July 17, 2006
Online Resource: How to Move From Pessimism to Optimism
Molly Gordon, an internationally recognized Master Certified Coach, writer, and educator, has an interesting article in the American Chronicle on achieving work life balance by shifting one's attitude from hopelessness to hopefulness.
She notes the insight of psychologist Martin Seligman that people with an optimistic approach to life habitually accept positive thoughts and dispute negative thoughts; they tend to assume that good events will happen again and that bad events are an exception. On the other hand, those of us who are wired to be more pessimistic tend to dispute the positive and accept the negative as a given.
Gordon goes on to provide guidelines for changing one's outlook from pessimistic to optimistic.
Read the full story.
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June 22, 2006
Online Resource: Attorney Blogging: Best Practices
 For those attorneys interested in launching a lawyer blog, JD Bliss founder Joshua Fruchter has published an article on best practices in lawyer blogging in American Lawyer Media's Marketing the Law Firm newsletter.
A copy of the article is available online here.
Joshua's firm - eLawMarketing - specializes in designing and launching law firm blogs.
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June 10, 2006
Online Resource: LawRex.com: The Newest Online Forum for Lawyer-to-Lawyer Referrals
 The easiest way for a lawyer to obtain new clients and boost revenues is to receive referrals from other lawyers. Yet many attorneys finding pursuing referrals from other lawyers either too unpleasant or too time-consuming.
That's where LawRex.com comes in. Using the power of the Internet to create "viral" networks, LawRex can automatically increase your legal referral network to hundreds -- even thousands -- of lawyers. Lawyers who refer cases to attorneys just like you every day.
Visit www.LawRex.com today and discover how our network can provide you with an efficient and effective forum to exchange referrals.
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April 1, 2006
Online Resources: Workaholics Anonymous
Lawyers feeling overwhelmed with work may want to take a look at Workaholics Anonymous - a 12-step recovery program for compulsive workers based upon the structure of Alcoholics Anonymous. The group sponsors meetings in various states.
Are you a workaholic? The site offers this list of 20 questions to help you determine if you are.
Interested individuals may also want to check out this press release in which several members describe their experiences with the organization and how it has helped them.
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February 27, 2006
Online Resources: Relax at Work with MP3 Downloads
From TRIMp3, a leading provider of weight loss relaxation and motivation mp3´s, comes "Relax at Work," a new 16-minute relaxation mp3 download that walks you through a progressive relaxation exercise focused on tensing and relaxing various muscle groups.
If you are a lawyer or other professional who spends of most of your day sitting at your desk, this mp3 will work wonders for you. Listen to it whenever you have some free time, or just listen once and quickly learn how to use a few simple techniques to rapidly relax while sitting in your chair.
"I've started to listen to this audio over my lunch hour at work, and I return to the office totally de-stressed and calm. I highly recommend it." Chani A.
Price:$8.95
Click here for further product details and to buy the download!
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February 5, 2006
Online Resources: "Extreme" Jobs and the People Who Love Them
While
many lawyers complain about the long hours and stress of their
jobs, there are clearly others who seem to relish the "big
firm," fast-paced environment.
For those wondering what drives professionals
such as investment bankers, management consultants, lawyers
and other "high octane" professionals who seem to
thrive on long hours, constant travel, and high-pressured
environments, the magazine Fast Company offers this
article exploring the world of the "extreme job."
Read
the article
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January 31, 2006
Online Resources: Work Life Balance Tips for Busy Professionals
Here's an article that offers work-life balance tips for CPA's. The strategies offered, which include establishing priorities and identifying "balance blockers," should also prove helpful to attorneys in the same boat.
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January 18, 2006
Breaking News: JD Bliss Featured in the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog
 On
Wednesday, JD Bliss and its "Attorney Work Life Balance
Calculator" were featured on the Wall Street Journal's
Law Blog, which covers "law and business and
the business of law." See the post about JD Bliss here.
The blog's lead writer is Peter Lattman
who formerly worked on Wall Street and as a litigator at a
New York law firm. The blog also includes contributions from
reporters and editors at The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones
Newswires.
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December 6, 2005
Online Resources: Billable Hours and Collection Averages for Solo Practitioners
For those attorneys contemplating a move to solo practice, click here to read an interesting thread on the American Bar Associations SOLOsez forum (for solo practitioners) discussing how much of a typical solo practitioner's time spent at the office each day is billable. The discussion also discusses the importance of collections.
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December 2, 2005
Online Resources: The Billable Hour Debate - Another Round
An interesting article on the future fate of the "billable hour" by Douglas McCollam appeared on American Lawyer Media's Law.com site. You can read the article here.
As our blogging colleagues at Corante note, the article does a good job of sketching the history and background of hourly billing for legal services and gives an update on efforts by the ABA and others to explore and support alternative billing methods.
For those who want to measure the impact of billable hours on their personal life, and figure out what to do about it, check out our Work Life Balance Calculator.
Have a wonderful weekend!
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November 30, 2005
The Perfect Lawyer Gift: New Clocks and Watches Track Time in Billable Hour Blocks
 We were happy to learn that Lisa Solomon - a past success story on our blog - has recently launched The Billable Hour Company with her husband Mark.
The Billable Hour Company sells watches and clocks that divide the hour into six-minute increments — the same way lawyers bill their time. With the holidays upon us, we think the company's clever timepieces make the perfect gift for that special lawyer in your life.
Year round, they are also appropriate as mementos to commemorate any of several milestones in a lawyer’s career - passing the bar, making partner, closing the big deal, or winning the big case.
Use this link to view and order watches.
Use this link to view and order clocks.
Happy Holidays!
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November 10, 2005
Online Resources: Five Practical Tips to Realizing Work/Life Balance
This article offers some useful tips on achieving work life balance. Advice includes establishing priorities and making room in your calendar for important personal interests.
Sound like common sense? It probably is. But often we are blind to the most obvious things until someone points them out to us.
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November 6, 2005
Online Resources: Opinionistas: An Inside Look at Big NYC Law Firm
It was inevitable. Unhappy associates at large law firms have taken to the blogosphere to kvetch about billable hours, difficult partners and mindless tasks (although to be sure, paid quite well to deal with all of the above).
One of the most popular is Opinionistas - a hilariously cynical inside look at day-to-day life at a large Manhattan law firm authored by an anonymous associate who revels in keeping people guessing about her true identity. According to The Record, an independent newspaper at Harvard Law Schohol that ran an interview with the anonymous blawger, Opinionistas has gotten over 300,000 hits in its short existence.
Blogs like this should serve as a wake up call for partners to open the lines of communication with associates to sincerely discuss what changes are needed to improve work life balance at large law firms.
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November 1, 2005
Online Resources: For Unhappy Lawyers: VocationVacations® - Test-Drive Your Dream Job™
 It’s no secret that there are many unhappy lawyers (over 70% of all attorneys according to the ABA). We often dream of alternative careers, but few of us make a move because, let’s face it, we have little clue about what else we might be good at or what else we might enjoy.
Enter VocationVacations®, which gives professionals the opportunity to "test-drive" the career of their dreams -- without having to leave their existing jobs. Under the guidance of an expert mentor, VocationVacations clients have spent one to ten days trying out careers as diverse as:
- Baker
- Wine Maker
- Raceway Manager
- Sports Announcer
- Horse Trainer
- TV Producer
- Innkeeper
- Film Producer
- Cheese Maker
- Wedding Coordinator
- . . . . .and many more
Learn more about how VocationVacations can help you test an alternative career.
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October 10, 2005
Online Resources: New Blog to Help Associates Become Rainmakers, Partners and Entrepreneurs
A new blog -- Associate Marketing Mentor -- has been launched by legal marketing guru Larry Bodine and his colleague Mike Cummings to help law firm associates develop business development and marketing skills. Among the blog's early posts is a helpful checklist for first through seventh year associates summarizing the various business development initiatives and marketing tasks that associates should undertake at each class level.
Our view is that reguarly devoting time to marketing and business development can help junior associates mitigate some of the tedium that otherwise accompanies the "thankless" tasks typically assigned to them, and otherwise add some "entrepreneurial excitement" to their practice of law.
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September 1, 2005
Katrina's Aftermath: How to Help
Due to the widespread destruction Hurricane Katrina has had on the metropolitan New Orleans area and other parts of south Louisiana, the Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) has established the Hurricane Katrina Legal Community Relief Fund to help rebuild south Louisiana's legal infrastructure so that lawyers can provide needed legal services to their clients and restore their damaged offices and records in the wake of this disaster.
All members of the legal profession are invited to make donations, which can be sent to: Hurricane Katrina Legal Community Relief Fund, c/o Baton Rouge Bar Foundation, 544 Main Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802. Any questions on the fund should be directed to Ann Scarle, Executive Director at (225)344-4803.
To fully understand the harrowing impact that Katrina has had on the Louisiana legal profession, click below for a letter written by Professor Michelle Ghetti, of the Southern University Law Center, Baton Rouge, LA.
[FULL STORY AND READER COMMENTS]
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August 23, 2005
Online Resources: ABA Career Development Resource
Subscribers have often asked us to guide them to online resources focused on career change for lawyers. For starters, we recommend ABA Career Counsel, the ABA's central online resource for attorneys seeking information regarding career development and finding a job.
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July 12, 2005
Online Resources: Home Office Lawyer Blog
We'd like to thank the Home Office Lawyer blog for linking to us on Tuesday. The blog offers information on setting up a law office at home, including technology and other issues. It is published by Kansas attorney Grant D. Griffiths. We recommend a visit.
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July 5, 2005
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