Bob Sutton’s No Asshole Rule
I’ve been preparing a post about the challenging people we encounter in a legal practice: the nasty opposing counsel, the client who always reminds you of the cliche that with “friends” like this, who needs enemies; and even the rare colleague at work who’s a terrific attorney/paralegal/secretary/whatever but radiates fury or blame or negativity. We […]
American Lawyer’s Associate Survey;
I’d intended to post today about the American Lawyer’s Midlevel Associate Study, released today, but everytime I try to follow the links on AmLaw’s website, my browser crashes. Here’s a link to the WSJ Law Blog post that discusses the study’s findings. My strong hunch is that the study will reveal few surprises and not […]
Attorney depression
One of the interesting things about blogging on WordPress (and, I presume, other platforms) is that my nifty stats area shows what search terms lead readers to my blog. Sometimes it’s clear how someone followed the trail to get here, and sometimes I couldn’t be more puzzled. I had not expected to have one of […]
More on work/life balance… Is it just a fad?
I’ve run across two interesting blog posts recently that cast work/life balance as a fad or misnomer rather than as something that’s important to lawyers. First, a recent post (no longer available) on Bruce MacEwen’s Adam Smith, Esq. blog quotes a 10-year old McKinsey study that places “acceptable pace and stress” as an important contributor to […]
Good use of time or double billing?
It’s probably no secret to those of you who read my blog on even a semi-regular basis that I enjoy the WSJ.com Law blog. Interesting info, with generally good comments. And that’s where I found the grist for today’s post. Yesterday, the Law Blog posed the following hypothetical (subscription required): You are taking a three-hour plane […]
Can associates engage in client development?
One of the most challenging parts of practice is figuring out the business end of being a lawyer. In a midsized or larger firm, that usually boils down primarily to client development. And associates frequently view client development as an activity for partners and senior associates. It’s pretty common to hear more junior lawyers saying […]
Remembering the bar exam and considering your own life at the bar.
For most of the people in the United States, today is just Monday, July 24. But for thousands of would-be practitioners, today is something far more sinister: the day before the bar exam. Assuming you’re a member of the group sitting on the other side of the bar, the Promised Land of Practice, the bar is […]