Committee & Forum Highlights:
Career Development Committee Offers Career Coaching
Are you a WBA member who is currently unemployed (or facing unemployment) and looking for a new job? Through the generous offers of local career coaches, the Career Development Committee is offering complementary group career coaching sessions for WBA members who have lost their jobs. If you are interested in receiving these services, e-mail the WBA office at admin@wbadc.org with your name, e-mail, phone number, current employment status, preferred time for coaching sessions (morning, afternoon, or evening), and your background/areas of interest.
Event Wrap Ups
Negotiating & Understanding the Pros and Cons of Flexible Work Arrangements
By Gaby Longsworth, Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox PLLC
This summer, the Working Parents Forum held a panel discussion on, “Negotiating & Understanding the Pros and Cons of Flexible Work Arrangements.” The discussion was put into context and moderated by Kate Neville of Neville Career Consulting, and panelists included WBA President Consuela Pinto, then of Work Life Law and currently of the U.S. Department of Labor; WBA Board member Linda Chanow of the Project for Attorney Retention; and Melissa Bianchi, an attorney at Hogan & Hartson who made partner while working a reduced hours schedule and who continues to succeed in her role at the firm on a part-time basis.
Each participant provided guidance based on her own experience negotiating workplace flexibility as well as research on the topic. Issues addressed included: how to prepare for the initial conversation and propose a flexible schedule; who in the office to approach first; and what an employee can leverage in these types of negotiations. Additionally, panelists identified what they consider to be the most significant challenges in maintaining a flexible schedule and strategies that can be used to overcome them.
The group also discussed the biases that employees who work flexible schedules can encounter and how to handle them so that others in the workplace understand that employees who work flexible schedules remain committed professionals who are available when needed. While negotiating workplace flexibility has received less attention with the dampened economy, many employers continue to recognize the value of retaining experienced talent and realize that such arrangements often prove to be a bargain for the employer in any cost-benefit analysis.
Health Careers Panel
By Sarah Kaput, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
Law students and attorneys learned about potential paths into and within the field of health care law at the Health Law Forum’s Health Careers Panel. The event was held in September at the law offices of Power Pyles Sutter and Verville PC.
The panel included experienced practitioners who offered several different perspectives: Ivy Baer, Director and Regulatory Counsel, Association of American Medical Colleges; Robyn Whipple Diaz, Associate Counsel, MedStar Health, Inc.; and Robert Portman, Principal, Power Pyles Sutter and Verville, PC.
The panelists discussed how their health law practices differ from the others and the many avenues of pursuing health care law. Given the climate of increasing regulation of the health care industry, attendees were advised of the many career options for those interested in entering into health care law.
Attendees used the experience to help determine the skill sets needed for the different types of practice, whether as in-house counsel at a corporation, as counsel or in regulatory affairs at an association, a lawyer in a law firm, or as counsel in the government. The event also served as a great networking opportunity for attendees. After the panel concluded, there was a flurry of business cards exchanged as new connections were made.
A Guide to Family Planning: Egg Banking, IVF, Surrogacy and Donors
By Gaby Longsworth, Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox PLLC
l-r: Panelists Christina Ayiotis, Andrianna Ayiotis and Carol Montoya; Working Parents Forum co-chair Gaby Longsworth; and moderator Mindy Berkson
The Working Parents Forum presented a program entitled “Guide to Family Planning: Egg Banking, IVF, Surrogacy and Donors” in September. The program was designed to discuss issues such as the right time to start a family, waiting to have children and/or having difficulty conceiving, having a child while single, options when experiencing infertility, and being a gestational carrier, to name a few.
The program featured infertility consultant Mindy Berkson, an infertility specialist who guided the audience through infertility and its countless complicated issues, two working moms, Christina Ayiotis and Carol Montoya, and Tina’s daughter Andrianna. Ms. Ayiotis shared her personal story of taking matters into her own hands and working with a reproductive endocrinologist to create her greatest work product and labor of love, her now teenage daughter, Andrianna. Andrianna shared with the audience how she feels about how she came into the world. Finally, we heard from Ms. Montoya, the mother of a 5-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, who became a gestational carrier for a local couple who could not carry their own child. The program was very well received by the attendees and a great deal of useful information was shared with the group.
Landing a Non-Profit Job in This Economy
l-r: Moderator Monica Parham, Non-Profit Organizations Practice Forum co-chair Carlean Ponder; and panelists Bob Skelton and Karen Hendricks
By Carlean Ponder, The Ponder Law & Advocacy Group PLLC
In early November, the Non-Profit Organizations Practice Forum presented “Landing a Non-Profit Job in This Economy.” Panelists included moderator Monica Parham, WBA Board Member and Diversity Chair for Crowell and Moring LLP; and Karen Hendricks, Executive Director, Trust for America's Health; Bob Skelton, Chief Administrative Officer, the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). Interest in the topic was evidenced by the standing-room only crowd.
The practice forum’s events are geared toward lawyers who currently work for non-profits, lawyers who wish to transition to non-profits, and non-profit attorneys interested in connecting with a more diverse body of attorneys through the WBA. Upcoming events include presentations and workshops on non-profit legal careers as a practitioner, policy professional, or administrator. These events will provide opportunities to sharpen your legal skills through non-profit volunteer activities, and developments in partnerships between non-profits and law firms.
We invite you to join the list-serve for the Non-Profit Organizations Practice Forum by visiting the Google Groups website: http://groups.google.com/group/WBA-DC-nonprofits. To the right, you will see an option to “Join this Group.” If you already have a Gmail account, simply log-in as normal and opt to join this group. Otherwise you can create a Gmail account and join immediately.
Upcoming Events
Transforming Negative Career Experiences
By Bronwen Blass, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
Looking to turn over a new leaf for the New Year and make positive changes in your career? Join the Career Development Committee for a program on “Transforming Negative Career Experiences” to help you reframe past negative career experiences.
Are you scared of being asked about THAT job, the one where you had a conflict with your boss? Maybe you were fired. Maybe you left after only six months. In this workshop you will learn how to be honest AND make a good impression.
- Be more relaxed in interviews
- Communicate clearly and confidently
- Turn your bad experiences into assets
- Never again fear that dreaded topic arising in social situations
We are presenting this brown bag program with Anna Rappaport, business coach and former attorney. It will be held on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 from 12:00-1:30 pm, at WilmerHale, 1875 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. Visit www.excellerationcoaching.com for more information about Ms. Rappaport and her services.
