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Hi there! It’s Heather Stevenson.
Happy Wednesday and thanks for being here! Here’s what’s covered in today’s issue:
Why senior lawyers are especially vulnerable to letting their professional learning slip — and why it sneaks up on you;
The case for intentional learning, including a surprising data point about experienced doctors;
What my approach actually looks like, and why it requires less time than you think;
Links you'll love;
And More.
Let’s dive in.
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Deep Dive
Did you stop investing in yourself without Noticing?
When I was a BigLaw litigation associate, the firm took care of my professional development. Training programs, mentorships, and check-ins were all structured and handed to me. All I had to do was show up.
Then, when I joined The Boston Globe with a securities litigation background (and a few years away from practice, running a juice bar) plus zero media law experience, the need to learn fast was obvious and urgent. I knew my credibility depended on getting up to speed fast, and I treated learning like the job it was. As with most in-house roles, I had a great mentor in my boss, but no formal training plan. So I figured it out. It was the same when I became GC of Red Cell: new industry, new role, steep curve from day one. I read an entire venture law textbook in the five weeks between accepting the offer and my start date, then kept up at least a book a month on unfamiliar areas of law for that entire first year.
But around year three at Red Cell, I noticed something. The initial fear of looking like an idiot was over (to be clear, even now I still say dumb things from time to time — we all do — I just trust that my colleagues know by now that I know what I'm doing). I knew the business, I had my team, and I was busy. Every single hour, I had multiple options for things I could do with my time. And somewhere along the way, without meaning to, I had stopped being intentional about learning.
This is the trap. The structured support that keeps you learning early on doesn't disappear all at once, but it does tend to fade as you get more senior. And the longer you're in a role, the easier it is to confuse familiarity with mastery. The gap between what you know and what you need to know gets harder to see. So you stop looking. And when the world is changing as quickly as it is, that's a meaningful problem. Fortunately, it's also solvable.
That's what this newsletter is about: why that moment of feeling settled is exactly the wrong time to stop, and what intentional learning actually looks like for a senior in-house lawyer who does not have spare time.
