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Sep
15
By Devin Lintzenich On a call with PDC members in June 2020, I shared my experience developing firm-wide core competencies and practice-specific expectations (a.k.a. benchmarks) for associates. Thanks to the PDC Communications Committee for the invitation to build on that presentation in a blog post. PDC members can review the slide deck here, so I won’t rehash the presentation. In summary, I included lessons learned about and guidance on how to accomplish the following:...
Sep
03
By Dr. Sharon Meit Abrahams Previously we discussed virtual training and what you need to do to adapt. New associate training should be paired with mentoring programs which provide an opportunity for young associates to build a trusting and meaningful relationship with a senior associate and/or partner who will guide, monitor, and enhance their professional growth. Virtual mentoring should be easier to implement than training because you should have mentoring concepts in place....
Aug
26
By Dr. Sharon Meit Abrahams Incoming associates have enough stress starting a new job and now they cannot run down the hall to get an answer to a legal question, or guidance on how to navigate the law firm world. Other priorities rose to the top these past months, but now we need to address the arrival of our newest associates. Conscientious development of associates through training and development enables them to become dynamic, professional, and ethical attorneys who provide high...
Aug
11
​ By: Marian Lee In the past five months, the world has changed in ways we never imagined.  In addition to the fear, stress, and other personal impacts of the pandemic, our working world has been rocked.  We’ve seen a rapid transition to remote work, increased volatility and uncertainty of the business environment, and dramatic economic impacts.  For many law firms, these impacts have resulted in layoffs, furloughs and pay cuts for staff members and attorneys, in addition...
Jul
22
Thought Leadership, Highlights, and Insights from the Legal PD Community At the PDC our mission is to provide leadership and direction in the development of programs, materials and resources to help our members do their jobs well. The PDC Blog is an extension of this mission. The blog serves as a community-based forum to share thoughts and ideas related to the legal professional development community.   In keeping with our mission, we invite blog posts from PDC members,...
Apr
03
Contributed by Dr. Larry Richard, PDC Trusted Advisor and founder and principal consultant at LawyerBrain LLC Law firm leaders are intensely focused on responding to the CoronaVirus crisis. However, despite their best efforts, many leaders are telling me that their people are experiencing high levels of stress, anxiety, fear, and emotional overload. That’s not surprising, given the pace and magnitude of the changes affecting us all. This crisis definitely has psychological...
Sep
26
The PDC is pleased to announce a new Speaking Guide Resource, provided by Trusted Advisor Brian Johnson.  Hear about the resource in his own words:   "It is gratifying to serve as a PDC Trusted Advisor, and I appreciate the opportunity to provide this new guide for PDC members. Speak with Confidence: A Guide to Deliberate Practice for PDC Members will give you a solid technique to control and coordinate your body, brain, and voice to help you communicate confidently...
Aug
08
By Ian Nelson, Hotshot   A summary of the tips and ideas shared by PDC members at the 2019 Summer Conference in Nashville, TN. Kristin Heryford and I had a big job at the Professional Development Consortium’s 2019 Summer Conference: delivering a session that would engage a room full of people on a Saturday morning, many of whom (including yours truly) had karaoke’d their hearts out the night before. Good thing that PDC members love to participate and share! We just sat back and...
Jun
19
By Marty Latz Blog post orginally published on www.expertnegotiator.com. “This will be a difficult negotiation. We’re sitting down with people who want to see us both headless… You need to take your enemies’ side if you’re going to see things the way they do. And you need to see things the way they do if you’re going to anticipate their actions, respond effectively and beat them.” — Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones. After years of hearing about Game of Thrones, I just finished...
Apr
09
By David H. Freeman, PDC Trusted Advisor and Founder of the Law Firm CultureShift This article was first published on ABAJournal.com in the ABA Journal’s Your Voice section. Lin-Manuel Miranda performs with the cast of “Hamilton.” Photo by Joan Marcus.   Ever get a song stuck in your head? Have you ever felt inspired by exceptional composition, powerful lyrics or the virtuosity of a vocalist or musician? Personally, I check all three boxes when it comes to the soundtrack...
Apr
03
By Katie Walter, Hotshot   How does a 10-office firm spread out across Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia equip its attorneys to practice globally while delivering top-notch results locally? For Kinstellar, the answer lies in a thoughtful mix of foundational online learning and local conversation and materials. This combination helps associates gain a consistent foundational knowledge of generally-applicable concepts and practice skills and then discuss similarities and...
Apr
03
By Katie Walter, Hotshot   How do you keep a new crop of associates engaged for a full week of orientation and “Lawyering 101” training? Anna Thea Bridge, Director of Professional Development at Kramer Levin, tackled this question by using the flipped-classroom concept to enrich the onboarding experience for incoming Corporate associates. It’s a learning model that Anna is passionate about, having led sessions on how to succeed with blended learning at the 2018 PDC Summer...
Oct
16
Susan Parker Schmitz Senior Consultant - Infrastructure Delivery Dell EMC       WHY I JOINED THE PDC It was a typically muggy March Sunday in 2017 when I first learned about the Professional Development Consortium (PDC) on the patio of a casual Houston restaurant.  Gray picnic tables, waitresses in shorts and sandals, loud chatter, laughter—and some tears, as toddlers fought over plastic toys in a play area designed to entice young parents to forego...
Oct
01
By Ian Nelson, Co-Founder, Hotshot   A compilation of the practical tips, ideas, and best practices on blended learning programs that PDC members discussed at the PDC 2018 Summer Conference.   I was a co-presenter at “Flipping the Conference: Blended Learning in Action,” a session at the PDC 2018 Summer Conference in Portland, Oregon. My co-presenters (Jodi Lucena-Pichardo and Anna Thea Bridge) and I promised the audience “no deck, no lecture, and no panel.”...
May
24
Stuart Teicher, Esq.,  Legal Educator, Teicher Professional Growth, LLC The Model Rules of Professional Responsibility were promulgated by the American Bar Association back in the days when I was sporting a mullet.  The year was 1983 and, incidentally, my mullet was glorious.  While my mullet eventually went out of fashion, the same cannot be said of the Model Rules.  In fact, over the following years every state in the Union adopted some version of that Model Code...
Jan
11
By Brian Johnson, PDC Trusted Advisor, President & Founder, Johnson & Hunter, Inc.  Click here for Brian's complete bio   Invigorated by so many good presentations, I left the PDC Winter Meeting and PDI in December with my mind full of new ideas. Truly mind full. Mindful. Mindfulness. I left contemplating those words especially. I’m surprised and delighted to see that a focus on mindfulness has found a place in professional development. I have recently returned to a...
Nov
16
By Brian Johnson, PDC Trusted Advisor, President & Founder, Johnson & Hunter, Inc.  Click here for Brian's complete bio Different settings come with their own distinct challenges when public speaking. As the PDC Winter Meeting approaches, it’s an appropriate time to explore some common issues speakers contend with while presenting at conferences. I’d like to offer some practical advice about the underlying stagecraft of public speaking in a big hotel ballroom.  Rather...
Apr
24
By Brian Johnson, PDC Trusted Advisor, President & Founder, Johnson & Hunter, Inc.  Click here for Brian's full bio. When he died last month at the age of 94, I pulled out the slim paperback written by Dr. Tom Amberry, recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for shooting 2,750 free throws without a miss in 1993—at the age of 71! His book is titled, Free Throw – 7 Steps to Success at the Free Throw Line. Here’s the list: Seven Steps to a Perfect Free Throw...
Jan
25
In January of this year the PDC was pleased to partner with J. Johnson Executive Search, Inc. to release the results of the inaugural PDC Compensation Survey. To learn more about the survey and the data collected, view this article by Carol Crawford of J. Johnson Executive Search. Thank you to all of our members who participated in this valuable initiative! PDC members can access a summary of the survey results here. 
Dec
02
Dear Colleague:   The NALP Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of an important and timely new research study on age-diverse mentoring relationships within law firms.  The NALP Foundation is partnering with the University of Maryland, College Park and George Mason University to undertake this research in order to gain additional insight into mentoring relationships and the role that age disparity can play in the successes or challenges of the relationship.   Mentoring...
Oct
28
This week's post is by Jean Vrola, PDC Winter Meeting Committee and Assistant Manager - Professional Development, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP As many of us register for the NALP PDI Conference and the PDC Winter Meeting, review the agenda, and consider which sessions we are most interested in attending, our default is to think in very pragmatic terms.  What useful takeaways will we come away with?  What new ideas will we learn that we can introduce back at our law firms or law...
Sep
12
Recently, Thomson Reuters’ West LegalEdcenter released its New Associate Training Satisfaction Survey, which sought to measure current behavior and attitudes of new associates relating to their first-year training in their respective law firms and identify opportunities to improve new associate training. The survey was completed in June, as a 15-minute survey that was deployed online. Using a demographic sample provided by Thomson Reuters, respondents were invited to participate via email,...
Aug
16
Paula Davis-Laack, JD, MAPP, Dr. Larry Richard, JD, PhD, & David N. Shearon, JD, MAPP   ** This article was originally published on June 14, 2016 at the ABA’s Law Practice Today online magazine.   Only 30% of American workers are “engaged” at work.  This is damaging to businesses, but for law firms, it can be devastating.  The market for legal services and clients’ expectations of and approach to law firms are also changing.  Law has always been and...
Aug
09
Once again, we are pleased to announce that our Summer Conference from July 21-23 was an outstanding event, chock-full of opportunities to engage with industry experts, connect with peers, and even enjoy the Florida setting with a few fantastic social activities! PDC Members, First-Time Attendees, and Trusted Advisors alike all found plenty to learn, enjoy, and take home to share with their colleagues. We could tell the story of the conference in words, but it’s a lot more fun to show photos...
Dec
21
A Note from the Chair, Amy Hancock Happy Holidays! I'm pleased to provide you with this month's PDC update. Let me begin to say how wonderful it was to see so many of you earlier this month at PDC's Winter Meeting. Recharged, Re-Energized and Renewed...Those are the words I use to describe walking away from this month's PDC Winter Meeting. I want to again thank Planning Committee Co-Chairs Ruth Alexandor and Maggie Suender and the entire committee for developing this unique program....

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