{"id":"67f604484870ccd0a10e2ca2","apiName":"article_content","instance":{"_id":"67f604484870ccd0a10e2ca2","_version":2,"_created":"2022-03-17T11:17:00+00:00","_creatorId":63,"_edited":"2022-05-26T12:55:23+00:00","_editorId":63,"communities":[61,74],"properties":{"article_content_title":"The Value of Coaching","article_content_teaser":"

“No matter how good of a lawyer you are, everybody needs support—there will always be obstacles and blind spots and we all need encouragement and help at some stage,” says alumnus Lane Vanderslice. After working in education, non-profit and as lawyer at Mayer Brown, Lane made the move to pursue a career in coaching. Now working at Volta Talent Strategies, we recently spoke with Lane to learn why coaching is important for lawyers and law firms alike and to find out what his top three tips for lawyers are.

","article_content_text":"

An Interest in People Development

Lane started at Mayer Brown as a real estate associate before pivoting into a coaching-oriented role. “I liked being a lawyer but as I began nearing partnership it occurred to me that I didn’t want to practice law forever—I realized that my real skillset, where I saw both what I was best at and the need of the organization at the time—was in people development and capacity building,” he explains. “At the time, I was working on a deal with then managing partner Debora de Hoyos and so I asked her to let me work on recruitment, because I thought I could make a difference.” He was subsequently appointed to the firm’s recruiting committee, where he became the first associate to run the summer program. “It was great to be involved in summer associates, but I knew there was more to be done,” Lane reflects.

When he later joined the partnership in 2000, Lane transitioned into a role for talent development and began looking after the associates: training them, engaging with them and developing a program around them. “I’m solution-oriented and I knew and understood lawyers. With my previous background, I understood how to build programs and how to work with people one-on-one,” Lane reflects. As he saw and helped more people, his role grew. Though it wasn’t called coaching at the time, Mayer Brown became one of the first firms in the US to have an internal coach. “The answer seemed clear to me and I raised my voice and luckily, I worked for a firm that was receptive to this, and so I helped them move things along,” he describes.

From Lawyer to Coach

In 2008, Lane left his position as special assistant to the chairman at Mayer Brown and has been a coach and consultant ever since. Joining Volta Talent Strategies in 2015, he currently helps a number of Mayer Brown lawyers (alongside alumna Ami Scott, who took over his position at Mayer Brown and who now works alongside him at Volta). Whether supporting lawyers with their leadership, practice management and business development challenges, helping them with stress and time management or supporting their career progression more broadly, Lane’s coaching expertise covers all areas—and supporting lawyers when these challenges intersect is where his niche lies. “Being a great leader or business developer often means improving our project management or reducing our stress,” Lane comments. “I love what I do because I work with smart, ambitious people who sometimes just need a conversation or two to work through a problem.” Lane explains. “As a coach, I have certain tools to make a conversation powerful to allow people to work through things. One thing we have learned throughout the pandemic is that we all need someone to lean on sometimes. To be that person and to be able to help people brings me a lot of personal satisfaction.”

The Value of Coaching

Alongside training, coaching can be an effective tool, as Lane explains: “There are three ways we learn—by doing something, by being trained in something and through conversation. These conversations are why mentoring and feedback are seen as so important. Conversations with coaches can also support development, particularly since coaches have been trained to do just this.” Coaching can support lawyers at all levels, he continues: “Coaching was previously made available only for associates and though it can be very helpful for them, it gets more powerful the more senior the lawyer. In my experience, the people who don’t seek or receive enough support are partners. It’s incredibly powerful for two sets of partners in particular—new partners who are building their practice, and partners who take on management and leadership positions. In recent years, there’s been a generational shift and people are starting to seek out coaching.”

Coaching also speaks to another area that Lane is passionate about—diversity, equity and inclusion. “One of the most common topics I cover when coaching is how to give feedback to others. I try to demonstrate how to avoid bias—including our own implicit bias—when giving feedback and how to effectively have these conversations across difference,” Lane explains. “Real intentionality is key—each and every lawyer must pay deep and meaningful attention must to diversity, equity and inclusion in the same way managing time and business development.”

From strengthening us as legal professionals to helping us progress our mindsets and attitudes, the benefits of coaching are clear to see. “There’s always more we can do to grow and improve and stabilize the ground beneath us,” Lane concludes. “Former US basketball star Michael Jordan had a shock coach who made him better, so why shouldn’t you?”

Top Tips

“Lawyers often think that ideas solve problems, but the advice isn’t the important part—it’s putting it to action,” Lane explains. With this in mind, he provides us with his top tips and encourages us not just to read them, but to do them—and if they need, get some support.

Recognize that time is finite: “We have a limited number of hours in a day, a week or a month. People work hard for a long time but it gets to a point where we have to think about what else we want to achieve to be happy and successful, whether that’s business development or serving on committees. It’s important to set priorities for what we want to do in our time— and if we think time is infinite, we won’t get the important things done.”
Don’t stare at your feet: “It can be easy to focus on the task or matter at hand, but it’s important to look up. It’s important to question why we have been given this task, how it fits into the bigger picture of the matter and how it will make us a better lawyer and further our career. The things that don’t feel central are often central and understanding this will empower us in the long run.”
Get out from behind your desk: “This is similar to tip two, but more people focused. Countless people I have coached have told me they wished they’d spent more time with their family, met clients in person more frequently and been more involved with outside organizations. They feel it would not only have increased their happiness, it would have had a positive impact on their professional success. It’s important to be engaged beyond work in front us.”

Recommended links

","article_content_active":true,"article_content_featured":false,"article_content_publication":{"from":"2022-05-26T06:00:00-05:00","to":null}},"_model":{"_id":"67f6043d4870ccd0a10e2ad5","_version":9,"_created":"2025-04-09T05:23:09+00:00","_creatorId":1,"_edited":"2025-09-23T09:11:41+00:00","_editorId":1,"apiName":"article_content","name":{"en":{"singular":"Article","plural":"Articles"}},"description":"Article entity","features":{"iconName":"","detailLink":null,"hideDummyThumbnail":true,"entityType":{"type":"generic","settings":[]},"translations":[],"widgets":{"comments":{"active":true},"likes":{"active":true},"extshare":{"active":true},"searchAgent":{"active":false},"cta":[],"rssImport":[]},"lookup":[],"analytics":[],"showAdditionalFieldsInEntityPicker":false,"allowCreateFromPicker":false,"viewsVisibility":{"admin":true,"owner":true,"viewer":true,"custom":[]},"contentScope":"GroupScope","mediaBanner":true,"mediaBannerContentTypes":["ImageFile","ImageGallery"],"mediaBannerAspectRatio":{"flexible":true},"mediaBannerFileTypes":[],"viewerLayoutType":"tiles","viewerFulltext":true,"viewerHideCreationInfo":false,"viewerHideGroups":false,"viewerAddAdditionalFields":false,"viewerColumnFiltersThreshold":4,"additional":[],"activation":"properties.article_content_active","featured":"properties.article_content_featured","publication":"properties.article_content_publication","title":"properties.article_content_title","subtitle":"properties.article_content_teaser","secondSubtitle":"properties.article_content_text","sortBy":"properties.article_content_publication","sortOrder":"desc","visitCard":[]},"authorization":{"instance":{"type":"community","rights":{"admin":["read","write"],"owner":["read","write"],"viewer":["read"],"custom":[]}},"lookup":[],"lookupAdminRightsOnly":false,"permanentDelete":false},"categories":[],"properties":[{"apiName":"article_content_title","fieldType":"text","name":{"en":"Title"},"features":{"required":true,"searchable":true,"sortable":true},"defaultValue":null,"authorization":{"networks":"all","rights":{"admin":["read","write","api"],"owner":["read","write","api"],"viewer":["read","api","search"],"custom":[]}},"validation":[],"type":"field","hint":null},{"apiName":"article_content_teaser","fieldType":"longText","name":{"en":"Teaser"},"features":{"expandable":false,"expandableContentHeight":600,"searchable":true,"required":false},"defaultValue":null,"authorization":{"networks":"all","rights":{"admin":["read","write","api"],"owner":["read","write","api"],"viewer":["read","api","search"],"custom":[]}},"validation":[],"type":"field","hint":null},{"apiName":"article_content_text","fieldType":"longText","name":{"en":"Text"},"features":{"expandable":false,"expandableContentHeight":600,"required":false},"defaultValue":null,"authorization":{"networks":"all","rights":{"admin":["read","write","api"],"owner":["read","write","api"],"viewer":["read","api","search"],"custom":[]}},"validation":[],"type":"field","hint":null},{"apiName":"article_content_active","fieldType":"boolean","name":{"en":"Active"},"features":{"required":false},"defaultValue":null,"authorization":{"networks":"all","rights":{"admin":["read","write","api"],"owner":["read","write","api"],"viewer":["read","api"],"custom":[]}},"validation":[],"type":"field","hint":null,"customLabels":{"enabled":{"en":""},"disabled":{"en":""}}},{"apiName":"article_content_featured","fieldType":"boolean","name":{"en":"Featured"},"features":{"required":false},"defaultValue":null,"authorization":{"networks":"all","rights":{"admin":["read","write","api"],"owner":["read","write","api"],"viewer":["read","api"],"custom":[]}},"validation":[],"type":"field","hint":null,"customLabels":{"enabled":{"en":""},"disabled":{"en":""}}},{"apiName":"article_content_publication","fieldType":"daterangeDatetime","name":{"en":"Publication"},"features":{"required":true,"sortable":true,"sortOrder":"desc"},"defaultValue":null,"authorization":{"networks":"all","rights":{"admin":["read","write","api"],"owner":["read","write","api"],"viewer":["read","api"],"custom":[]}},"validation":[],"type":"field","hint":null},{"apiName":"article_content_original_content_id","fieldType":"integer","name":{"en":"Article"},"features":{"required":false},"defaultValue":null,"authorization":{"networks":"all","rights":{"admin":["read"],"owner":[],"viewer":[],"custom":[]}},"validation":[],"type":"field","hint":null}]},"featuredData":{"title":"The Value of Coaching","subtitle":"

","secondSubtitle":"

An Interest in People Development

From Lawyer to Coach

The Value of Coaching

Top Tips

Recognize that time is finite: “We have a limited number of hours in a day, a week or a month. People work hard for a long time but it gets to a point where we have to think about what else we want to achieve to be happy and successful, whether that’s business development or serving on committees. It’s important to set priorities for what we want to do in our time— and if we think time is infinite, we won’t get the important things done.”
Don’t stare at your feet: “It can be easy to focus on the task or matter at hand, but it’s important to look up. It’s important to question why we have been given this task, how it fits into the bigger picture of the matter and how it will make us a better lawyer and further our career. The things that don’t feel central are often central and understanding this will empower us in the long run.”
Get out from behind your desk: “This is similar to tip two, but more people focused. Countless people I have coached have told me they wished they’d spent more time with their family, met clients in person more frequently and been more involved with outside organizations. They feel it would not only have increased their happiness, it would have had a positive impact on their professional success. It’s important to be engaged beyond work in front us.”

Recommended links

","thumbnail":"","mediaBannerPreview":null},"creator":{"id":63,"name":"Hidden profile","fullname":"Hidden profile","profilePicture":{"imageUrl":"https://alumni.mayerbrown.com/custom/mayerbrown/imgcache/a11ef17d3d2228ac0bef1d36a4aa70b9a0b848409bb14c128f77a3e6a0fb5ebe.png","initials":"","isFakeImage":true},"image":"https://alumni.mayerbrown.com/custom/mayerbrown/imgcache/a11ef17d3d2228ac0bef1d36a4aa70b9a0b848409bb14c128f77a3e6a0fb5ebe.png","meta":{"ANONYMOUS":false,"ACTIVE":true,"IS_DELETED":false,"USER-VISIBLE_MEMBER_DETAIL":false,"USER-VISIBLE":false,"COMMUNICATION_ENABLED":true,"USER-WRITE_MESSAGE_ANY":false,"USER-VISIBLE_ADMIN_DETAIL":false,"USER-VISIBLE_IN_CURRENT_TREE":false}},"meta":{"MODE_MAN-INSTANCE-UPDATE":false,"MODE_MAN-INSTANCE-UPDATE_AUTH":false,"MODE_MAN-INSTANCE-DELETE":false,"MODE_MAN-INSTANCE-COMMENT":false,"customRolePermissions":[],"COMMON:LIKES_READ":false,"COMMON:EXTSHARE_ENABLED":false,"USER-CORRESPONDENCE-SEARCH":false,"USER-CORRESPONDENCE-CREATE":false,"MODE_MAN-INSTANCE-PROPERTY-UPDATE":[],"MODE_MAN-INSTANCE-PROPERTY-DELETE":[],"MODE_MAN-IS_ADMIN":false,"FOLLOWING_BOX_ENABLED":false,"addressFormats":[],"MODE_MAN-INSTANCE-CTA-BUTTON_VISIBILITY":[]}},"formattedName":"Hidden profile","profilePicture":{"imageUrl":"https://alumni.mayerbrown.com/custom/mayerbrown/imgcache/a11ef17d3d2228ac0bef1d36a4aa70b9a0b848409bb14c128f77a3e6a0fb5ebe.png","initials":"","isFakeImage":true},"publicPageHashOrToken":"2it5rEuIQQnOsA3yW7jKm7nK7bnWEtrZ","entityListViewMatchingSortableFields":[]}

Loading ...