Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D, is the founder of Lawyers Life Coach LLC, a firm providing executive and career coaching to attorneys and consultation to legal employers. Lawyers Life Coach LLC provides individual and group virtual (by phone with email and fax backup) and in-person coaching and consultation to attorneys and law firms throughout the country on issues related to work/life balance, strategic career management, leadership, effective communication, client development and the role of gender in these matters.

Dr. Ostrow is widely known for her expertise on issues of particular concern to women lawyers. She has been invited to address the ABA, NAWL, NALP, and state and women's bar associations throughout the U.S. on success strategies for women in the legal profession. She has served on the Advisory Boards of the Project for Attorney Retention and the Project for Attorney Retention - Corporate Counsel and participates on the faculty of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession's Women in Law Leadership Institute. Her email newsletter, Beyond the Billable Hour, has been reprinted by print and electronic legal publications throughout the country and she is a contributing writer for the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession's publication, Perspectives, Trial Magazine, the Legal Times, and Lawyers Weekly, and is the editor of the Women in Law department of The Complete Lawyer.

Dr. Ostrow earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Rochester in 1980. She has held faculty positions in the psychology departments of three universities and served as staff psychologist in the counseling centers of four universities. She entered the full-time independent practice of psychology in 1987, received her coach training through the MentorCoach ™ program, and currently serves on their faculty. She has been coaching attorneys at all levels of experience and seniority since 1998 and has worked with a variety of law firms throughout the country.

Dr. Ostrow lives in the D.C. area with her husband and 15-year-old son.

Testimonials

"I can't express to you enough the benefits I am seeing from your program. My rolodex for referrals and contacts to obtain referrals went from 0 to 40 since our first discussion about marketing. This is just the beginning and I have a lot more follow-up work to do. I have been invited to speak at three places with two definite dates for speaking. I never before understood the importance of this until your coaching program. I guess it made the light bulb go on in head." Woman partner in West Palm Beach law firm

"Your comments were so 'on target' not only for new lawyers but perhaps even more so for women litigators like me (with kids) who have successfully practiced (by working really hard) for 20 years without "rainmaking," but now find the need to start doing so. I have come to the conclusion that I need to do more rainmaking in order to move upward in the firm. You inspired me to try to become focused and to take action, and to identify goals and potential business. It is not an easy road, for many of the reasons you identified. I greatly appreciated your presentation." Woman partner in New York law firm

"As a working mother with two very young children at home, finding the time to market my legal services fell low on my list of priorities. My coaching goal was to establish a marketing plan that would enable me to grow my business without taking significant time away from my practice or my family. With Ellen, I defined my target client base. She showed me how to reach those clients largely through professionals with whom I already had established and comfortable relationships. Ellen's coaching enabled me to reach out to these contacts in new and different ways and freed me to be more direct about my client needs. My business has grown exponentially based largely upon these kernels of wisdom from Ellen - and, I recently made partner in my law firm while still working a part-time schedule. " Woman partner in Northern Virgina law firm