Whitney wants women lawyers to STAY in the law by considering different practice areas, editing their resumes, and improving their soft skills to create their own success.
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Whitney Harvey worked for over a decade in personal injury law before becoming an entrepreneur and running her career coaching business. But unlike your typical lawyers, Whitney wants women lawyers to STAY in the law by considering different practice areas, editing their resumes, and improving their soft skills to create their own success.
Whitney is a career coach for women lawyers. This career change occurred after a decade of practicing in personal injury law and seeing how many women left the legal profession because of a lack of advocates, accessibility, and frustration with the law.
“I got to see what worked in certain places and what didn't work as well, but I learned a great deal,” shares Whitney Harvey in Episode 90 of You Are A Lawyer.
Whitney describes the importance of keeping passionate and competent lawyers in the profession while acknowledging that some individuals may not be suited for it. Whitney admits that everyone in the legal profession doesn’t need to stay a lawyer, especially if they became a lawyer because it was expected of them or their family pushed them into the law. But for every woman who wants to remain a lawyer and wants to achieve all of their initial goals of becoming a lawyer, Whitney is a coach who will encourage you to stay in the law.
Although Whitney specializes in helping women lawyers stay in the legal profession through lateral moves or changing practice areas, Whitney also works with women lawyers who are exhausted with the law. When asked what would happen if a client shared that they no longer wanted to be a lawyer and wanted to pivot into a new career, Whitney welcomes that challenge. As a lawyer, Whitney is a planner and organized so she ensures that the lawyer has a plan before they leave the law.
“We work with resume writers and financial advisors to look at what would it take to transition you and still use your educational background,” shared Whitney Harvey on You Are A Lawyer.
In this episode, Whitney explains how transitioning from her successful legal career to entrepreneurship was difficult because Whitney loved practicing law. When your friends and colleagues are lawyers, it is REALLY difficult to leave all of that behind. However, Whitney knew that she could continue to serve lawyers by helping women rekindle their love for the law.
“I was more passionate and engaged in my work when I, the more I could peel the layers, take off some of the masks and really just start being myself,” explains Whitney Harvey in Episode 90 of You Are A Lawyer.
To ensure that Whitney didn’t have an identity crisis, she took time to contemplate her decision, and the pandemic provided an opportunity for introspection and for a transition into career coaching for women lawyers. Change can be challenging for anyone, but giving oneself time and space to process the decision is crucial.
Kyla and Whitney discuss how Black women become invisible in the workspace because they are often grouped in with women without acknowledging their differences. There is an intersectionality of being a woman and a Black woman. Whitney discussed cutting her hair short to fit into her conservative law office and declining to wear specific hairstyles so that she did not garner too much attention.
Women, and Black women especially, stand out in many legal offices because we are unique in these conservative law firms. Whitney explains how she was mentored by a Black male lawyer in her office, but most of the coaching she received was geared towards how Whitney could assimilate to the traditional customs of the office and not embrace her uniqueness. Surprisingly, Whitney received a lot of support and appreciation for their hair journey in the workplace, which has been both surprising and refreshing to them.
It took me over a decade to *really* start getting into more hairstyles that were not traditionally seen and I found that people loved them, shared Whitney Harvey on the You Are A Lawyer podcast.
This episode is wonderful if you are feeling overlooked or tired of the law and want to remember why you went to law school in the first place! This episode is also available on YouTube.
Whitney Harvey is licensed to practice law in Arizona. Connect with Whitney Harvey at theselfcoachedlawyer.com
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