October, 2018 | Dollar Barrister

How law firm associates should write a cover letter for their first in-house counsel position

Posted by Dollar Barrister | Oct 31, 2018 | Going In-House |

By far, our most popular article here at Dollar Barrister over the last year has been about the form of cover letter I used to land my in-house counsel positions at multiple Fortune 150 companies. But just to be clear, that cover letter is not primarily geared at law firm associates who are looking to jump in-house. It’s really for a seasoned corporate counsel that is looking to transition into another company. So, for that reason, I have prepared another form of cover letter and posted it for you over at our Dollar Barrister shop. This form is specifically tailored for law firm associates (ideally between the third and sixth year of practice) who are looking to make the jump into an in-house corporate counsel role. And there are some important differences between these two cover letter templates, which you should note even if you aren’t going to use either of them as the basis for your in-house counsel cover letter.

Thirteen years after graduation, I finally paid off my law school loans – here’s how I did it

Posted by Dollar Barrister | Oct 21, 2018 | Budgeting, Law School |

Just over 13 years since I graduated from law school, my loans are finally paid off in full! I’m really excited about this, with good reason, so I thought I would share with you some thoughts on how I did it – both the good and (some) bad choices that I made over the years. Even if you were lucky enough to get a full scholarship or have a rich uncle pay your way in full, I still think there are some good lessons you’ll take away my experience that you can apply to paying down other debt that you still have on the books.

How I used an Excel spreadsheet to become a millionaire – and you can too

Posted by Dollar Barrister | Oct 15, 2018 | Budgeting, Investing, Living |

“What gets measured gets improved” is one of my personal mantras, and in net worth it applies more critically than anything else. To do this for our family finances, I decided to stay away from an online net worth service and started my own spreadsheet to keep track of things. This was the best thing I ever did. And now I’m really excited to share a public version of that spreadsheet with you!

Five tips for successfully navigating phone interviews and screeners for in-house counsel positions

Posted by Dollar Barrister | Oct 11, 2018 | Going In-House, Interviewing |

Phone screens may seem like relatively low-stress, comparatively “easy” interviews to deal with. But unless you prepare properly you could be putting your chances of moving on to the next round in jeopardy. Here are five tips for handling the phone screener so you’re ready to dive into this critical step in the interview process.

Should your first in-house counsel position be with a tech startup?

Posted by Dollar Barrister | Oct 2, 2018 | Going In-House, Practice Tips |

Lawyers, in particular, can make great early-stage hires at startup companies. But should your first in-house counsel position be with a startup, especially a tech sector startup? In this article, we take a look into the pros and cons of making that move, and offer a framework for working through a decision.