Guest Blogger and Harper Grey Associate, Erin Hatch, provides tips on putting your best foot forward when starting at a new firm.  

The month of February celebrates Black History Month and our goal over the next few weeks is to amplify Black voices and to expand our minds by listening, reading and viewing Black stories to help us to become better anti-racist allies. We’d like to start off by sharing three podcasts that challenged us to get uncomfortable – because we know that change does not come from complacency. This month, we encourage you join us, step outside your comfort zone and devote some of your down time to listening to the following podcasts: Good Ancestor – hosted by Layla F. Saad, the author of Me and White Supremacy About Race – hosted by Reni Eddo-Lodge, the author of Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race Intersectionality Matters – hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and…

Mixing Business with Pleasure “How can I help you?” – This phrase floored me. It was 16 years ago, and I had just started my business at the time. I had reached out to a former colleague, a senior Human Resources Director and well respected business woman in the corporate community. We met for coffee and she listened intently as I described my new venture as an executive recruiter wanting to build a company and practice that was different from the competition. Near the end of our time together, she said 5 simple words: How can I help you? I wasn’t prepared for that. SHE wanted to help ME? Wow! I felt buoyed by her very generous offer. Yes, she was a business colleague and my objective in the meeting was to start building awareness of my company – but…

“The #1 piece of advice I have been given, well actually it‘s more of an adage but one I have followed, is ‘how you do anything, is how you do everything’. I apply this adage in my life both personally and professionally. I think it’s a good quote to keep in mind when you are starting the practice of law and your colleagues and opposing lawyers are just getting to know you and your work.” – Mandeep Gill, Life in Law Advisor and Lawyer at Harper Grey LLP One of our past posts to the Dear LiL blog addressed the user-submitted concern, “Dear LiL – I feel like I am being judged by my bosses/co-workers when I must leave work early, or arrive late, in order to facilitate childcare / child activities.” Read Mandeep’s helpful response here.

Diversity is such an important topic. What does it really mean to be diverse and how can we as individuals and law firms address inequities in the practice of law? I recently read what I think is a profoundly important article authored by Andreina Varela-Taylor entitled Diversity: More Than Ticking Boxes published by the CBA. I wanted to share this article with our LiL readers because it provides a stark reminder that the work toward diversity and equality is nowhere near over.