I can't come up with a creative title for this one...

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know. I've been neglecting my blog. And yours.

So here's the story...

At work a couple weeks back I was told that I was getting a promotion to senior associate. (I was also asked to keep this very hush hush until the official announcement was made. It still hasn't been made public knowledge so if you know me in real life... shhhh! Especially you mom!)

Anyway, the promotion came with the talk.

What does Jaime want to be when she grows up?

Because it's not enough to be a good lawyer. It's not enough to be a corporate litigator. You have to declare a major within the school of commercial litigation. Construction? Business divorces? Products liability?

So I thought about it. And the truth is, I love what I do now. The mix of business breakups and construction. But some of my favorite cases have been doing product liability defense. They're interesting. They're hard. You have to become an expert on a specific product for each case.

But we don't really do much of that work these days. And if we, like most companies, are feeling the hit of the economy sucking does the firm really want to invest the time and money into my learning this area when it won't be a profit center for several years? If it doesn't show a profit for awhile, does that mean I'll be out on my ass? No matter what I think of my own skills, the general counsel for Mitsubishi isn't walking through the door for ME. So what partner is going to jump into this realm to help get me going?

How am I going to go out and get this work? And *shudder* it means I actually have to market. I HATE networking. It is torture for me. Seriously. I'd rather have a root canal than sit around with a bunch of suits and whore myself out. You'll rarely hear me brag about my achievements.

I've gotten a $1.4M judgment for a client. Most lawyers who are twice my age can't say that. I'm the editor in chief of my state's young lawyers publication and was tasked with reviving the publication after the last editor fucked up so badly she didn't put out an edition all last year. I've written 10 articles for the american bar association and am in line to be the editor of one of their publications next year. I ran the prep of a $20M trial and lived in the office for 2 months straight to accomplish what no other associate in my office could, whether they had been at the office for 5 years or 25.

But none of that matters. Why does the CEO of GM care that I founded my school's law review? (Yes, we lawyers still claim ownership of those titles from law school at the beginning, middle and end of our careers.) My work speaks for itself - or else it should - because I'm damn good at what I do.

So now I have to develop a business plan for what will eventually be my own department at the firm. I don't have a freaking clue where to start. Thanks to those of you who have given me some ideas and who have offered to help. I might be calling on you again for assistance in the very near future...