How Attorneys Stay Marketable and In Demand by Prioritizing Growth

 

The Fundamental Importance of Goal Setting

Today's webinar could honestly be one of the more important topics you ever hear. I am going to be talking today about what I have noticed that people in not just the legal profession, but in all professions, do that makes them incredibly successful. Whether you are starting a business or working somewhere, you can do whatever you want to do if you have goals for what you are trying to do.

I am going to talk today about goal setting and how you can incorporate that into your career. I am going to talk about a lot of things here that I hope will make a major difference in the way you think about things going forward. There are some very fundamental topics related to any way you are trying to succeed in whatever it is you want to do: achieving success, being happy, and reaching your goals. Most people do not realize that they can actually achieve them if they think in the right way.

Another thing that is very important to think about is that you are actually one of two people. You are either someone who is working to help other people achieve their goals.

• You might work in a business as an in-house attorney, helping the company achieve its goals.

• You might be the general counsel working for the CEO.

• You might be working in a law firm, helping people in there make more money, acquire more business, and service their clients.

You are always either working for someone else's goals or for your own. The sad fact is that probably 85% of the people out there are working in service of other people's goals. I think a lot of the unhappiness that people experience in the legal profession has everything to do with the fact that they are often working in service of other people's goals. They are not fulfilled; they are not having the kind of life that they want, nor the type of career that they want. Unfortunately, there are so many people that just go through their entire lives and careers in service of other people's goals.

You may be in a relationship where someone has a goal to live off you or to get nothing but emotional support from you. In your personal life and your business life, you have to ask: am I doing whatever I want to do in service of my goals, or am I doing it in the service of others?. Once you make that shift and start thinking about whether you are serving others or yourself, you start to realize that serving yourself and your own goals will give you more ability to achieve things. You are probably going to be happier, have a bigger sense of purpose, and a lot of things are going to fall into place.
 

Embracing Passion and Continuous Growth

Before I get started with a lot of this, do you have a passion for what you are doing?. Do you feel fulfilled?. Do you feel like you are going somewhere?. You should always be in that state of mind because if you are not growing at anything, you are dying. So many people are in a position—and I see this with attorneys all the time—where they are not growing and they are dying. You want to be in a position where you are growing, and the only way you are going to grow is if you have very strong goals for yourself and you know where you want to go.

This is a live webinar; I will give this presentation, take a quick break, and then I will come back and answer questions. You can ask questions about this or anything related to your career or whatever it is you are trying to do. I have been doing this for 26 years, pretty much 12 hours a day, almost every day of the week, so I have a lot of insight that could help you.
 

The Power of Purpose: A Story of Survival

When I was around 10 years old, my stepfather stayed home from work one day, which was very unusual. He had been very sick the night before, walking down the bedroom holding his stomach and moaning. This whole thing had started early in the evening, and he was in very bad shape. He had not improved by the next morning or afternoon. I left for school in the morning and could hear him moaning; something was very seriously wrong. It made a very strong impression on me because I had never seen anybody that sick. He obviously seemed to be suffering from something very serious. My mom assumed it was just some sort of flu and nothing that severe.

My mom remarried, and the two of them had been married for about a year. Things seemed to be coming together; they recently had my sister, and he had started a business that was pretty successful. Everything seemed very positive, and it was a happy family. When I came home from school that evening, my grandmother told me he had been taken to the hospital. They were trying to figure out what was wrong with him. Everything seemed very uncertain; I did not see my mom for a few days because she was at the hospital the whole time. A few days later, my grandmother sat me down and told me they were doing a serious operation on him that evening. He was in his late thirties and had a horrible cancer that had spread to all areas of his body. They had to take out a part of his stomach, his bladder, and tons of things were wrong.

When he went into this operation, he was basically told that he was going to have probably a 1% chance of coming out of the operation because there was just so much they had to remove. It did not look like he was going to live even with the operation, but he chose to proceed with it knowing that he could die. We gathered around him before this operation, and everybody basically believed it was the last time they would see him. He went into surgery basically being told he was probably going to die, but he was actually very calm. He was on pain medication and said he would be fine and would see everybody in a few days.

The operation was over 24 hours long, and again, everyone thought he was going to die. After the surgery, he survived. The surgeon came out, spoke with my mother, and said the only reason he survived was his inner strength because he had goals.

• He wanted to raise a family.

• He loved my mother and wanted to have a good life.

• He was happy with his life and his business.

He had strong reasons to keep going. All this awful stuff was happening to him that he could not control, but in his mind, he was someone who knew he was going to succeed. He did not have any doubt that he was going to come out of this operation because he really wanted something. Every bone in his body wanted to live, and he had things that needed to be accomplished. He came out of this operation, and even the surgeon said the only reason he survived was because he was fighting, even under anesthesia.
 

Overcoming Professional and Personal Challenges

You have to think about your situation. There are obviously periods of your life where you have faced a lot of challenges. Think about the times you have been depressed, unmotivated, uncertain, fired, or gotten bad grades. Maybe people say negative things to you or put you in negative buckets. Maybe you failed the bar, got a DUI, someone left you, cheated on you, or stole from you. Maybe you got alienated from your parents. All these awful things can happen, and people have very difficult times. People will overeat, become unemployed, or experience substance abuse problems.

Attorneys are no different; they often experience more problems because it is a very difficult job, especially when you are not in control of what happens to you. Your law firm could run out of work, you just do not know. When you reflect on these periods, there is often a theme. When you get depressed, feel defeated, feel judged by others, feel ostracized, or feel that you are not good enough, one of the things always going on in the background is that you do not have clear goals. You do not believe in yourself and do not know where you are going. Almost every attorney feels they are not good enough; very few do not.

If something negative happens to you, you can look at it in two different ways. You can get depressed, get down, and feel badly about yourself. The other option is you can look at it as rocket fuel, meaning it makes you angry and gives you more motivation to keep pushing forward and do the best you can. If you have goals, you just take those as a course correction, saying this did not work, so I will do something else.

Elon Musk was trying to land his SpaceX rockets on barges. This rocket, which was probably hundreds of millions of dollars, tried to land on a barge and exploded. Everyone in the center was so upset, but he said this is not bad, this is good news. Now we know what we need to do better the next time. He kept improving and took negative feedback as a positive thing when a lot of people might have gotten depressed and upset about it.

Most people do not have goals and take negative things in the wrong way, not using them to push themselves forward. So few attorneys have goals; because they do not have goals, they are just working for other people, taking the work they can, and depending on them for success.
 

Escaping Stagnation in Your Career

You are either growing in your career and life, or you are declining; you are rarely standing still. You can put yourself in a position where you are growing, with the right culture and people that recognize you. Or you can be in a situation where you are declining: upset about the work, going to HR with complaints, not learning how to get more work, not improving your work, and not showing commitment. You might lack people on your side, not do as much work as you can, lack passion, and not view yourself as a leader.

People who are successful in anything are always growing. You have to really look at this carefully:

• Are you becoming a better attorney?

• Are you getting more experience doing transactions or different types of litigation?

• Are you getting more sophisticated work and are clients taking you more seriously?

• Are you becoming a better expert in your practice area?

The problem is so many people are not growing; they think they are just doing a job, and they do not know exactly where they want to go. If you are not doing that, you are never going to be happy. You need a sense of purpose. The world respects people with a sense of purpose. Clients respect attorneys who have a sense of purpose, believe in themselves, and are excited. If you are working in a law firm, partners respect someone with a sense of purpose. A significant other is going to respect someone with a sense of purpose.

The most successful politicians and business people have a big sense of purpose. Elon Musk had engineers working for him as opposed to places like Facebook because he had a sense of purpose. There was a bidding war for AI engineers; Facebook was offering $200 million, while Musk offered $30 million. The engineers chose to work for him because he had a real sense of purpose. Everybody wants a sense of purpose.

You need to have goals and consistently move towards them. You need to constantly course-correct to make sure you are going where you are going, based on feedback from the world. If an organization does not support your sense of purpose, find another one. If you do not push forward on your own, you are going to serve someone else's sense of purpose. If you do not have a goal to be the best personal injury attorney or the best transactional real estate attorney, you are basically going to be working for someone else, which can be very dangerous.
 

Directing Your Energy Through Vision

When you stop having progress in your life, you are often going to feel empty, disconnected, lonely, depressed, and hopeless. People with a lack of purpose are all around us. In high school, the stoners just sit around without goals, smoking pot, going nowhere. This lack of purpose is a problem for attorneys too. Attorneys may have a sense of purpose for passing the bar, but then the job just becomes the purpose, which is not anything significant.

You have to always be growing, learning, and moving towards something that keeps you engaged and makes you want to get out of bed. If you are practicing law and do not feel excited to get into the office to improve yourself, that is a problem. You cannot get behind something you do not like. If your sense of purpose is served by practicing law, you should be excited about working on clients and learning.

You should write down the different things you want to do that can transform your career and life. In "Think and Grow Rich," you must write down what you are going to do, set a deadline, figure out a plan, and read it daily. There is the 3-6-9 Journal where you write down your goals in the morning, afternoon, and night. When you work things in your subconscious mind, things can happen.

Over 20 years ago, I made a vision board. I cut out pictures of cars, buildings for my business, a happy marriage, and a picture of a house viewed from a cliff by the ocean. I looked at this vision board consistently. The idea is that these things motivate you to become successful.

One day, driving through Malibu, I stopped at an open house. I walked through and it was the most beautiful house I had ever seen. I told the real estate agent I would have to sell my current house to buy it. I called my real estate agent, and she brought her client, who made an offer on my house for $600,000 more than I paid a year ago. Within 30 days, I sold my house and moved into this beautiful place in Malibu.

Walking back from the beach one day, I looked at the house and, to my astonishment, the view was exactly the house I had been looking at on my vision board for a couple of years. I had cut the picture out of a random magazine and did not even realize it was the same house when I bought it. That entire thing fell into place perfectly; having a vision attracts energy in the universe that makes things happen.
 

Creating Turning Points

When I was in seventh grade, I was a horrible student and had problems at home. My stepdad eventually died, and my mother had become a horrible alcoholic. I was lost and in a very bad way. I failed out of private school in eighth grade and was kicked out. In ninth grade at a public school, my life was going in a bad way emotionally, and I was hanging out with kids who eventually ended up in prison or with drug addictions.

I moved to Bangkok for high school. I was having a hard time, getting a 1.7 GPA, and getting negative feedback from everywhere. One day, my father told me that if I started applying myself and giving it everything I had in school, everything would fall into place very quickly. I decided I was going to get the absolute best grades I could and put everything I had into it to succeed.

• I ran for student council and became vice president.

• I got on the varsity soccer team.

• By the end of the year, I had the highest grade point average in my highly competitive class.

I went from goalless and depressed to having clear goals, which changed my whole life. People who are unemployed, depressed, or having problems typically just do not have clear goals or targets. Without a target, progress becomes very difficult, and you are just going to flail around. People without goals are not moving towards anything and become depressed.

 

Conclusion

Attorneys who prioritize growth stay marketable and in demand because they do not leave their careers to chance. They stay engaged. They keep learning. They develop stronger skills, clearer vision, and greater purpose over time.

I have seen again and again that growth changes everything. It improves confidence, creates momentum, and makes setbacks easier to navigate. Most importantly, it helps attorneys build careers that belong to them, not just careers that happen to them.

If I had to reduce it to one idea, it would be this: the more clearly I know where I want to go, the more likely I am to build a legal career that is meaningful, resilient, and lasting.
 

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Questions and Answers

 

Balancing Work, Health, and Goals

Question: How do you approach things when you want to commit energy to a direction, but you have to take available work to support your family and health?

You might be in a situation where you have to do available work and do not have a lot of energy for your goal. When you are young, you need to figure out what you can do before you have family commitments. People develop expenses and find themselves working for their family, essentially fulfilling other people's goals rather than their own. If something is very important to you, you will find a way to do it and create the circumstances to move in that direction. You can take all the available work but simultaneously become an expert in your practice area, write papers, and network.
 

Preparing for OCI and Summer Associate Interviews

Question: What is the best way for law students to prepare for OCI (on-campus interviews) and secure a summer associate position?

When you are interviewing, you essentially need to look at the employer as if they are a client. Act enthusiastic, as if you want to do the work, will work hard, and will do whatever it takes to do a good job. Treating anybody giving you work as your client is crucial. Law firms are looking for manageability: will you follow instructions, be easy to work with, and respect them?. If they ask if you have any questions, never ask about hours or remote work; instead, ask what it takes to be the best-performing summer associate. Employers want to hire people who genuinely want the job.
 

Listing Represented Matters on a Resume

Question: How do I list represented matters on a legal resume while maintaining client confidentiality?

If you are writing memos and giving legal advice to a client, that is strictly confidential. However, if you are filing public documents or briefs in a court, that is not confidential and you can talk about it on your resume. If you have different transactions, you can talk about them unless they are confidential. Not all resumes need to list matters, but corporate and real estate resumes often do.
 

The Importance of Continuous Learning

Question: Why do attorneys who prioritize continuous learning have more stable careers, and how can I start building that habit?

If an attorney is constantly learning and pushing towards goals, they will be much different than someone who does not. Grab onto a specific sub-practice area and make it a priority to become an expert in it. Some of the best attorneys keep files where they save articles and papers related to their practice area, continually building up an arsenal of knowledge. Modeling successful people by observing how they work, handle clients, and organize their practice is incredibly helpful.
 

Career Paths After Public Interest Law

Question: What are the most common career paths for attorneys after working in nonprofit or public interest law?

If you go into nonprofit or public interest law, you could go to work for the government or possibly a law firm. However, you need to understand that the practice setting you choose sends a perception about what you want to do long-term. For people leaving public interest law, the most obvious and common career path is going into politics.
 

Negotiating Job Offers and Salaries

Question: Can attorneys negotiate their base salary and legal job offer?

You can negotiate almost anything, including remote work or partner track timelines, but there is a risk. For example, a firm pulled a $300,000 offer because the candidate requested a specific bonus structure, and another firm pulled a $400,000 offer when a candidate asked for one day of remote work. Remember that employers cannot easily give you more benefits than they give other associates at your same level without having to raise it for everyone.
 

Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle with a High Workload

Question: Do you have insights on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle with a 70-hour workload in a law firm post-injury?

A standup desk can be helpful. Working 70 hours a week (3,500 hours a year) is extreme, and it is very difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle doing that. That kind of workload can be dangerous to your health when people get sick. It is fine to do when you are young to gain experience, as those skills will stay with you throughout your career, but be very careful with your health long-term. Taking at least one day a week to unplug completely, as well as taking vacations, makes you much more efficient.
 

Job Search Strategies for Unemployed Attorneys

Question: As an unemployed new attorney, what two or three things should I do to find a role in a hard job market?

Employers always need help. Apply to places where employers are not getting a lot of applications. Instead of relying on heavily saturated job boards like LinkedIn, search for small firms in your practice area and send direct applications. Find the owners or main partners of local law firms on their websites, and email or call them directly to ask if they have work you can do.
 

Managing Disengaged Junior Associates

Question: What is the best way to manage a junior associate who is disengaged, unavailable, and lacks accountability?

You are the client when someone works for you. You would not want an unavailable, unaccountable attorney representing you. Monitor what they are doing based on their hours and software. Ultimately, if the person is not manageable, they need to be replaced because they are not on your team. Weak links will drag everyone down, and the best law firms do not tolerate that.
 

Working as a Consultant vs. Full-Time Attorney

Question: What if you just want to pick up overspill as a consultant instead of wanting a full-time job?

Consultants eventually lose access to long-term work. Access to work is one of the most important things in the legal profession. If an attorney loses access to work, their marketability drops significantly. Being a consultant can be dangerous because you will not always have guaranteed work; your number one goal as an attorney should always be to ensure you have work to do.
 

The Risks of Staying Comfortable in a Legal Role

Question: What are the risks of staying too comfortable in my current legal role?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being comfortable if you like your job and are happy. If your goal is to be happy, comfortable, and not stressed while practicing law, that is a perfectly good goal. There is no risk in that.

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About Harrison Barnes

The Architect of the Hidden Legal Job Market

For most lawyers, an attorney job search begins with public job postings, law firm websites, and job boards. Harrison Barnes knows that the best opportunities are often found elsewhere—in the hidden legal job market, where confidential firm needs, quiet practice expansions, and customized roles are never publicly advertised.

As the Founder and CEO of BCG Attorney Search, Harrison has spent more than 25 years helping attorneys access opportunities before they reach the public market. He understands that law firms often hire strategically and confidentially, especially when seeking highly marketable lateral talent, replacing underperformers, or expanding key practice areas.

Harrison’s insight into law firm recruiting comes from firsthand legal experience. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, a former federal law clerk, and a former associate at Quinn Emanuel. Early in his career, he saw that traditional legal recruiting was often reactive and overly dependent on posted openings.

To change that, Harrison built BCG Attorney Search into one of the most comprehensive legal recruiting platforms in the country. Over the past two and a half decades, he has invested heavily in proprietary law firm intelligence, attorney market data, and a nationwide recruiting team. This infrastructure helps identify legal career opportunities before they become visible to most candidates.

Harrison and his team do more than match resumes to job descriptions. They help attorneys understand their legal career options, improve their marketability, and position themselves as solutions to a law firm’s specific needs. Whether advising a junior associate, a senior associate, counsel, or a partner, Harrison focuses on aligning each attorney’s strengths with the right firm, platform, and long-term career path.

Through this approach, Harrison has helped place attorneys in thousands of law firms nationwide, from Am Law 100 firms to specialized boutiques and growing regional practices. His work has helped attorneys make career moves that many believed were impossible.

Today, Harrison Barnes is recognized as one of the legal industry’s leading recruiters and career strategists. His legal career advice, articles, webinars, podcasts, and resources such as The Legal Career Insider Substack are followed by attorneys across the country.

Harrison believes the best legal careers are built by finding doors others cannot see. Through BCG Attorney Search, he gives attorneys access to the hidden market—and helps them move toward the career they truly want.

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Proven Success at All Levels

With over 25 years of experience, Harrison has successfully placed attorneys at over 1,000 law firms, including:

• Top Am Law 100 firms such including Sullivan and Cromwell, and almost every AmLaw 100 and AmLaw 200 law firm.
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He has also placed hundreds of law firm partners and has worked on firm and practice area mergers, helping law firms strategically grow their teams.

Unmatched Commitment to Attorney Success - The Story of BCG Attorney Search

Harrison Barnes is not just the most effective legal recruiter in the country, he is also the founder of BCG Attorney Search, a recruiting powerhouse that has helped thousands of attorneys transform their careers. His vision for BCG goes beyond just job placement; it is built on a mission to provide attorneys with opportunities they would never have access to otherwise. Unlike traditional recruiting firms, BCG Attorney Search operates as a career partner, not just a placement service. The firm's unparalleled resources, including a team of over 150 employees, enable it to offer customized job searches, direct outreach to firms, and market intelligence that no other legal recruiting service provides. Attorneys working with Harrison and BCG gain access to hidden opportunities, real-time insights on firm hiring trends, and guidance from a team that truly understands the legal market. You can read more about how BCG Attorney Search revolutionizes legal recruiting here: The Story of BCG Attorney Search and What We Do for You.

The Most Trusted Career Advisor for Attorneys

Harrison's legal career insights are the most widely followed in the profession.

• His articles on BCG Search alone are read by over 150,000 attorneys per month, making his guidance the most sought-after in the legal field. Read his latest insights here.
• He has conducted hundreds of hours of career development webinars, available here: Harrison Barnes Webinar Replays.
• His placement success is unmatched-see examples here: Harrison Barnes' Attorney Placements.
• He has created numerous comprehensive career development courses, including BigLaw Breakthrough, designed to help attorneys land positions at elite law firms.

Submit Your Resume to Work with Harrison Barnes

If you are serious about advancing your legal career and want access to the most sought-after law firm opportunities, Harrison Barnes is the most powerful recruiter to have on your side.

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With an unmatched track record of success, a vast team of over 150 dedicated employees, and a reach into every market and practice area, Harrison Barnes is the recruiter who makes career transformations happen and has the talent and resources behind him to make this happen.

A Relentless Commitment to Attorney Success

Unlike most recruiters who work with only a narrow subset of attorneys, Harrison Barnes works with lawyers at all stages of their careers, from junior associates to senior partners, in every practice area imaginable. His placements are not limited to only those with "elite" credentials-he has helped thousands of attorneys, including those who thought it was impossible to move firms, find their next great opportunity.

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• Finds and creates job openings that aren't publicly listed, giving attorneys access to exclusive opportunities.
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This level of dedicated support is unmatched in the legal recruiting industry.

A Legal Recruiter Who Changes Lives

Harrison believes that every attorney-no matter their background, law school, or previous experience-has the potential to find success in the right law firm environment. Many attorneys come to him feeling stuck in their careers, underpaid, or unsure of their next steps. Through his unique ability to identify the right opportunities, he helps attorneys transform their careers in ways they never thought possible.

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For attorneys who think their options are limited, Harrison Barnes has proven time and time again that opportunities exist-often in places they never expected.

Submit Your Resume Today - Start Your Career Transformation

If you want to explore new career opportunities, Harrison Barnes and BCG Attorney Search are your best resources. Whether you are looking for a BigLaw position, a boutique firm, or a move to a better work environment, Harrison's expertise will help you take control of your future.

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Harrison's reach, experience, and proven results make him the best legal recruiter in the industry. Don't settle for an average recruiter-work with the one who has changed the careers of thousands of attorneys and can do the same for you.

About BCG Attorney Search

BCG Attorney Search matches attorneys and law firms with unparalleled expertise and drive, while achieving results. Known globally for its success in locating and placing attorneys in law firms of all sizes, BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys in law firms in thousands of different law firms around the country. Unlike other legal placement firms, BCG Attorney Search brings massive resources of over 150 employees to its placement efforts locating positions and opportunities its competitors simply cannot. Every legal recruiter at BCG Attorney Search is a former successful attorney who attended a top law school, worked in top law firms and brought massive drive and commitment to their work. BCG Attorney Search legal recruiters take your legal career seriously and understand attorneys. For more information, please visit www.BCGSearch.com.