For Organizations & Businesses

Supporting your attorneys and developing your talent through expert coaching, comprehensive outplacement services, and professional development consulting.

Jessica L. Hernandez brings over two decades of experience in the legal industry—as both a practicing attorney and in legal professional development. With eleven years practicing as a corporate lawyer in New York at an AmLaw 100 firm, a smaller firm, and as in-house counsel at a hedge fund, she has a unique perspective into the challenges lawyers face at every level.

Individual and Group Coaching

Coaching Services for Attorneys

For most attorneys, internal and external clients, stressful work environments, and time pressures do not leave much time for self-reflection and intentionality. With an understanding of how difficult it can be to focus in the midst of competing demands, Jessica works with clients to define goals and maintain momentum with accountability in order to achieve concrete results.

Jessica helps attorneys who are looking to enhance their value in their existing roles, navigate unexpected personal or professional transitions, or make significant career changes. With a proven track record of motivating clients to break down challenges in order to surmount hurdles, she is uniquely positioned to help her clients set, meet and exceed their individual goals, leading to greater personal and professional satisfaction.

Coaching Focus Areas

Communication Skills

• Taking charge and communicating confidently in meetings and public presentations

• Effectively handling and addressing feedback and better understanding how to leverage strengths

• Building a 'brand' and maintaining a positive reputation

• Managing challenging relationships and engaging in difficult conversations

Career Advancement

• Enhancing delegation and time management skills

• Discovering and moving into more fulfilling work

• Becoming more skilled at developing business

• Exploring and understanding priorities and values, and applying that knowledge to find deeper meaning in their work

Transitions

• Confronting and moving beyond personal and professional obstacles, including work/life issues

• Successfully navigating a transition to either a different position or a new career

Outplacement Services

Support Your Departing Attorneys with Dignity and Comprehensive Resources

When transitions are necessary, your firm's reputation matters. Provide departing attorneys with professional support that reflects your firm's commitment to their success—comprehensive coaching paired with Law Career Center's 60+ digital resources for career transitions.

What's Included

Expert One-on-One Coaching

• Career transition strategy and planning

• Resume and LinkedIn profile development

• Interview preparation and practice

• Networking guidance and introductions

• Personalized support throughout the transition process

Proven Results

• 15+ years of legal professional development experience

• Deep understanding of legal career paths and transitions

• In-house and law firm experience

• Structured, repeatable process that works

Why Law Firms Choose This Approach

Most outplacement providers offer coaching alone. We provide both personalized guidance and comprehensive digital resources, ensuring your departing attorneys have structured support at every stage of their transition.

Benefits for your firm:

• Demonstrates commitment to attorney wellbeing

• Reflects positively on firm culture and values

• Provides comprehensive support beyond coaching calls

• Structured system with proven track record

Professional Development Consulting

Consulting Services for Legal Organizations

In over two decades in the legal industry, as both a practicing attorney and in legal professional development, Jessica has been intimately involved in:

• Performance evaluations

• Diversity and women's initiatives

• Writing firm policies

• Professional skills and substantive training

• Building and administering alumni programs

• Creating and delivering workshops

• Developing novel mentoring programs

• Outplacement and exit interviews

How We Can Partner with Your Organization

JLH Coaching + Consulting is available to partner with your organization to augment your professional development programs and resources, including:

• Creation, modification or enhancement of organizational policies

• Customized trainings and workshops

• Special professional development projects

• Program design and implementation

Workshops and Presentations

Speaking Services for Legal Organizations

Jessica is available to present on a broad range of professional development topics, and enjoys creating new workshops to address a firm's specific needs.

Let's Coach All the Lawyers (LCATL) Trainings

Jessica is a co-author, along with Jessica R. Natkin, of Let's Coach All the Lawyers: An Essential Primer for Professionals Developing Legal Talent (NALP 2021). Written for supervisors and managers in the legal industry, this book shares the coaching practices the authors have found to be most effective in developmental conversations.

"One of the most relevant and resonant books on coaching for lawyers I have seen, and one of the best PD-focused books I have read, hard stop."
— Dr. Milana Hogan, Chief Legal Talent Officer, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Jessica has created a number of interactive workshops where participants learn and gain experience using techniques from LCATL. Jessica presents these skills in easy-to-use formulas and gives attendees opportunities to observe and practice the techniques. Participants walk away understanding how to employ coaching skills to enhance their efficacy through better understanding. Jessica is particularly skilled at getting buy-in from attorneys who may be skeptical about using coaching techniques.

Workshop Topics

Enhancing Supervisory Conversations with Coaching Skills
This workshop begins with an overview of what coaching is, why it has gained so much traction in recent years, and the reasons why it is so effective. Jessica then explains the typical techniques used in supervision conversations, and explains how coaching techniques can augment these methods. She then offers a clear, concise 3-part formula for attorneys to use in feedback conversations for better results. Participants observe and practice these techniques and walk away with a clear framework for using these skills going forward.

Using Coaching Skills for Effective Mentoring Conversations
Historically, attorney development was based on an apprenticeship model; this model has changed considerably over the years due to economic forces, associate attrition, technology, and the remote working culture that came out of the pandemic. While mentorship has filled some of these needs, mentoring relationships can be complicated by many forces such as time pressures, an ongoing working or reporting relationship, and information gaps. In this workshop, Jessica describes how coaching techniques can enhance the results and relationship effects of mentoring conversations. Jessica offers a clear, concise 3-part formula for mentors to foster deeper mutual understanding and greater learning. Participants observe and practice these techniques and walk away with a clear framework for using these skills going forward.

Growth through Resilience: The Art of Receiving Feedback
Performance feedback is course-correction that is necessary for growth, but many factors make it much more complicated, such as personal history, organizational culture, personality, and relationship dynamics. Additionally, most lawyers take negative feedback very hard; when we feel threatened, the limbic system can override our ability to hear everything being said and properly digest the information (especially when the delivery, relationship, or performance history is fraught). In this workshop, Jessica offers a clear, concrete 3-step formula for associates to calm the limbic system, ask the right questions, and walk away from a feedback conversation with better learning and actionable steps to move forward.

LCATL Academy
Jessica has also created a year-long curriculum to teach law-firm partners how to use coaching techniques in order to examine and refine the way they engage with the firm. This curriculum is delivered in a mix of in-person and virtual sessions over the course of a year. Participants learn how to use coaching skills to improve training, engagement, and navigation of internal politics; enhance the firm's DEI outcomes; and augment business development skills.

Strategic Networking for Success
Networking is the key to leveling up at all levels of a legal legal career—not only in bringing in clients and finding a new position, but also in navigating internally at an organization and educating yourself when moving in a new direction. However, many attorneys are overwhelmed at the idea of networking, and don't know how to begin. In this session, Jessica sets out a clear strategy for networking, and makes it easier to deploy by offering a step-by-step approach that can be used at any point in an attorney's career.

Increased Effectiveness through Resilience and Self-Compassion
In this presentation, Jessica offers specific tools and concrete strategies to counteract negative self-talk in order to stay focused on goals and achieve greater productivity.

Building a Strong Team with Gallup StrengthsFinder
In advance of this workshop, participants take the Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment. After analyzing and charting the team's results, Jessica guides team members through a series of exercises to examine their own strengths, learn more about their teammates' strengths, and gain a deeper understanding of how to maximize the talent on their teams.

Finding Your Purpose – Aligning Your Values with Your Career
In this fun and interactive workshop, Jessica leads participants towards a greater understanding of what drives them in life, distilling these insights to bring their next moves into focus.