Anticipating Annual Reviews: Advocating for Your Advancement

Olshan corporate counsel Dorothy Sluszka authored an article for The Legal Intelligencer (subscription required) entitled “Anticipating Annual Reviews: Advocating for Your Advancement.” The article, published in the Young Lawyers Section, focuses on the importance of feedback to improve upon work product, the need to track achievements throughout the year and the strategies on how best to prepare for a semi-annual or annual review. “Given the volume of work that you will handle over the course of six or twelve months,” Dorothy writes, “to truly maximize your review, you should keep notes on the work that you’ve done, what you have accomplished, new skills or areas of practice you have developed throughout the course of the review period. This will enable you to formulate your own assessment of what you’ve accomplished and develop new goals.” She continues, “It is important to remember that a review is not only an opportunity to receive constructive feedback about your performance, but also an opportunity to advocate for yourself, particularly as you progress in your career path. Some firms have a very regimented path to partnership, where both the timeline and criteria are clearly delineated. However, for many firms, the path to partnership is more nuanced, with more than one way to achieve partner and with different criteria depending on your practice group and contributions to the firm.”