Big Law Life

As the calendar turns, I see the same pattern repeat inside large law firms. We talk about fresh starts, priorities, and strategy, but most people carry the exact same work habits, assumptions, and risks into the new year. After years as an equity partner, I've learned that January is one of the few moments when you can slow the system down just enough to make deliberate decisions before urgency takes over. This episode is not a motivational reset or a list of aspirational goals. It is a practical inventory of ten actions that give BigLaw lawyers and business professionals more control over how the year unfolds. I walk through specific decisions that experienced professionals tend to avoid because they require uncomfortable honesty: auditing where your time actually went, naming which relationships really matter and which pose risk, deciding what work you are no longer willing to do, and defining what success looks like this year instead of defaulting to growth at all costs. I also talk candidly about replaceability, utilization ceilings, lateral vulnerability, and why clarity around evaluation and compensation mechanics must happen earlier than most people think. If you choose only two or three of these actions and do them well, you can reduce surprises and actively shape the year ahead rather than simply reacting to it. At a Glance 1:20 With a new year, why most BigLaw professionals don't actually change how they operate 02:12 Audit where your time and effort were actually spent last year 03:53 Name your five most important relationships and identify the riskiest one 05:16 Decide what work you are no longer willing to do this year 06:43 Set a personal utilization floor and a sustainable ceiling 08:24 Do an honest assessment of how replaceable you really are internally 10:09 Look at lateral movement and lateral vulnerability around you 11:01 Get clear on when evaluation, compensation, credit, and bonus decisions will be made (and how) 12:34 Define what success means this year 13:23 Choose one or two relationships to deepen deliberately 14:47 Let go of a skill you keep forcing that isn't compounding for you 16:14 Why choosing just two or three of these actions can change how the year unfolds Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Do you enjoy listening to Big Law Life? Please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps support and reach more people like you who want to grow a career in Big Law. For Apple Podcasts, click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven't done so already, follow the podcast here! For Spotify, tap here on your mobile phone, follow the podcast, listen to the show, then find the rating icon below the description, and tap to rate with five stars. Interested in doing 1-2-1 coaching with Laura Terrell? Or learning more about her work coaching and consulting? Here are ways to reach out to her: www.lauraterrell.com laura@lauraterrell.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauralterrell/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraterrellcoaching/ Show notes: https://www.lauraterrell.com/podcast

As the year closes, I'm focusing in this episode on BigLaw goals for associates without resorting to platitudes, firm retreat slogans, or vague resolutions that quietly collapse by February. After years as an equity partner in BigLaw, I've seen that the associates who actually move forward are not the ones making dramatic promises to work less, do everything better, or reinvent themselves overnight. Instead, the associates who most often make progress are the ones who focus on taking smaller, actionable steps in specific, visible ways that compound inside a system that is in many ways beyond their control. In this episode, I walk through what that looks like in practice. We talk about why goals built around staffing, hours, or personality change usually fail, and what BigLaw actually rewards instead: reducing friction for partners, exercising judgment, managing up, and being predictable and reliable in ways that matter. I explain concrete behaviors partners notice when evaluating and promoting associates, including how you frame decisions, communicate risk and timing, and signal judgment without overstepping. This is about learning how to operate more effectively inside BigLaw as it exists, not as we wish it did. At a Glance 00:00 Why BigLaw goal-setting can feel hollow and frustrating - even cringey 01:19 Why extreme "everything must change" thinking misses what actually moves careers 02:40 Why goals tied to things you don't control quietly set you up to fail 03:40 The compounding advantage of getting slightly better in visible ways 04:08 Reducing friction: how partners actually experience working with you 04:29 Anticipation and judgment versus stopping exactly at the four corners of the assignment 05:57 Managing up by framing decisions instead of asking open-ended questions 06:44 Predictability, early flags, and why silence is riskier than bad news 08:00 How BigLaw gives you positive feedback without ever saying "good job" 09:17 Why choosing one key incremental improvement beats trying to fix everything 10:06 The practical bottom line for building momentum year over year For Apple Podcasts, click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven't done so already, follow the podcast here! For Spotify, tap here on your mobile phone, follow the podcast, listen to the show, then find the rating icon below the description, and tap to rate with five stars. Interested in doing 1-2-1 coaching with Laura Terrell? Or learning more about her work coaching and consulting? Here are ways to reach out to her: www.lauraterrell.com laura@lauraterrell.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauralterrell/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraterrellcoaching/ Show notes: https://www.lauraterrell.com/podcast

If you are a senior associate staring at year seven, eight, or nine and trying to decode whether you are "behind," I want you to hear this clearly: your timeline is not controlled by your work ethic or your reviews. In this episode, I break down why partnership timing is driven by structural economics inside your firm, not individual merit. We walk through the forces that actually move or stop the process, including practice group capacity, leverage ratios, PEP pressure, capital constraints, succession bottlenecks, client portability, and internal power dynamics. I also give realistic timing ranges for Am Law 100 versus Am Law 200 firms, explain why non-equity partnership has become a much longer and often permanent tier, and outline what truly accelerates movement toward equity: client dependency and demonstrated revenue that the firm believes it must protect. Finally, I take apart the myths that quietly sabotage senior associates, like assuming seniority triggers review, assuming class-year promotions move in waves, and assuming non-equity is automatically a short bridge to equity. If you want to make smart career decisions in BigLaw, you cannot plan around a "clock." You plan around the system you are in and the conditions required for the firm to say yes. At a Glance 00:00 Why partnership timing creates anxiety for senior associates 01:20 The hard truth: there is no universal partnership clock, only a limited-seat business model 02:58 The structural drivers that actually control timing: capacity, leverage, PEP, capital, succession, portability, and internal power 03:31 Why excellence alone does not create a partner seat 04:02 Realistic timelines: Am Law 100 versus Am Law 200 ranges for non-equity and equity 05:34 Why non-equity is often no longer a short path to equity 06:04 What truly moves the process: client dependency, not hours or "indispensable service" to other partners 06:39 The quiet equity credibility thresholds and why you can be deferred repeatedly below them 07:06 Why lateral paths can promote faster than internal BigLaw timelines 08:03 Why the same firm still has different clocks across different practices 08:53 Myth 1: hitting a year range means you will automatically be up for partner 10:18 Myth 2: if others in your class year are promoted, you should be too 11:41 Myth 3: non-equity is a stepping stone to equity, as long as you build a book 12:20 The moving goalposts: equity thresholds rising, and why conversion is not automatic 13:29 Myth 4: if you are good enough, the firm will speed it up 14:55 The rough odds: who makes non-equity and who makes equity internally 15:30 The practical posture: how to operate if you are serious about partnership 16:24 The most damaging mistake: planning on an orderly, certain process that is designed to be slow and protective Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Do you enjoy listening to Big Law Life? Please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps support and reach more people like you who want to grow a career in Big Law. For Apple Podcasts, click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven't done so already, follow the podcast here! For Spotify, tap here on your mobile phone, follow the podcast, listen to the show, then find the rating icon below the description, and tap to rate with five stars. Interested in doing 1-2-1 coaching with Laura Terrell? Or learning more about her work coaching and consulting? Here are ways to reach out to her: www.lauraterrell.com laura@lauraterrell.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauralterrell/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraterrellcoaching/ Show notes: https://www.lauraterrell.com/podcast

Mid-career partners can begin quietly wondering whether they should stay where they are or explore a move. This isn't driven by crisis or failure. It's driven by subtle shifts, such as declining energy for a platform that once fit well, strategy drift inside the firm, client relationships that feel different, or internal politics that have grown wearisome. Yet most partners stall making a decision because they don't want to make the wrong call and the ambiguity keeps them stuck. In today's episode, I walk through the five stages I see that partners typically move through when confronting the stay-or-go question: detecting early signals without overreacting, running a true cost-benefit audit, separating fact from extreme thinking about portability, pressure-testing the market and assumptions, and exploring parallel stay and go plans. I share the specific diagnostics I suggest partners consider, the risks partners often underestimate, the structural problems that rarely improve with time v. the irritations that can usually be changed, and how to evaluate the potential options through financial, client-continuity, and cultural-stability filters. If you're a partner feeling the need to examine your place in your practice or platform, this episode helps you approach that crossroads with clarity, data, and control. At a Glance 00:00 Why mid-career partners begin questioning whether to stay or go 02:44 Stage 1: Quiet doubt and the early signals partners tend to overlook 03:54 A three-question diagnostic for evaluating how to initially frame what may be going on 05:39 Stage 2: The cost-benefit audit and quantifying what staying v. going actually buys you 07:18 How politics, write-offs, and strategic stagnation erode partner value 08:42 Distinguishing temporary irritations from structural misalignment 10:10 Stage 3: Counterfactuals and why partners get stuck in best-case and worst-case assumptions 10:55 Reality-checking which clients would follow you and which would not 11:24 How to quietly stress-test the market without signaling intent 12:37 Stage 4: The real risks of leaving: portability, client transfer, compensation, and culture 14:19 Identifying what must change for you to stay, and how to design parallel stay and go plans 15:35 The three filters for evaluating any move: financial survivability, client continuity, and cultural stability 16:25 Stage 5: Why this decision can feel like an identity crisis and how to regain agency Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Do you enjoy listening to Big Law Life? Please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps support and reach more people like you who want to grow a career in Big Law. For Apple Podcasts, click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven't done so already, follow the podcast here! For Spotify, tap here on your mobile phone, follow the podcast, listen to the show, then find the rating icon below the description, and tap to rate with five stars. Interested in doing 1-2-1 coaching with Laura Terrell? Or learning more about her work coaching and consulting? Here are ways to reach out to her: www.lauraterrell.com laura@lauraterrell.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauralterrell/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraterrellcoaching/ Show notes: https://www.lauraterrell.com/podcast

After years as a partner inside global law firms, I've seen one stage of a BigLaw career quietly determine everything that comes after it. It isn't the first year, when everyone expects some struggle and a lot of learning. And it isn't partnership, when you've reached that tier and are now working to build your book of business and establish your role in that space. The most dangerous stage is the mid to senior associate years. Years four through seven are where many lawyers stall without realizing it. They're billing hard, getting strong reviews, and hearing they're "doing great." But behind the scenes, their future is already taking shape. In this episode, I break down the shifts most associates never see coming: when technical excellence stops being enough, when your reputation gets fixed without your input, and when firm economics matter more than compliments. I walk through why at this stage judgment matters more than output, how client readiness is built long before partnership, and why waiting to become strategic often means you've missed your chance to demonstrate what your firm needs to see. If you believe good work alone will carry your career, this episode explains why that mindset can quietly derail it, and what you should be doing now instead. At a Glance 00:01 Why years four through seven matter most 02:50 When execution gives way to judgment 05:24 How reputations form without you 07:45 Why client work can't wait 10:04 How firm economics affect you early 12:02 How political capital can determine survival 13:59 Defining your value before others do 15:36 Managing matters and people 17:01 When non-billable work counts 18:10 The signals firms send before decisions 19:10 Becoming more than a technician Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Do you enjoy listening to Big Law Life? Please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps support and reach more people like you who want to grow a career in Big Law. For Apple Podcasts, click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven't done so already, follow the podcast here! For Spotify, tap here on your mobile phone, follow the podcast, listen to the show, then find the rating icon below the description, and tap to rate with five stars. Interested in doing 1-2-1 coaching with Laura Terrell? Or learning more about her work coaching and consulting? Here are ways to reach out to her: www.lauraterrell.com laura@lauraterrell.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauralterrell/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraterrellcoaching/ Show notes: https://www.lauraterrell.com/podcast

After years as a partner in global firms, I've watched countless associates struggle with the billable hour for reasons that have nothing to do with their talent or work ethic. What often derails them are avoidable habits: reconstructing time at the end of the month, underbilling to appear efficient, overlawyering simple assignments, taking on too much work at once, relying on one partner for all their hours, failing to bill fully legitimate work, and assuming non-billable hours will meaningfully count toward their annual target. In this episode, I walk through the seven most common pitfalls I've seen across firms and explain exactly how they show up in day-to-day practice. These aren't theoretical issues. They're the real behaviors that cause associates to miss targets, lose credibility, or burn out. If you've ever wondered why your hours don't reflect the amount of time you know you're putting in or why the math never seems to add up, this conversation will help you identify what needs to change and how to regain control of your billable life. At a Glance 00:00 Why the billable hour creates so much anxiety 02:08 How late time entry leads to lost hours 03:41 Why underbilling backfires 04:29 How overlawyering wastes time and damages trust 05:29 What to clarify with partners before starting work 06:22 The danger of saying yes to everything 07:31 What to do when teams overload you 07:59 Why relying on one partner is risky 09:28 Legitimately billable work associates forget to record 10:15 How travel time rules differ across firms and clients 11:03 The trap of "fake billable hours" 13:59 Why unbilled time erodes your evaluation 14:27 A final reminder to examine your billable habits Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Do you enjoy listening to Big Law Life? Please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps support and reach more people like you who want to grow a career in Big Law. For Apple Podcasts, click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven't done so already, follow the podcast here! For Spotify, tap here on your mobile phone, follow the podcast, listen to the show, then find the rating icon below the description, and tap to rate with five stars. Interested in doing 1-2-1 coaching with Laura Terrell? Or learning more about her work coaching and consulting? Here are ways to reach out to her: www.lauraterrell.com laura@lauraterrell.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauralterrell/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraterrellcoaching/ Show notes: https://www.lauraterrell.com/podcast

Christy Bilbrey, a PR professional and founder of Stellanova Media, takes the spotlight in this milestone conversation. They dive into the hidden challenges of BigLaw, from isolation and mentorship gaps to the significant feedback from listeners. Laura reflects on the surprising moments from producing 100 conversations, highlighting the universal themes of ambition and uncertainty among lawyers. They also discuss impactful episodes that resonated deeply with the audience, showcasing the gap the podcast fills in the legal media landscape.

In this episode, I tackle one of the most persistent myths inside BigLaw: that partnership guarantees freedom. After years of billing, grinding through deal cycles, and fighting for promotion, most lawyers expect partnership to mean finally having more control over clients, staffing, and schedules. But as I explain, the modern BigLaw firm operates much more like a global corporation than the old-school partnership many lawyers imagined as they were working their way towards becoming a partner in their firm. Centralized management, committees, client teams, centralized staffing, and internal politics shape a partner's actual authority far more than most attorneys realize. I walk through how partners can actually feel a loss of autonomy in areas they assumed they would gain more control over, why this happens, and, most importantly, the steps smart partners take to regain meaningful agency inside a the structure of their firms. At a Glance: 00:00 Introduction and the myth that partners "finally get to do what they want" 01:20 How autonomy erodes through committees, billing rules, discounts, and restrictions on expenses 02:15 Why client teams and global relationship partners can limit control, even over clients you originate 02:39 The gap between what lawyers imagine partnership to be and the corporate reality of BigLaw 03:00 How institutionalization has changed BigLaw 03:30 Why centralized systems protect firms but often reduce individual partner freedom 04:09 How client management may be reassigned to multi-partner teams 04:41 The politics of potentially being a "co-relationship partner" and thus losing losing influence and authority over key client relationships 05:04 Centralized staffing and resource managers replacing partner-led staffing 05:28 Why partners feel responsible but not in charge 05:53 Structural dependency: why BigLaw's infrastructure limits independence 06:21 How platform reliance prevents partners from "going independent" 06:42 Deferred comp, origination credit rules, and how compensation systems quietly place limits on partners 07:16 The psychological dependency created by discretionary compensation factors 07:47 The emotional side of autonomy: validation, identity, and exhaustion 08:36 The paradox: greater authority but less agency 08:59 What smart partners do to regain leverage 09:22 Building allies across finance, HR, IT, and marketing 09:48 Owning the client relationship, not just the work 10:13 Developing portable capital so you're staying by choice, not constraint 10:42 Building strong internal teams to regain practical autonomy 11:12 Why complete independence is tough to achieve and what autonomy actually looks like in 2025 11:38 Understanding what you control vs. where you only have access 12:07 Reframing autonomy and focusing on leverage that matters 12:47 Closing reflection and how to use this understanding to build the practice you want Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Do you enjoy listening to Big Law Life? Please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps support and reach more people like you who want to grow a career in Big Law. For Apple Podcasts, click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven't done so already, follow the podcast here! For Spotify, tap here on your mobile phone, follow the podcast, listen to the show, then find the rating icon below the description, and tap to rate with five stars. Interested in doing 1-2-1 coaching with Laura Terrell? Or learning more about her work coaching and consulting? Here are ways to reach out to her: www.lauraterrell.com laura@lauraterrell.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauralterrell/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraterrellcoaching/ Show notes: https://www.lauraterrell.com/podcast

In this episode, I take a closer look at a topic that many BigLaw lawyers misunderstand: profitability. Most partners focus on the firm's overall "profits per equity partner" (PEP), but that number tells only part of the story. There are other profitability numbers - internal, often unseen analyses that many attorneys don't focus on but in fact shape how practices and partners are viewed, rewarded, and resourced. I explain how these shadow numbers differ from the publicly announced firm metrics, how factors like leverage, write-offs, and politics distort perceptions of profitability, and why understanding these differences can make a difference to you at your firm. Knowing how your firm evaluates profitability in different ways and how to influence those numbers is a crucial career advantage. At a Glance: 00:00 Introduction to the concept of firm profitability 01:20 Why PEP only tells part of the story and how shadow P&Ls work 02:05 How internal accounting and practice-level metrics shape profitability 03:27 Defining "shadow P&L" and how practice groups interpret performance differently 04:01 How leverage and write-offs impact profitability and risk across practices 07:14 Examples of approaches and how accounting treatments reshape profit 10:55 Why long-term relationship value can be less valued in firmwide numbers 12:18 How firms use both official and shadow P&Ls to evaluate partners and practices 13:30 How politics and perception influence profitability outcomes 15:17 How to challenge assumptions and advocate for your practice's true value 18:14 Final reflection and wrap-up Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Do you enjoy listening to Big Law Life? Please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps support and reach more people like you who want to grow a career in Big Law. For Apple Podcasts, click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven't done so already, follow the podcast here! For Spotify, tap here on your mobile phone, follow the podcast, listen to the show, then find the rating icon below the description, and tap to rate with five stars. Interested in doing 1-2-1 coaching with Laura Terrell? Or learning more about her work coaching and consulting? Here are ways to reach out to her: www.lauraterrell.com laura@lauraterrell.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauralterrell/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraterrellcoaching/ Show notes: https://www.lauraterrell.com/podcast

In this episode, I tackle one of the most common frustrations I hear from partners and senior associates: why business development efforts so often fail to produce consistent, meaningful client work. From my own years as a BigLaw partner and now as a coach, I've seen too many capable lawyers equate effort with results, attending conferences, posting on LinkedIn, and taking endless coffee meetings only to find their pipeline still flat a year later. In this episode, I break down the five most common reasons business development efforts stall: lack of focus, inconsistent systems, confusing visibility with credibility, misaligned firm incentives, and fear or perfectionism. I share examples of how these pitfalls show up in real life, how to shift your mindset and methods, and the practical steps that can help you turn scattered efforts into sustainable business growth. At a Glance: 00:00 Introduction and framing the issue of stagnant business development 02:13 Defining what "failure" in business development really looks like: activity without progress 03:09 Reason #1: Lack of focus and overly broad positioning 03:35 How to describe your niche using client-centric language that connects 04:40 Evolving your focus when your market slows, expanding adjacent to your strengths 06:07 Reason #2: Treating business development as an event instead of a system 06:40 Why bursts of activity fail and how to create rhythm and consistency 07:31 How to structure weekly, monthly, and quarterly follow-up systems 08:20 Applying the "Rule of Seven" to build recognition and trust 08:41 Reason #3: Confusing visibility with credibility 09:10 The difference between posting for attention and sharing insights that attract clients 10:13 How to shift from "look at me" to "here's what I see in your world" 10:41 Reason #4: Misalignment between firm incentives and personal goals 11:02 How origination credit and short-term revenue pressure discourage long-term growth 12:00 Steps to clarify success criteria and build internal allies across practices 12:39 How to align your BD projects with both firm strategy and personal goals 13:02 Reason #5: Fear and perfectionism: the emotional barriers that stall progress 13:32 How overthinking and hesitation block momentum 14:18 The power of small, genuine gestures in reconnecting with clients 15:07 Reframing BD as helping, not selling, to make outreach feel natural 15:37 The traits of lawyers who succeed in business development: clarity, systems, authenticity, and resilience 16:33 Three reflection questions to reset your BD strategy for the year ahead Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Do you enjoy listening to Big Law Life? Please consider rating and reviewing the show! This helps support and reach more people like you who want to grow a career in Big Law. For Apple Podcasts, click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review." Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven't done so already, follow the podcast here! For Spotify, tap here on your mobile phone, follow the podcast, listen to the show, then find the rating icon below the description, and tap to rate with five stars. Interested in doing 1-2-1 coaching with Laura Terrell? Or learning more about her work coaching and consulting? Here are ways to reach out to her: www.lauraterrell.com laura@lauraterrell.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauralterrell/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraterrellcoaching/ Show notes: https://www.lauraterrell.com/podcast