“Black Friday” — join the fun with these gifts for lawyers!
Since it seems like the entire country will be shopping today, I thought I’d post some gift ideas for your favorite lawyer.
As you may (or may not) know, my background is in patent litigation and I am a patent attorney, so I was thrilled to see Dennis Crouch’s Patently-O post on Ten Ways to Spend Your Bonus: Holiday Gifts for a Patent Attorney. With choices like the Roomba vacuuming robot, the Jawbone Bluetooth headset for cell phones, and a portable GPS, this list might even be useful for non-patent geeks.! You’ll also find other fun legally-minded gifts there, not to mention a dazzling array of greeting cards that you can personalize and send without having to lick a single stamp.
This CafePress page offers more than a thousand designs for t-shirts, bags, coffeecups, and more — all legally inclined, and most under $30 or so. Perhaps a messenger bag styled Fungible Billing Unit would be just the right thing for weekend trips… to the office?
And Levenger, THE site for “serious readers,” has created the best thing ever to hit legal shirtpockets, briefcases, purses, etc: the Pocket Briefcase. This little leather case holds 3×5 cards (Levenger can personalize them, or you can order plain and print your own) that are perfect when you need space to write. Although they’re useful for a “to do” list, my favorite way to use them is to jot down a resource for someone I’ve just met while networking, leaving them with a card that’s larger than a business card, thus easy to read and remember, complete with my contact information.
And last but not least, one of the best books I’ve read this year about the practice. Raise the Bar: Real World Solutions for a Troubled Profession questions the billable hour, the firm as an organization, the way lawyers work, how associates are integrated into the practice, and how law can serve society. It’s guaranteed to make you think.
Happy shopping!
(Incidentally, if you’re wondering: no, I’m not compensated for any of these recommendations. Alas, no funding my own shopping!)
And speaking of Black Friday, a curiosity, an aside.
Americans complain they are overworked, overwhelmed, overtired and over-stressed. You speak to this often in your blog, Julie.
What is curious to me: ask them to get up a few minutes early to exercise, meditate or make a healthy breakfast and they look at you like you’re crazy, like you have three heads. But, ask them to get up in the middle of the night/morning to be at the mall at 5 AM to shop, watch for the frenzy and get out of the way of the stampede. To me, Black Friday is one instances that speaks to the insanity of America’s values.
Peter, you do make a good point. Of course, most of us will agree to a one-time early morning much more quickly than a true habit change as is required for the exercise, meditation, or regular nourishment to pay off… And that may account for the difference, at least to some extent.
But, as you suggest, there is a fundamental conflict between proclaiming being over-tired and overwhelmed by the clutter of life and rushing out on little sleep to get more stuff. An interesting dichotomy.
Thanks for the suggestions. May I respecfully suggest adding to your list my lawyer-created, law-related humor CDs, “The Lawyer’s Holiday Humor Album,” “Legal Holidaze,” “Merry Lexmas From The Lawtunes,” and the new release “The Lawtunes: Live At Blackacre”? Clips are posted and CDs can be ordered at http://www.LawTunes.com. Thanks again and Happy Holidays.
While law is supposed to be a device to serve society, a civilized way of helping the wheels go round without too much friction, it is pretty hard to find a group less concerned with serving society and more concerned with serving themselves than the lawyers. Fred Rodell