Perhaps 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. Â
Welcome back!
 I 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, [...]
The second annual Lawyers Appreciate… is well underway, and the tagging continues! Here’s a summary of participants and what they appreciate. (Stephanie West Allen is also maintaining a list.)Â
December 22
Gini Nelson (Engaging Conflicts): Lawyers appreciate justice.
 Last December, Stephanie West Allen (of Idealawg and Brains on Purpose(tm)) and I launched a 10-day campaign that we called “Lawyers Appreciate…” We asked legal bloggers to make a post, sharing the things and people they most appreciate in the practice of law. And we were delighted with the results, which you can find summarized here. [...]
 Empowerment and Leadership: Tried and True Methods for Women Lawyers is a 50-page booklet produced by the ABA Commission of Women in the Profession based on focus groups interviews with lawyers in over 100 law firms and corporations. The project was clearly directed toward prescribing steps to correct the gaping discrepancy between female representation in [...]
What’s your “brand”? There’s a lot of discussion about “brand” these days — not just for products, but also for companies and increasingly even for individuals. “Brand” encompasses who you are in your career, and conscious management of “brand” can help you to craft how you come across and how others think of you. As you [...]
Every office has one: the messy lawyer, whose desk and/or office always looks like a bomb exploded and left behind papers and files and coffee cups and who-knows-what-else scattered everywhere. It’s a good practice to clear the decks weekly or following the end of a major project, just to keep some level of tidiness. This [...]
 I often request new clients complete the DISC assessment, both to give the client a sense of his or her natural tendencies and how much he or she feels the need to adapt to the current work environment and also to give me the background for communicating by using the client’s language. As I outlined [...]
 Survival 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 [...]
 One of the interesting things about practicing law is that, until relatively recently, little discussion occurred about how to advance in practice beyond becoming a top-notch practitioner. While I have no doubt that other skills have always been required (the ability to communicate well, to lead well, etc.), it’s quite clear to me that more [...]
December 31, 2007 
