Young Lawyer Rising

American Bar Association
Young Lawyer Rising

Hosted by Montana Funk, Young Lawyer Rising covers issues pertinent to young lawyers, from newly minted attorneys to lawyers 10 years into practice and beyond. From dealing with the daily grind and career management to social issues and financial, mental, and physical wellness, this show features the voices of young lawyers from across the country sharing their stories and advice to help all lawyers navigate their careers and rise to where they want to be.

  1. How to Be the Best Mentee and Mentor

    2 DAYS AGO

    How to Be the Best Mentee and Mentor

    Stacey Scrivani discusses the concept of mentorship in the legal profession, exploring what it means to be a mentor or mentee, and how these relationships can be mutually beneficial with Montana Funk. Stacey shares her insights on the various forms mentorship can take, from formal programs to informal peer support, and emphasizes the importance of a give-and-take dynamic. Whether you're seeking a mentor, aspiring to be one, or just eager to make the most of your mentor-mentee relationships, Stacey shares invaluable practical advice and personal anecdotes. Additional Resources: Fantastic Legal Mentors and Where You Can Find Them How to Make the Most of Partner Mentors Within Your Law Firm Learning from Other Lawyers How to Be a Good Mentee in the Legal Profession We Were All Young Lawyers Once: Here Are Some Survivor Tips Earning a Sponsor Can Pave the Way to Career Success Lift as You Climb: Accepting the Call to Mentorship 5 Tips for Mentoring and Managing Legal Interns Associate Producer: Trevor Cooper (00:00) - Introducing Stacey Scrivani (01:30) - What is mentorship? (02:51) - How mentorship is mutually beneficial (04:27) - Overcoming your anxieties (08:24) - How to find the right mentor (09:48) - Appropriate subjects to discuss with a mentor (12:32) - Dealing with problematic mentors (15:46) - Informal relationships vs formal ones (18:00) - Making the most of the mentorship relationship (20:57) - Becoming a mentor (23:46) - Building trust as a mentor Click here to view the episode transcript.

    29 min
  2. OCT 24

    How New Lawyers Can Fit In and Exceed Expectations at Their Firms | Special Release from Litigation Radio

    Learn how to exceed expectations and thrive as a new lawyer from a panel of seasoned attorneys who are open and honest about what it takes to make partner, navigate your career, and excel in the legal field. Special thanks to our friends over at Litigation Radio, ABA's Section of Litigation and Podcast Host Dave Scriven-Young for sharing this special episode with us. For more conversations with top litigators, judges, and experts, subscribe to Litigation Radio on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. ----- Newly admitted lawyers can feel overwhelmed and intimidated. Law schools can’t teach everything, and there’s a lot of on-the-job learning. Some of the work is difficult and complicated. Some of what’s required is as simple as showing up on time and doing work that looks perfect and is free of typos (yes, that matters, even for internal communications). With each task, the best new lawyers progress from competence to excellence. Start with the goal of being a “superstar associate” by being the best lawyer you can be. When new lawyers take on tasks and do good work, others will notice and will mentor you. What any new lawyer makes of their earliest experience in any firm will drive them to the next level, no matter their career path. This episode shares tips for standing out and learning how to be a lawyer from two attorneys who have excelled in their careers and have made partner at their respective firms. Resources: What New Lawyers Must Know on Their First Day on the Job Early Career Success for Attorneys Can Come from Developing Your "Ownership Mindset" Great Lawyers Don't Only Point Out Problems—They Offer Solutions Success in the Legal Profession Is Not Achieved Through Participation Trophies Building a Career you Love as a Young Lawyer Some Advice to the New or Soon-to-be Lawyer Top Tips for Young Lawyers: How to Survive and Thrive in Your Legal Career American Bar Association American Bar Association Litigation Section American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division

    34 min
  3. SEP 19

    A Rising Attorney's Career in Data Protection

    Everybody wants your data, from companies to hackers to governments. Guest Lexi Lutz is senior corporate counsel, and privacy watchdog, at Nordstrom. She advises the company on the legal implications of AI, cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection. As computers get smarter and capabilities expand, it’s more important than ever to maintain legal guardrails and understand potential pitfalls. Lutz starts with keeping up with the slew of developing state privacy laws and international regulations. Corporations handle massive amounts of data, much of it confidential. Privacy disclosures, terms of service, customer service, data breaches, and transparency are all factors. It’s a lot for any legal team to manage, and the field is only getting bigger. Hear how Lutz got her start in corporate data and privacy law, how she approaches her duties, and how she helps the rest of the corporation understand where the vulnerabilities and minefields lie. As a lawyer, you understand your duty to maintain confidentiality. But as computing capabilities surge, and in the murky and evolving world of AI, there’s a growing need for attorneys who understand and stay on top of lurking challenges to privacy and data security. Everything from massive customer database hacks to simply sending an email using a coffee shop’s WiFi can create data security issues. (And Lutz reminds us, change your passwords frequently). Resources:  Microsoft Outlook email encryption Google Gmail encryption “Twenty Years Ago, AIM Chatbot SmarterChild Out-Snarked ChatGPT,” TechCrunch ChatGPT “’She Hooked Me’: How an Online Scam Cost a Senior Citizen His Life’s Savings,” Wall Street Journal Justin S. Daniels at Baker Donelson, videos American Bar Association American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division

    52 min
  4. AUG 22

    How Lawyers Can Have a Legal Career and a Family

    One challenge young lawyers encounter—especially in demanding corporate roles—is starting a family while advancing in their careers. Managing and balancing work and family isn’t something they teach in school.  Guest Kimberly “Kim” Maney is a busy, successful in-house corporate attorney for a global corporation. She’s also a mom and a spouse who taught herself how to balance 10-hour days and constant demands from her job while carving out time for family. Raising a family is hard work, everything from coordinating childcare to spending meaningful time with children. And then, later, as kids grow up, there are soccer games, ballet recitals, and vacations.  In today’s world of connectivity, it can be too easy to just “take a call” during the family trip to Disney World. You’ll need to develop and communicate boundaries with your coworkers and your organization.  Maney shares how she leaned on coworkers who were already parents and even Facebook parent support groups as she learned to create space for family while excelling at her job. Stephen C. Dinkel served as the associate producer on this episode of Young Lawyer Rising.  Resources: Legal Careers of Parents and Child Caregivers: Results and Best Practices from a National Study of the Legal Profession  Parenthood Positivity: How to Use Parenthood in the Trajectory of Your Legal Career Parental Leave in the Legal Field: Managing Employee and Employer Expectations Attorneys Make the Case for Equal Parental Leave Balancing Fatherhood and a Legal Career as a Young Lawyer Juggling a Firm and a Family Tips for Balancing a Legal Career and First-Time Motherhood American Bar Association American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division

    31 min
  5. JUL 25

    One Lawyer's Journey from France to an Associate in New York City

    Guest Nancy Maurice shares her unique background as she followed her curiosity and leaned on her courage to explore several countries throughout her education—ultimately landing a position as an associate with a New York-area law firm. Maurice is a native of France, where she learned English while growing up. She crossed the English Channel and earned her first law degree in England, a LL.B. Next, Maurice returned to Paris to obtain more degrees in law. Afterward, she moved to Louisiana, where she enrolled at Louisiana State University to obtain her LL.M. Maurice takes all her knowledge, skills, and legal expertise to assist clients in New York City. Maurice learned law in a second language, crossed an ocean, and settled in the United States as a foreign resident. She navigated a foreign culture, including the legal culture, found her fit, and proved she could get the job done. Maurice learned that nothing is out of reach if you pursue your goals and take chances. Hear how she accepted every challenge, gave presentations and webinars, learned to speak confidently in public, and proved herself, even when others told her something was impossible. RESOURCES: “Things Left Unsaid: Implicit Obligations Under Louisiana Law in Star Financial Services, Inc. V. Cardtronics USA, Inc.,” by Nancy MauriceAmerican Bar Association American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division How Foreign-Trained Attorneys Can Become Attorneys in the United States

    41 min
  6. JUN 20

    First Native American Woman President of the ABA: Mary Smith's Incredible Career

    Guest Mary Smith is an accomplished attorney and the first Native American woman to become president of the American Bar Association. In addition to a distinguished career in legal leadership for billion-dollar organizations, including CEO of the national organization Indian Health Services, she is also active in many civic organizations, including the Caroline and Ora Smith Foundation, dedicated to helping young Native American women forge careers in STEM fields. Smith’s career took a long and winding path, including a stop serving in the White House and the Department of Justice, along with billion-dollar publicly traded companies. Smith said the key has been to remain curious and open to new opportunities throughout her career. Being willing to take risks and face various challenges has driven her career to amazing heights. Smith explains how she never limited herself to any presupposed direction. Sometimes, you think you’ve selected a singular path, but if you remain open to new opportunities, that path can lead you to places you’ve never imagined and take you higher than you thought possible.  As Smith says in this inspiring episode: “Be true to yourself. Believe in yourself. And seek help, mentors, and others who can help along the way.” Resources: “Asked & Answered: Mary Smith, ’91, President, American Bar Association,” University of Chicago School of Law Caroline and Ora Smith Foundation American Bar Association American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Native Americans: A Crisis in Health Equity ABA President to Students: You Will Change the Practice of Law Working to Ensure an Enduring American Democracy ABA Task Force for American Democracy

    28 min
  7. MAY 23

    Making A Difference Through The Offices of the Inspector General

    As a new lawyer, have you ever considered a career in government oversight? It’s a broad, important field that ensures a wide range of agencies work as designed while protecting public funds and interests. Guest Lucy Lang is a former prosecutor now serving as the New York Inspector General. She is charged with overseeing investigations into corruption, fraud, and abuse in the New York State government (more than 100 agencies) and has been a steady advocate of criminal justice reform. Lang shares her path and passion in this inspiring episode of Young Lawyer Rising. The complex nature of Lang’s work depends heavily on her ability to lead, a skill she had to learn on her own and is now pressing the legal education field to include in law school curriculum. Seeking out mentors, learning on the job, and taking on new challenges were all part of her career growth. “If not you, then who,” she asks. “Be brave; take the bull by the horns.” Get an inside look at the workings of government oversight, the value of public service, untangling difficult ethical decisions, and making a positive difference through leadership. It could be just what you need to help you take your next, bold step. Resources: New York Offices of the Inspector General New York State Offices of the Inspector General, Job Postings Lucy Lang, Wikipedia  “Lucy Lang ’06: An Advocate for Criminal Justice Reform and Government Integrity,” Columbia University News Lucy Lang, Selected Publications “New York State Inspector General Report Finds Persistent Racial Disparities in Discipline Within New York State Prisons” “NYS Parks Employee Pleads Guilty to Official Misconduct” New York State government oversight hotline: 1-800-DO RIGHT New York Offices of the Inspector General on Twitter/X ABA Section of State and Local Government Law American Bar Association American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division

    32 min
4.9
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

Hosted by Montana Funk, Young Lawyer Rising covers issues pertinent to young lawyers, from newly minted attorneys to lawyers 10 years into practice and beyond. From dealing with the daily grind and career management to social issues and financial, mental, and physical wellness, this show features the voices of young lawyers from across the country sharing their stories and advice to help all lawyers navigate their careers and rise to where they want to be.

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