The latest issue of The Complete Lawyer features the theme “What’s Your Exit Strategy?” and includes articles that discuss exits including retirement, job changes, leaving the law, setting up a plan to ensure that your clients will be protected if you’re suddenly unavailable, and more. Here are a few highlights: Rob Hockett offers simple advice on… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Work/life balance
Subscribe to Work/life balance RSS FeedWork = Death?
Posted in Work/life balanceImagine, for a moment, a world in which a lawyer’s work and life are completely separate. No, I’m serious. Pause and imagine it. When I try to envision that world, I get deeply distressed. If work and life are separate, and if life has no part in work, what does that imply? Work = no… Continue Reading
Wednesday Shorts 3/5/08
Posted in Leadership, Quick hits, Women and the law, Work/life balanceI almost titled this post “The Bad Blogger,” because that’s how I feel! I’ve been away from Atlanta (my primary home) for all but 3 scattered days since mid-January. I’m accustomed to travel, but doing this much of it all at once is truly a challenge. One thing I’ve learned is to be a little… Continue Reading
What happens to work/life issues in a recession?
Posted in The practice, Work/life balanceThe economic forecasts seem to agree: we’re in a recession. Unlike past slowdowns, this recession seems poised to affect law firms as much as other businesses — not a pleasant thought for lawyers accustomed to growth and more growth. If you’re among those concerned (and if you aren’t, you probably should be), be sure to visit… Continue Reading
Are law firms “cuddly”?
Posted in News, Work/life balanceOr… Maybe it’s time for a change. There’s been much discussion for the past few years about the viability of the billable hour, the high numbers of lawyers (especially but not exclusively women and women of color) leaving the profession, and the high rate of lawyer depression. In case you missed it, Thursday’s New York Times carried an… Continue Reading
“The Parent Track”
Posted in Work/life balanceThere was an interesting discussion on the Wall Street Journal blog The Juggle last week, inquiring, “When Dads Demand Flexibility Will the ‘Mommy Track’ Disappear?” The post begins, “The idea of the Mommy Track is well worn. Perhaps too well worn. The term has always bothered me, in part, because it leaves out the many dads… Continue Reading
An 18-year path to partnership? Maybe…
Posted in Women and the law, Work/life balanceThere’s an interesting (quite short) article today titled, Law Firms Let Women Forge Their Own Way. The story centers on a Gabrielle Higgins, who recently made partner at Ropes & Gray and was “pleasantly surprised” to discover that 7 of the firms 10 new partners were women. And if that 70% figure isn’t striking enough,… Continue Reading
Discovering my inner “hot worm”.. And changes for 2008
Posted in Coaching for lawyers, News, Special offers, Work/life balancePerhaps you’ve heard this: “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life!” I’ve seen that quote, or similar ones, attributed to everyone from Confucius to Harvay MacKay. Now, here’s my corollary: even so, you will nevertheless sometimes need to adjust priorities, to take time off, and to shift what you do.
Happy holidays!
Posted in Work/life balanceI hope those of you who celebrate Christmas have had (or perhaps are having) a marvelous, restful time with friends and family. I naively thought I might induce my two dogs to wear their holiday finery (a reindeer headpiece, as seen here, and a Santa hat) and get them to pose in front of the fireplace,… Continue Reading
Tuesday Shorts 12/11/07
Posted in For new lawyers, Quick hits, Women and the law, Work/life balanceSurvival tips for new associates: David Dummer, an associate in the Dallas office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, has written an article with 10 survival tips for new associates. Although the tips are not particularly revolutionary, they set a good framework for new associates and might serve as a reminder for more advanced lawyers. Some… Continue Reading
What’s the most important step you can take?
Posted in Billing time, Coaching for lawyers, Evaluations and feedback, The practice, Time management/productivity, Work/life balanceOnly 34 days remain in 2007, including weekends and holidays. Before we know it, the books will close and another year will have passed. What’s the most important step you can take today to ensure that you’re well-positioned as you move into 2008? Business development: Perhaps you could set aside a couple of hours to… Continue Reading
Working breakfasts, lunches, and dinners
Posted in Client development, Work/life balanceWhen I sat down to write today’s post, I intended to write about how excellent client service blends into client development. I’d planned to suggest some tactics for extending the relationship so you become a “trusted advisor” (to borrow David Maister‘s phrase). One of the tactics I’d planned to suggest was, not surprisingly, taking clients… Continue Reading
Simplicity: where personal and professional meet
Posted in Time management/productivity, Work/life balanceOne of the rules I keep in mind when writing is that good writing is clear, crisp, and simple. The same rule often applies more generally as well. As Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” When it comes to managing one’s personal life while maintaining a practice, “simple” is… Continue Reading
Designing your personalized professional development plan
Posted in The practice, Work/life balanceA lot of law firms are working to make their associate review processes more useful — and some are even succeeding. Over the last 2-3 years, it’s become quite vogue to require associates to design a professional development plan so that they and the firm can track their progress. Although the plan is designed to… Continue Reading
Blog bankruptcy
Posted in Time management/productivity, Work/life balanceOne of the fundamental tenents of work/life balance, work/life integration, or any other name one might choose to describe the relationship between time applied on professional and personal matters is simple: conscious decisions on what to do and what to forego are mandatory, because no one can do everything. My husband has a photo in his office… Continue Reading
Happy Labor Day and a special opportunity
Posted in Special offers, Work/life balanceHappy Labor Day, everyone! I hope you’re taking at least a part of today for fun and recreation. As for me, I’m back to my “office” for more reading and writing. I’m cooking up some new plans for Life at the Bar for this year. (After being in school for so long, September… Continue Reading
Conscious disregard of value: women vs. the legal profession
Posted in Women and the law, Work/life balanceOne of the things I most enjoy about the blogosphere is the free exchange of ideas and thoughts. Recently, Stephanie West Allen and I have been discussing a trend reported by Canada’s leading newspaper The Globe and Mail in an article entitled “Office Stress Ruining Women Lawyers’ Lives.” (With thanks to Gerry Riskin of Amazing Firms,… Continue Reading
Top firms for women or leaving the law: it’s all about perceived satisfaction
Posted in The practice, Women and the law, Work/life balanceAs announced in a flurry of law firm press releases yesterday, Working Mother Magazine and Flex-Time Lawyers LLC have announced the top 50 firms for women, as measured through “groundbreaking programs to help women strike a better work/life balance and climb to the top” and “implementing penalty-free flex schedules and mentoring, networking and leadership programs.” Large firms… Continue Reading
Back to the real world: how do you return from vacation?
Posted in Musings, Time management/productivity, Work/life balanceBy the time this posts, I will likely have landed back at the Atlanta airport, home from vacation and from the ABA annual meeting. First, I’d like to thank Peter Vajda publicly for his posts. Relationship is always an interesting topic, and I believe that in many ways our relationships shape and promote or inhibit… Continue Reading
Vacation; ABA meeting; Introducing guest blogger Peter Vajda
Posted in Guest blogger, Work/life balance“Vacation used to be a luxury, however, in today’s world, it has become a necessity.” Unknown “Vacation is what you take when you can’t take what you’ve been taking any longer.” Unknown “Isn’t it interesting that people feel best about themselves right before they go on vacation? They’ve cleared up all of their to-do piles,… Continue Reading
Creating “work/life balance”: 5 steps to success
Posted in For new lawyers, Work/life balanceI was in a Starbucks last week reading Beyond the Big Firm: Profiles of Lawyers Who Want Something More. (Review forthcoming.) A man sat down at the table next to me, carrying 3 or 4 bar review books, and looking somewhat frazzled. He kind of nodded to me, and I nodded at his books and… Continue Reading
The reset button
Posted in Coaching for lawyers, Time management/productivity, Work/life balanceOne of the interesting things about coaching is that periodically, the topics on which I’m coaching someone will rise up and smack me in the face. Pride may go before a fall, but working with someone else on an issue they’re facing seems highly likely in some bizarre cosmic way to raise the same issue… Continue Reading
Recreation: a foundation of balance and productivity
Posted in Time management/productivity, Work/life balanceIt occurred to me this week that there’s (at least) one activity that, perhaps counterintuitively, is a foundation of work/life balance and productivity: recreation. While coaching a client this week and introducing Stephen Covey’s Urgent/Important quadrant system for prioritizing and completing tasks, I explained that true recreation — something that’s reenergizing, that “re-creates,” rather than passive… Continue Reading
Quick hits: moving from lockstep pay, and more.
Posted in Client development, The practice, Work/life balanceA few interesting ideas and posts/news stories to share on this holiday-week Monday. 1. Howrey will switch to a “competency model” in January 2008, removing lockstep pay and billing rates for associates. Read Bruce MacEwan‘s commentary at Adam Smith, Esq. on the news. David Lat‘s Above the Law has posted what purports to be a memo from… Continue Reading