A client recently called me, and I could hear the tension in his voice right away. Too many projects coming due at the same time (and thus, another long weekend in the office) combined with sheer exhaustion to make Rick an unhappy lawyer. “I just don’t know how I’m going to get it all done. [...]
Introducing Ron Peterson, a guest author. To learn more about Ron, scroll to the end of his post.
Lawyers will often carry Phi-Beta Kappa keys, law review credentials, marquee college and law school degrees, and—after a few years of diligent and conscientious practice—a growing realization that they may be unemployable! How can this be? Throughout school [...]
I noticed another lesson in the Olympics last night. I watched the 400m relays and saw the U.S. men’s and women’s teams disqualified for dropping the baton.  The men quit running after the drop, but the women’s team anchor Lauryn Williams picked up the baton and ran the rest of the race.  It was hard to [...]
Working on a bar association committee or project is a good way to get leadership experience quickly. The reason is simple: because of the number and variety of bar associations (the ABA, state, city/county, area-of-practice, group affiliations, etc.) and the number and variety of sections and committees within each, leadership opportunities are
Last night, I was watching the men’s gymnastics Olympic competition. I was struck with the approaches, at least as described by the know-it-all knowledgeable commentators. (I admit to some impatience with the Olympic commentators, who magnify every misstep and cluck over the athletes’ failings, but that’s another story.) Some gymnasts played all out, trying their [...]
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I’ll write more about this in a future post, but here’s a question for you to consider:
Are you playing to win? Or are you playing not to lose?
When “Carl,” a 4th year associate in a large firm, contacted me about lawyer coaching, he was dreading an upcoming evaluation. The office rumor was that associates were being asked to explain what they’d done to meet the goals they’d set in the previous year’s review, and Carl was nervous. He explained that although he’d been [...]
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 retirement [...]
An anonymous email I received shortly after I began coaching haunts me. This person (I don’t know whether male or female, but I’ll assume male here) wanted desperately to leave the practice. He was responding to something I’d written, and he explained that he’d practiced law for nearly 20 years and hated it. He never liked [...]
While describing an assessment I often use to a lawyer-client, I mentioned that it provides feedback about one’s natural tendencies and those tendences as adapted to work, explaining that almost everyone wears a “mask” of some sort at work.
“You got that right,” my client chuckled wryly.Â
We went on to discuss the discomfort this client feels in [...]
September 05, 2008 
