Early Career Coaching For Lawyers
Surviving Your First Few Years Of Legal Practice
Entering your first years of professional legal practice as a lawyer can be daunting.
Surviving them can be just as challenging.
In my early years as a lawyer, I often felt overwhelmed and ready to quit almost daily, not just because of external pressures but due to my own unrealistic expectations and a liberal dose of imposter syndrome as a professional.
Those early career challenges are still a vivid memory to this day.
Common Challenges Faced By Early Career Lawyers
The pressure to achieve my dream of becoming a lawyer, attending university while working full-time, transitioning careers, taking a massive pay cut, and starting over was immense.
I needed to prove to myself and those around me that I could succeed once more.
Despite support from colleagues and clients, I constantly doubted my abilities.
Whatever I did was never seemingly enough.
The key to overcoming these challenges was ultimately quite simple - time and more time than I had initially allowed myself.
I spent most of my first professional year feeling miserable and ready to quit.
I was my own worst enemy.
You can read about my personal journey as a first year lawyer here.
Building Confidence and Resilience
However, by showing up every day and gradually building my skills and confidence, I realised that success as a lawyer is a long-term not a short-term journey.
I needed to give myself time, reframe what success looked like, and make positive changes to my work life.
I've gone on to have a successful career as a lawyer, law firm principal, and legal academic, leveraging my qualifications into other areas.
My advice to new legal professionals is to be patient with yourself, and seek guidance and support when needed, sooner than later.
Don't give up too soon either as things generally get better with perseverance, practice and time.
Over the years, I've advised law students I have taught not to quit their profession in the first year unless they're being bullied or harassed or the environment they are working in is toxic, and to reach out to me before making any drastic decisions.
The happy ending of my own success story in law was however, almost by accident and not by design, which is why I've created this coaching program to help early career lawyers facing similar issues.
What Can We Cover Together?
Managing Your Expectations & Fears
Understanding and Dealing With Imposter Syndrome
Building Your Self-Confidence
Dealing With Competing Demands & Pressures
Setting Better Boundaries
Handling Difficult Managers, Colleagues & Clients
Overcoming Setbacks
Creating A Strong Support Network
Developing Your Well-Being
Building Resilience
Knowing If It Is Time To Walk Away
Transitioning to Other Roles
Why Choose Paul Ippolito As Your Lawyer Coach?
Diverse Experience - decades of diverse experience in law, business, academia, and coaching.
A Proven Track Record - successfully navigated the challenges of the first years of legal practice and beyond.
An Empathetic Mentor - Paul understands the pressures new legal professionals face and provides immediate, practical and actionable advice.
Been There Done There - in his over 15 years of academic experience, Paul has also mentored many law graduates.
Paul Ippolito, Lawyer Coach
How Much Will It Cost?
Coaching sessions are available either virtually or face-to-face.
For pricing and availability, please get in touch.
Another Success Story
“Paul was my mentor during 2019 as part of the Law Society NSW mentoring program for women. It was the first time that I had embarked on anything like this and Paul put me at ease and made the process productive, informative, relaxed and enjoyable. Paul provided constructive suggestions in relation to relatively 'small' actions, which were therefore easily achieved. Achieving many small goals elevated my confidence both at work and in general. Paul is able to understand that raising confidence enables the achievement of much larger goals. Paul is very committed in his role as mentor. He travelled into town for meetings and took time out of an overseas holiday to read through a lengthy application and provide advice on my accompanying resume. He is knowledgeable in his role as mentor as well as the law in general and the legal industry.”
