I recently watched a video of a presentation for the Georgia Bar Association by my friend and colleague Monica Parker of LeavingTheLaw.com, in which she offers a 3-step process for leaving practice.  It seems to me that the process is equally applicable (with some modification) to other professional changes.  The video is about an hour long… Pour a cup of coffee, grab a pen and paper, and prepare to think through your next steps.  View the video here.

Rob Hockett offers simple advice on retirement issues in Through the Looking Glass: Why Many of Your Retirement Assumptions Are Wrong.  Retirement may seem lightyears away, but acting as if that’s the case is (in my financially uneducated opinion) a mistake.  I appreciated Rob’s article because it provides some benchmarks that anyone can use to begin getting a handle on what needs to happen to make a reasonably comfortable retirement a real possibility.

Sheryl Sisk Schelin gives terrific advice on Leaving Your Employer to Launch Your Solo Practice, most of which is absolutely applicable (with a few adjustments, of course) for leaving one firm to join another. 

Facts presented in Carl Cooper’s Women  Attorneys of Color Work Under a Sword of Damocles surprised me greatly.  Articles over the last few years have demonstrated that women attorneys of color face special challenges in the profession, but I was astonished to read that, according to NALP, 100% of African-American women have left their firm by the 8th year of practice.  This article presents some steps toward a solution, though clearly this is a deeply ingrained and multifacted issue.

Stephanie West Allen, Victoria Pynchon, Gini Nelson, and Diane Levin discuss The Human Factor and how lessons learned in mediation and negotiation can be applied more broadly to your life and work.

For those thinking of leaving the practice: Monica Parker presents seven reasons to leave the law in Before You Choose Your Exit Strategy, Choose to Exit.  (The article is an excerpt from her book (to be published this month!) Unhappy Lawyer: A Roadmap to Finding Meaningful Work Outside of the Law.)  And Anne Whitaker offers an insightful self-assessment to help determine not only whether leaving practice is the thing to do but also what might be a better choice.

And finally (for now, anyway), I wrote an article discussing three common challenges law firm associates face (”I made a mistake and I’m not sure I can recover,” “They must not like me,” and “I’m not advancing professionally”) and how both associates and their firms might work to resolve those challenges.  I’ve seen lawyers leave when they needn’t have, and I’ve seen them hang on when they shouldn’t have.  Should I Stay. . . or Should I Go? is intended to provide guidance in each of those situations as well as in others.

I would like to highlight most every article in this issue, and I may highlight more in a later post.  Do yourself a favor and check out all of the fine articles.  There’s such diversity among them that you’re sure to find one that speaks to you.

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Meanwhile, for those committed to staying in practice (or at least not committed to leaving), here’s something for you to consider: can you create a practice that’s any easier for you than it is now?  This weekend, I was gardening (and by that, I mean tending parts of an unruly 1-acre yard) in 97-degree weather.  Adjusted for the high humidity, the heat index topped 107.  It was not fun.  I noticed two tendencies that made my work harder than it had to be, though: I was holding my breath every time I tried to pull out a large weed, and I was drinking a bottle of water only every hour or so.  Nothing would have made the work fun under the circumstances, but when I started breathing better and carried a large water bottle around the yard with me, it started being less unpleasant.  I also stopped yardwork entirely between 11 AM and 6 PM; had I not done that, I doubt I’d ever have been willing to set foot in the state of Maryland again!

What’s the practice analogy?  It’ll vary somewhat for each lawyer, but here are some examples: 

**  Use the concepts of full engagement and selective disengagement for better energy management.

**  Make sure your office is arranged for maximum utility (good chair, good light, not cluttered, supplies and resources you need at hand, etc.).

**  Commit to raising your practice skills.

**  Identify the habits or tendencies that are detrimental and figure out how to turn them around. 

**  If you goes through your days with a negative attitude, consider whether there’s an alternative.

**  Find mentors who can guide you through practice development, office politics, etc.

Unsure what habits and attitudes are most beneficial for practicing law?  I offer an assessment that lists “best practices” for office environment, health and emotional balance, finances, relationships, and practice/business development habits.  Sign up for the free Life at the Bar Survival Kit to receive the assessment.