Valerie A. Fontaine earned her JD from UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings) 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 past Secretary to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants (NALSC) and former Chair of its Newsletter Committee. She currently serves as a consultant to NALSC headquarters.
Describing your firm and differentiating it are two very different things. The key to successful recruitment and retention lies in understanding how your firm is different from its competitors, clearly communicating that difference in the marketplace, and then finding the audience that appreciates those differences. Every organization has a wealth of information embedded in its…
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Lawyers pride themselves on being good communicators, but there’s more to effective communication than choice of words. Like just about anything you ask a lawyer, the answer to the question, “Which is the best way to communicate your message?” is, of course, “It depends.” The phrase, “The medium is the message,” was popularized by Marshall…
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A recent study published in February 2023 suggests that you need to set boundaries to save your sanity—and maybe even your life. Lawyers are more than twice as likely to have suicidal thoughts than the U.S. population of working people over age 18 as a whole according to a survey of almost 2,000 lawyers in…
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This is one of those tricky interview questions that can strike fear in the heart of even the best job seekers. The key is understanding what you’re really being asked and have some strong answers prepared ahead of time. Like “What is your greatest weakness?” this question is intended to assess your self-awareness and test…
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