Paula Price is an Executive Coach, Lawyer and Founder of Uplevel Lawyer Coaching and Uplevel CPD. She’s excited to be coaching lawyers individually and offering on line courses to make coaching more accessible. Sign up for Paula’s free on line course for students starting at law firms this summer and receive her weekly student newsletter.
1. You left your job with a national commercial litigation firm to pursue the call of professional coaching. What kind of considerations went into that decision?
A few years ago, I became obsessed with coaching. If I wasn’t working or with my young family, I was digesting podcasts, Ted talks, books and articles about mindset, coaching and personal growth. It became a passion I couldn’t shake. But, I was too scared to act on it. I had always played it safe. Practical. Pursuing coaching seemed like the opposite of that.
The decision boiled down to a contest between fear (about money, credibility, losing my identity as a lawyer) and possibility (creating programs, building community, helping others achieve what they want). A window opened. I followed my gut. Since then, I’ve been pushing through fear and pursuing possibility.
2. You are now a certified executive coach. What does that entail and what attracted you that kind of work?
I have graduate level training in the discipline of coaching. That means I’m formally trained to help others leverage their own genius to get the results they want. While I’m often asked to coach about things that seem discrete, like time management, marketing or transitions, coaching tends to go much deeper and bridge the connection between mindset and outcomes. It’s the difference between setting your alarm an hour earlier because you think you should and becoming the kind of person who wants to wake up an hour earlier. The latter is more likely to stick. When clients experience how powerful a mindset shift can be in one area, they’re compelled to make shifts in other areas. I love seeing the empowerment and clarity of thought that coaching brings to my clients.
3. You recently created an online course to help women lawyers deal with the anxiety of handling money in a legal practice. Can you tell us a little about the course and what inspired you to develop it?
I created Money Mindset for Women Lawyers because there’s a need for it. I had clients who were struggling with their confidence around money… and so was I! In creating the course, I focused initially on beliefs about money and others. Then I had my own breakthrough. The key to a healthy money mindset is confidence: how we think about – and value – ourselves.
The course leverages coaching to create shifts in money mindset and develop protocols for use in legal practice. The results will be tailored to the participant’s practice and can include strategies for communicating with clients about fees, fewer write offs and confidence to turn away non billable work that doesn’t promote professional growth.
The course is delivered on line, on demand in a way that makes it accessible to lawyers who are pressed for time and who want benefits of coaching without a 1:1 commitment.
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