🧩 Critical Soft Skills for In-House Lawyers
7 min read

🧩 Critical Soft Skills for In-House Lawyers

Desi-derata

This email goes out to 1,512 South Asian legal professionals.

Critical Soft Skills for In-House Lawyers

I'd like to call out someone in our community that has been doing a great job of building community around simple but powerful ideas. Shaun Sethna is Deputy General Counsel at Altisource. In the past month or so, Shaun has made a splash on LinkedIn by illustrating patent principles with his son's Legos and sharing how to have the confidence to say nothing.

Now, Shaun sharing insights on critical soft skills for in-house lawyers.

You can join on March 1 at 12pm ET to get more great ideas for practice.

The Indie Guide To Building Your Legal Network

Part of the mission of Pani Cooler is to help South Asian lawyers create a powerful network of legal professionals. I attribute any success I've had with my career to the relationships I've developed and grown. The principles developed over a decade and hundreds of meetings with lawyers are now the framework of The Indie Guide to Building Your Legal Network.

Here's what Pani Cooler subscribers had to say about The Indie Guide:

​Amisha Patel, Senior Associate, Dechert LLP: "Your writing is clear and concise, and I like how you weave in personal anecdotes and stories from others. You also outline a very clear action plan. Even as someone not in the law school setting, I found this extremely valuable in thinking about ways to reinforce many of the lessons that needed reinforcing on how to present well in strengthening and nurturing my network."

​Neha Shah, Labor Relations, California State University: "I wanted to let you know that I've finally completed your networking guide and I thought it was fantastic. You provide great advice on not only creating relationships, but also on nurturing them. Your writing is clear and easy to follow and I appreciated the personal touch you added with examples of your own successes. This is a great guide for attorneys (and law students) at all levels of their career."

​Amit Kulkarni, Patent Counsel, Knobbe Martens: "The suggestions given in Khurram’s book completely changed my perspective about approaching strangers, especially established attorneys. Not only did I realize that I too had a lot to offer, but I also realized that I wasn’t on a temporary need-based journey. Rather, I was embarking on a long-term relationship-building approach. Like Khurram says, you already have the “human capital,” but it’s your “social capital” that’ll open doors and pay off in the long run."

​Shaun Sethna, Deputy General Counsel, Altisource: "The Indie Guide to Building Your Legal Network" is an excellent resource for any law students, newly minted lawyers, or even practicing attorneys who just haven't had the time or motivation to develop a network. I particularly liked how Khurram addressed all of the reasons that people usually resist building a network - many of those reasons spoke to me. I wish this guide were around when I was earlier in my career!"

You can read a chapter for free here. Pick up your copy here.

The Jobs

The purpose of Pani Cooler is to build direct connections between South Asian lawyers. A key part of that is getting South Asian lawyers hired and promoted. The below roles include direct contact information for your colleagues. Reach out to these lawyers in a manner consistent with the goals of building community on this platform.

Government

  • ​Hiral Mehta: Hiral is Deputy Chief at U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York. The U.S. Attorney's Office is looking for an Assistant U. S. Attorney. Reach out to Hiral at [Subscribers Only].
  • ​Madiha Zuberi: Madiha is Enforcement Attorney at SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office, Division of Enforcement. The SEC is looking for a General Attorney. Reach out to Madiha at [Subscribers Only].

Public Policy

In-House & Public Service

Law Firm

  • ​Bijal Vakil: Bijal is a partner at Allen & Overy and global co-head of the firm's Technology practice. Bijal's team is looking for tech transactions associates anywhere in the US and IP litigation associates (in Northern California; EE/CS preferred). Reach out to Bijal at [Subscribers Only].
  • ​Vishal Gupta: Vishal is a partner and Co-Chair of Life Sciences Practice at Steptoe & Johnson LLP. Vishal's team is looking for a mid-level life sciences patent litigation associate in NY with 2-6 years of experience and a strong science or engineering background. Reach out to Vishal at [Subscribers Only].
  • ​Avanti Bakane: Avanti is a partner at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani looking to expand her nationwide, collaborative team in the commercial litigation space. Avanti's team offers incredible flexibility with fully remote part and full time attorney positions. Avanti's matters span multiple practice areas with a heavy focus on brief writing, oral argument, and constant collaboration with clients upon strategy. Successful candidates will be highly motivated, seek out increasing levels of responsibility, and possess excellent communication skills. Experience in class action law and ample litigation experience are preferred but not required. Being barred in at least one US state is required. Reach out to Avanti at [Subscribers Only].
  • ​Sid Shenoy: Sid is a partner and Chair of the Public Company Advisors Team (PCAT) at Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP. Sid is looking to add a junior to mid-level corporate and securities transactional associate to PCAT in any of the following offices: Charlotte, NC, Raleigh, NC, Atlanta, GA, Washington, DC or Northern Virginia. See more information about the position here. Reach out to Sid at [Subscribers Only].
  • ​Ajay Kayal: Ajay is a partner at Windels Marx. Ajay's team is looking for a mid-level or senior patent litigation associate. Reach out to Ajay at [Subscribers Only].
  • ​Anita Bala: Anita is a partner at Buckley Beal. Anita's team is looking for Employment Law associates. Litigation experience strongly preferred, GA bar license necessary. Reach out to Anita at [Subscribers Only].

Legal Adjacent

Roles for Law Students

  • ​Navjeet Bal: Najveet is Managing Director and General Counsel at Social Finance, Inc. Navjeet's team is looking for an 2022 Summer Legal Associate. Reach out to Navjeet at [Subscribers Only].
  • ​Madhavi Seth: Madhavi is Corporate Counsel with the Privacy, Security and Risk team at HubSpot. HubSpot’s legal department is hiring 1L and 2Ls for its 2022 summer internship. Reach out to Madhavi at [Subscribers Only].
  • ​Joth Bhullar: Joth is Counsel, Legal & Business Affairs at Pac-12 Networks. Pac-12 Networks is hiring 2L and 3Ls for its summer internship. Reach out to Joth at [Subscribers Only].