November, 2018 | Dollar Barrister

Primer on why employee stock purchase plans are such a great benefit, how they work, and why you should definitely contribute to your company’s ESPP

Posted by Dollar Barrister | Nov 26, 2018 | Investing |

The employee stock purchase plan, or ESPP, is a great benefit. If you’re moving in-house or otherwise working for a public company, definitely take a close look at the details of your employer’s plan. This primer will help you do just that by outlining the key features of an ESPP and offering some advice on how to participate.

Five things I’m thankful for working as in-house corporate counsel

Posted by Dollar Barrister | Nov 21, 2018 | Living |

In an effort to take a step back and reflect on what’s been a very busy personal and professional year for me, I thought I’d list five of the reasons why I’m particularly thankful right now to be practicing as in-house corporate counsel instead of in a law firm. My list builds on many of the themes that frequent Dollar Barrister readers will recognize from numerous articles: work-life balance, access to the business, and others. Happy Thanksgiving!

Five things I learned about myself from training for and finishing the 2018 TCS New York City Marathon

Posted by Dollar Barrister | Nov 12, 2018 | Living |

On Sunday, November 4, I finished the New York City Marathon for the second time, cutting 20 minutes off my last marathon. I’m really proud to call myself a two-time marathoner, but I struggled mightily on the back half of the course after running way too hard at the start. But over the last week I’ve been reflecting on my training and finishing and I feel really good about things heading into the 2019 running season, where my goal is to run NYC again and cut another 20 minutes off my time – but hopefully much more than that. Here are a few things I learned from my training, which I think are worthy takeaways for law practice – and professional life, too.

How to prepare for a behavioral-based (STAR) interview at a company like Amazon

Posted by Dollar Barrister | Nov 5, 2018 | Going In-House, Interviewing, Practice Tips |

STAR: situation, task, action, result. If you’re a law firm associate, and went through your law school’s OCI process, you’re probably not used to this method of interviewing. So how do you prepare when the interviewers are more interested in how you reason through a line of questioning that doesn’t involve walking through your CV? Fortunately there are some tips and tricks that can help you stand out from the crowd. STAR-based interviewing is being used more widely – especially in the tech world. (Amazon, for example, is notorious for using this type of interview structure exclusively.) If you’re a lawyer looking to go in-house at a tech company, you should definitely prepare yourself for a very different experience than when you participated in OCI during law school.