Valerie A. Fontaine earned her JD from UC Hastings College of Law and her BA, Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude, from UCLA. She was on the Editorial Board of COMM/ENT, a Journal of Communications and Entertainment Law. Valerie practiced law with a prominent Los Angeles law firm and entered the legal search profession in 1981. Valerie is Secretary to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants (NALSC) and Chairs its Newsletter Committee.
A great lawyer is one with clients that pay! Excellent work is not enough to guarantee your long-term success in the legal profession. If you want to have control over your destiny, you must control business. With a significant client following, you will dramatically increase your chances of becoming partner, keeping your position within your…
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Now that you are not working night and day to keep up with the business crossing your desk, what should you be doing to make the most of these slow times? Besides catching up on your sleep and getting reacquainted with family and friends, there are specific steps you can take to position yourself to…
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During the course of your career, you may contemplate switching practice areas-either by choice or necessity. Some attorneys discover that the area of practice they chose, or fell into, after law school, is not right for them. Others find that the economy or political or technological developments necessitate a practice change. The ease or difficulty…
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Performance reviews needn’t be an ordeal; rather, with the proper preparation and attitude, they can be an opportunity for mapping out your path to career success. Virtually all attorneys from junior associate to senior partner have some sort of evaluation, even if it is only part of the annual compensation-setting process. With the tight economy…
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