Overview

Law school is only the first step towards afulfilling career, as it only teaches law students how to think like lawyers.Without being provided a roadmap for how to maintain a satisfying andsuccessful career, many recent law graduates find themselves feeling stuck,unsatisfied, and unable to better their career. AuthorDena Lefkowitz bridged that gap for herself, has taught these missing lessonsto hundreds of lawyers as a professional coach, and laid out her processes andtechniques in this book. InWinning in Your Own Court, she shares10 laws she developed during her 20-plus years as a successful attorney andsubsequently as a coach. Lefkowitz shares client stories about lawyerswho struggled with business development, who weren't making partner and didn'tknow why, who were encountering career dilemmas, who were unhappy in the law,and who loved what they did but didn't know how to get to the next level. Shethen helped them build a book of business, make partner in their firm, achieve morein their practice, or even make a transition to another career. She and theydid it all using the techniques presented in this book. Feeling stuck in your career? Just graduatedand no idea how to start? Wanting to make partner and needing an edge? Winningin Your Own Court offers guidance and models for any legal careertransformation, even if it means starting over. You will learn how to assess where you are,determine what needs to change to get where you want to be and create a plan todo so. Every situation has its a solution, and you will learn how to findyours. And, then you can do it whenever your career needs a tune-up. Whateveryour next move is,Winning in Your Own Courtwill help you getyou there.

Full Product Details

9781639051304

Table of Contents

Reviews

"Tasha Norman, law.com, September 21, 2022 The book helps lawyers enjoy their jobs, be better at them, and to earn more money. It also helps them determine if they should stop practicing law. In her book, Lefkowitz addresses topics such as burnout, selling out, and why so many lawyers leave the profession. She lists the root causes for dissatisfaction: The environment they're practicing in is toxic and run by terrible bosses. They are in the wrong area of practice. They have no autonomy. The hours required leave no time for a personal life. They don't feel empowered to set boundaries. More importantly, she provides tools for helping lawyers choose the best path at each career crossroads. In Winning in Your Own Court, Dena Lefkowitz helps readers re-envision and reinvigorate their careers and their lives. John M. Murray, Forward Reviews, September 15, 2022 The book draws heavy inspiration from Lefkowitz's previous legal field, and most of its anecdotes come from legal professionals as well. While this is somewhat limiting, all of the ten laws are widely applicable, standing to help anyone who is feeling overworked or trapped in their current profession. Their advice is evergreen; it can be used to either advance careers or help the audience start fresh. Humane and introducing actionable options for career renovations, Winning in Your Own Court is a holistic career guide to remedying difficult work situations by ensuring that one's career goals match one's life goals. Kirkus Indie, Kirkus, October 1, 2022 Her advice is as straight to the point as a well-written legal brief―""dread, sadness, or crying at the thought of going to work"" is a sure sign that a change is needed―and sometimes pithily aphoristic. Lawyers in particular will appreciate the author's lessons, but others will glean important insights as well. A useful, reassuring guide to midcareer course correcting for attorneys. BlueInk Review, September 1, 2022 Lawyers struggling with career choices will appreciate Lefkowitz's advice and her stories of others in similar situations. Indeed, anyone dissatisfied with their current job, regardless of the sector, will find solid, if well-worn, advice here."

Tasha Norman, law.com, September 21, 2022 The book helps lawyers enjoy their jobs, be better at them, and to earn more money. It also helps them determine if they should stop practicing law. In her book, Lefkowitz addresses topics such as burnout, selling out, and why so many lawyers leave the profession. She lists the root causes for dissatisfaction: The environment they're practicing in is toxic and run by terrible bosses. They are in the wrong area of practice. They have no autonomy. The hours required leave no time for a personal life. They don't feel empowered to set boundaries. More importantly, she provides tools for helping lawyers choose the best path at each career crossroads. In Winning in Your Own Court, Dena Lefkowitz helps readers re-envision and reinvigorate their careers and their lives. John M. Murray, Forward Reviews, September 15, 2022 The book draws heavy inspiration from Lefkowitz's previous legal field, and most of its anecdotes come from legal professionals as well. While this is somewhat limiting, all of the ten laws are widely applicable, standing to help anyone who is feeling overworked or trapped in their current profession. Their advice is evergreen; it can be used to either advance careers or help the audience start fresh. Humane and introducing actionable options for career renovations, Winning in Your Own Court is a holistic career guide to remedying difficult work situations by ensuring that one's career goals match one's life goals. Kirkus Indie, Kirkus, October 1, 2022 Her advice is as straight to the point as a well-written legal brief dread, sadness, or crying at the thought of going to work is a sure sign that a change is needed and sometimes pithily aphoristic. Lawyers in particular will appreciate the author's lessons, but others will glean important insights as well. A useful, reassuring guide to midcareer course correcting for attorneys. BlueInk Review, September 1, 2022 Lawyers struggling with career choices will appreciate Lefkowitz's advice and her stories of others in similar situations. Indeed, anyone dissatisfied with their current job, regardless of the sector, will find solid, if well-worn, advice here.

Dena Lefkowitz is the founder and president of Achievement By Design, an executive coaching firm that helps lawyers find career direction. At some point in law school and every year after, every lawyer gets the memo: This profession is neither easy nor simple. And one of the most challenging aspects of creating a legal career is figuring out what to do with it. How do I make partner? What's the secret to developing business? Should I switch jobs or keep plugging away? Would I be happier/more successful/ more fulfilled on my own? And ultimately, Do I really want to be a lawyer? They don't teach these answers in law school; not everyone is fortunate enough to find the right mentors or break through the clouds of doubt. Lefkowitz also is the author of Winning in Your Own Court: 10 Laws for a Successful Career Without Burning Out or Selling Out. In her 25-year legal career, she has gone from civil litigator to general counsel for state government, then from practicing lawyer to helping lawyers with their practice. Question everything, Lefkowitz writes. Is this what you signed up for? Does what you are being asked to do serve your career vision? Is this what you want to be doing today? Next week? Ten years from now? If not, what are you going to do about it? In the end, your answers are the only ones that count. Understand unequivocally that you don't have to give up the people and activities you love to make a living in the law- unless you want to. Lefkowitz says her book is about the laws they don't teach you in law school - the unwritten rules for success. The book helps lawyers enjoy their jobs, be better at them, and to earn more money. It also helps them determine if they should stop practicing law. In her book, Lefkowitz addresses topics such as burnout, selling out, and why so many lawyers leave the profession. She lists the root causes for dissatisfaction: The environment they're practicing in is toxic and run by terrible bosses. They are in the wrong area of practice. They have no autonomy. The hours required leave no time for a personal life. They don't feel empowered to set boundaries. More importantly, she provides tools for helping lawyers choose the best path at each career crossroads. In Winning in Your Own Court, Dena Lefkowitz helps readers re-envision and reinvigorate their careers and their lives.--Tasha Norman, In her book, Lefkowitz addresses topics such as burnout, selling out, and why so many lawyers leave the profession law.com, September 21, 2022 Finding the right niche can be hard for attorneys, who often feel overworked and overwhelmed, career coach Dena Lefkowitz writes in Winning in Your Own Court. Here, she shares ten laws that helped her find the right legal career path and could help other lawyers as well. Leftkowitz experienced burnout when she worked as a civil litigator in private practice. Eventually, with help from a career coach, she quit private practice to take various government law jobs that satisfied her love for supporting kids in education. She also found other fulfilling jobs by exercising ten of her own laws, which she shares here. The first two concern self-assessment: using tools such as the Hogan Personality Inventory to understand what types of jobs would be a good fit. She then encourages research through networking and online resources, such as Glassdoor, to discern what jobs might align with ones' personal and professional goals. The third law stresses not doubling down on past decisions, meaning reverting to the status quo instead of changing for fear of losing ground (salary, relationships, social status). Remaining laws focus on curating a powerful image for self-marketing, developing soft skills such as emotional intelligence, and more. These laws sometimes overlap, making the latter chapters feel repetitive. Additionally, Lefkowitz's suggestions will feel familiar to anyone who has consulted books to help them re-align their job situation. For example, she urges readers to create the right mindset for change--a tip found in countless self-help books. Nonetheless, her voice is reassuring, and as she shares the anxieties and mindsets her clients bring to their coaching session, she comes from a been there done that stance that reflects her empathy and understanding of what lawyers face when considering a career change. Lawyers struggling with career choices will appreciate Lefkowitz's advice and her stories of others in similar situations. Indeed, anyone dissatisfied with their current job, regardless of the sector, will find solid, if well-worn, advice here.--BlueInk Review BlueInk Review, September 1, 2022 Lawyers tired of the rat race should take responsibility for crafting a more fulfilling career, according to this spirited self-help book. Lefkowitz, an attorney and career coach, aims her advice mainly at other lawyers who feel as if they're stuck in a rut, endlessly overworked, underpaid, and trapped by law school debt or family obligations. All is not lost, she contends, if readers are willing to shape their careers by design rather than by default. She lays out 10 principles of successful career change that can help readers assess their circumstances and prospects, collect data to use in making choices, let go of past decisions that aren't working instead of doubling down on them, get along with colleagues, bring in more revenue that will boost their clout within their firms, shift their mindsets from pessimism and caution to hopefulness and confidence, and gird themselves for the risk and discomfort that come with making major career changes. Lefkowitz illustrates these principles with anecdotes from her coaching practice, wherein she gently coaxes clients past their neurotic roadblocking and toward career breakthroughs in which they demand free time to have a life, refuse thankless administrative work so they can increase billable hours, claim credit due, reach for a partnership, take a pay cut and leave their soulless corporate firm to work at a nonprofit that defends people against the powerful, or jump off the legal hamster wheel altogether to pursue the dream of teaching. Lefkowitz knows this terrain well-- I've experienced the pounding heart and sweaty palms at the utterance of two words by a judge, 'Ms. Lefkowitz?' --and writes about it in vivid, earthy prose. ( 'So, ' I asked Marjorie, 'what exactly makes you feel so loyal to these douchebags?' ) Her advice is as straight to the point as a well-written legal brief-- dread, sadness, or crying at the thought of going to work is a sure sign that a change is needed--and sometimes pithily aphoristic. ( Here's the thing about people pleasing. It's never enough....If you can't say no, you will find yourself buried in a pile of yesses. ) Lawyers in particular will appreciate the author's lessons, but others will glean important insights as well. A useful, reassuring guide to midcareer course correcting for attorneys.--Kirkus Indie Kirkus, October 1, 2022 To help others avoid the mistakes of her past, attorney turned career coach Dena Lefkowitz's career guide Winning in Your Own Court shares advice for those who are looking to make successful work life changes. Lefkowitz speaks from experience: once an overworked attorney, she became disillusioned with her field and decided to make drastic personal changes. She reworked her career goals, demanding that her work life fit the standards that were most conducive to her happiness. In service of this, she also developed the career principles shared here. Her book suggests that the same principles have the potential to guide others as they design their own healthier views of work. Ten career laws are shared. At their core is the concept of design versus default thinking, or making career plans based on personal assessments and goals rather than an acceptance of the status quo. These ten laws follow a logical progression, starting with assessing one's goals, current circumstances, and potential for growth. They represent a novel way of looking at careers--as the culmination and curation of one's education, work experience, networking, and awards and accomplishments. Lefkowitz writes that such collections need to be managed and expanded too. Prioritizing one's physical and mental health, the laws involve assessment and discernment, the consideration of one's options, efforts to balance one's past with future goals, and establishing the means of sustainable career growth. They encourage mindfulness and gratitude on repeat, bolstered by examples of people going through the motions at work without fostering either. Real-world examples are shared for each step, drawing on Lefkowitz's experiences and on those of her clients. These narrative stories are a humanizing element within the text, complementing the ten laws, each of which is discussed in ample detail and in accessible language. The book draws heavy inspiration from Lefkowitz's previous legal field, and most of its anecdotes come from legal professionals as well. While this is somewhat limiting, all of the ten laws are widely applicable, standing to help anyone who is feeling overworked or trapped in their current profession. Their advice is evergreen; it can be used to either advance careers or help the audience start fresh. Humane and introducing actionable options for career renovations, Winning in Your Own Court is a holistic career guide to remedying difficult work situations by ensuring that one's career goals match one's life goals.--John M. Murray, Humane and introducing actionable options for career renovations, Winning in Your Own Court is a holistic career guide. Forward Reviews, September 15, 2022

Author Information

Winner of the 2023 silver Nautilus Book Award Dena Lefkowitz, Esq., PCC, is the author of Winning in Your Own Court: 10 Laws for a Successful Career Without Burning Out or Selling Out (American Bar Association). She is the founder and CEO of Achievement by Design, LLC, a leading executive coaching firm focused on helping lawyers find career direction and partnering with law firms to help their underperformers develop into rainmakers. She’s helped hundreds of lawyers in the past decade, coaching them to achieve career clarity, financial growth, and personal fulfillment. Lefkowitz has been featured in Forbes, Huffington Post, Philadelphia Business Journal, Thrive Global, and The Jewish Exponent, and regularly contributed to Law.com for seven years. The former lawyer of 25 years reinvented herself from being a civil litigator to general counsel for state government. Dena then transitioned from being a lawyer to helping lawyers. She was awarded her juris doctor from Temple University School of Law, graduated from the College of Executive Training, and earned certification from Harvard University Kennedy School of Government in Executive Education and Leadership. She also earned certification from the International Coach Federation and the College of Executive Coaching. Lefkowitz has spoken before numerous organizations, including National business Institute, Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, WOMENomics 2019, Greater Philadelphia Association for corporate Counsel, and a large number of county bar associations. She has also guest lectured at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Earlier in her career, she served as assistant general counsel for the School District of Philadelphia, general counsel to the Chester Upland School District, and as chief legal counsel to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Office of Open Records. As chief counsel, she testified before the Pennsylvania Senate and argued cases before the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court and Supreme Court. She serves on the ABA’s Attorney Well-Being Committee. Lefkowitz resides in a suburb of Philadelphia. For more information, please consult: www.achievementbydesign.com

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