From Law School to Corner Office (and Beyond): Crafting an Effective Bio
Whether you're a new lawyer, a mid-career attorney, or a seasoned legal practitioner, your bio should be a dynamic and evolving reflection of your practice—past, present and future—and an essential tool for attracting clients, partners and opportunities.
Have you been seeing some new faces in the halls of your law firm recently? It’s the time of the year when new classes of lawyers, fresh from law school or clerkships, are joining their first law firms. My team and I just recently finished up a project drafting bios for 20 newly minted lawyers. We’ve also been working on a number of bios for lateral hires—more senior associates and partners, most coming from other firms, although a few returning to private practice after serving as in-house counsel.
Each of these bios, drafted for lawyers at different stages of their careers, has its own unique set of challenges. Bios for newer lawyers tend to be short, cookie-cutter and lacking in distinguishing detail, while the bios of more established lawyers can grow lengthy and unwieldy if not carefully maintained. Transitions—not only from one firm to another, but also in title or level, for example, from associate to partner—also merit new bios or thoughtful revisions of current bios.
A well-written and up-to-date bio is both essential and possible for every lawyer, no matter your age, level or practice. Here are some tips for crafting an effective bio as you move through different stages of your practice.
Just starting your career in private practice.
The challenge for relatively new lawyers is that they usually don’t have much work experience to reference. It’s hard to distinguish yourself from the other lawyers in your class year when your bios all have some variation of the same language: that you “work on corporate [litigation, intellectual property] matters,” or worse, that you “focus your practice on corporate [litigation, intellectual property].” Yet, there are ways for even the most newly minted lawyers to inject some individuality into their bios and stand out from the crowd. Highlighting internships, clinics or other practical programs; summer positions with firms, companies or government offices; significant and interesting work experience between college and law school—or during law school; clerkships; and pro bono or community service work will not only help you differentiate yourself from your peers, but will also to give readers (both clients and lawyers within the firm) a sense of who you are as a person and what other skills, interests and abilities you might have.
Moving up through the ranks.
Associates often worry that making changes to their bios will be taken as a signal that they are looking to switch firms. I can’t emphasize enough (and firm leadership should as well) that associate bios are essential for both external and internal audiences. Even if you are not yet engaged in your own marketing and business development efforts, your bio is an essential part of the materials needed by partners and others who are actively marketing to clients and prospects. Existing clients also repeatedly view bios of lawyers working on their matters over the course of an engagement. If your name appears in a pitch or on a client bill, you need a bio that communicates why you’re a valuable member of the team.
Bios are also used internally for matter staffing, compensation and bonuses, and promotion decisions, among others. If you want more responsibility, better work—or work of a specific type—your bio should highlight the experience and skill set that matches the need of partners staffing those teams. Compensation and partnership decisions are often made by people who may not be directly familiar with the work that you do. Your bio can help you—and those who are advocating for you—sway those decision makers.
New associates should make an effort to review their bio as soon as six months after they start with their firms. Begin adding specifics about your work as soon as you can. For example, saying your work includes conducting discovery, drafting pleadings and motions, preparing fact and expert witness testimony and trial preparation, is far more compelling than saying you “work on litigation matters.” As you gain experience, and as soon as your firm allows (if it’s part of their bio best practices), add a representative matters list, and (again, where allowable) reference specific clients and matters in your bio. Keeping a running list of your work, including clients, matters and tasks, can be very helpful when it comes time to revise your bio.
Congratulations, you made partner!
Any elevation in status and title should prompt revisions to your bio—and not just changing the title. As an associate, you want to show, not tell, readers about your work, skills and experience. As you progress through your career, you no longer have to include such specific details; you can rely more on shorthand—“lead trial counsel,” “first chair,” “transaction team lead” – and yes, partner. These convey that you have the requisite knowledge and experience without needing to describe every aspect of your work. If you’ve been building a representative matters list, now might be the time to prune that list, to highlight a handful of emblematic cases or transactions to convey the depth of your experience, rather than including a laundry list of every matter in your career. Consider other places where you can trim without losing any impact. Information that helped your fill out the page when you were a young lawyer—work you did in law school clinics or internships, long ago teaching assistant positions, more routine law school awards, and non-legal work between college and law school—can probably be removed.
As you move into a role that may bring more leadership, and more business development and marketing opportunities, consider adding more of your individual style and approach to your bio. When we develop bios for new partners, as well as for lawyers who have made lateral moves, we like to ask questions to move them beyond “who are your clients and what do you do for them?” including:
How would you describe your “style” or strategy for working with clients?
What do clients say about working with you? Why do they hire you or continue to work with you? What are you most known for among your clients?
Why should a client hire you instead of one of your competitors?
Do you love the work you do? What inspires you to do this work?
What’s the key to your success both in terms of your practice and in terms of successes for clients?
The answers to these can add depth to your bio, helping you stand out in a crowded and competitive market.
New firm? New practice area? New bio!
Many lawyers making lateral moves are tempted to bring their old bio with them, especially if they feel that’s it’s well-written or particularly effective. But lawyer bios need to strike a balance between firm and practice messaging and personal branding. Consistency of style, tone and brand messaging across your new firm’s website is important, and within those parameters, there is a lot of room for expressing who you are, as a professional—and as a person. Besides, why not take your new position as an opportunity to really think about your clients and your work, and craft a new bio that truly reflects your practice. My team and I often use a lateral partner’s previous bio, representative matters list and LinkedIn profile as inspiration for their new firm bio.
In the same way, why not see a move into new practice area as an opportunity to revisit and refresh your entire bio, rather than tacking on a paragraph somewhere describing your new work. Between space and display limitations on your website, and the human capacity to read and digest long text, your new practice area might get lost. It’s also important to balance your past experience with your new work, especially in the opening paragraph (which is often the only one visitors to your bio page may read).
Whether you're a new lawyer, a mid-career attorney, or a seasoned legal practitioner, your bio should be a dynamic and evolving reflection of your practice—past, present and future—and an essential tool or attracting clients, partners and opportunities.
Featured Articles
