyer magazine. And don't miss Webster's talk about transferable leadership and management skills, juggling multiple leadership roles, and challenges forcing the legal profession into a period of rapid change.