Law firm structures usually show that alongside a greater body of lawyers with specialized skills, there remains a core of legal staff with greater coordinating abilities.

1. Feature
Putting the Gears Back In Your Career
By Surajit Sen Sharma
Legal staff working long and loyally at the core of their firms is regularly affected by career stagnation. Some seem to be aware of it,
some unaware, but mostly the situation is created on part by employers who might be taking you for granted, and on part by yourself in
resisting the prospect of change, or fearing to open a dialogue on your own career.
It is perfectly natural to find in life a great number of people frustrated rather than trying to do something about the
who excel when fighting for the cause of others, but clamp up situation.
like an oyster when it comes to fighting for their own causes.
It may be time to change that, for denying the present reality If you are a legal staff at any level in a law firm and find
can devastate your future. yourself stagnating without opportunities or prospects of
moving up in your career, you must move now to break the
Law firm structures usually show that alongside a greater barriers and take charge of the situation. Some time tested
body of lawyers with specialized skills, there remains a core strategies to break free from the stranglehold of career
of legal staff with greater coordinating abilities. The legal staff stagnation include:
at the core are seen as more trustable and loyal to the firm
and despite lower level of skills, they have a higher chance of • Chalking out a personal strategy and deciding where
being retained even at times of change. Core legal staff are you would like to see yourself
perceived as dependable lesser skilled people, while highly • Taking charge of the direction and growth of your
paid and higher skilled legal staff are viewed as mercenaries personal professional career rather than hoping on your
hired to deal with specific needs. employer to find solutions for you
• Start broadening your skill set and increase your value.
The legal staff at the core of law firms often find their careers For a time, seek to enhance rather than advance.
stagnating. Once caught in career stagnation, the usual • Meet people who are there where you want to be. Ask
reaction of the mind is to create a self-protective delusion for suggestions on how to develop yourself to join their
of being satisfied with things as they are. However, while league.
such attempts to delude one’s own self purchase a peace of • Begin setting a series of short-term goals that charts
sorts, it doesn’t diminish your frustration at the lack of career the path to your ultimate goal
prospects.
At the same time, in your job and at your law firm,
In human resources, this situation is called a career plateau.
By definition it means that you have reached a point in your • Start stressing your performance at your job and
career where further chances of moving up in the official enhance interpersonal relations and performance
hierarchy is very low or almost absent. The problems is that • Try to be completely in tune with your firm’s objectives
legal staff at the core of law firms, despite lower skills in and your duties and responsibilities
specialized fields, enjoy positions because of the trust placed • Avoid problems or raising them. Try always to be a
on them by their firms. The legal employee at the core of solution provider.
a law firm also recognizes that a similar position would be • Highlight the efforts of others.
hard to attain in another organization. Staying too long in • Consciously culture a positive attitude and do not look
such situations quickly lead to perceptions of having failed for appreciation. What you do makes a difference. In
in career and having failed to realize one’s potential. It is the end, it matters whether you are satisfied with what
disheartening but common to find legal staff stuck on a career you have done or not.
plateau refusing to budge and allowing themselves to become
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2. Feature
Believe it; following these simple steps will immediately and soon you will be free of stagnation or its feelings, and
change the world around you. Your world is what you perceive, start moving forward.
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