So I spent the last two days restoring my files from my online back-up. I’ll identify the service I’ve been using now, because it’s been a life saver: Data Deposit Box. It’s cheap and easy. But even though it’s an automated back-up system, some human thought is required to make sure that it’s backing up [...]
The WSJ Law Blog has an interesting post asking whether women lawyers are reaching a crisis point. The MIT Workplace Center has issued a report titled “Women Lawyers and Obstacles to Leadership,” which states that of the 1000 Massachusetts lawyers surveyed, 31% of female associates and 18% of male associates had left private practice, as [...]
Graduation is approaching, and I thought I’d share this excerpt from Michael Ignatieff’s 2004 commencement speech to Whitman College graduates. The theme will perhaps strike a chord with some of you.
My theme is living fearlessly in a fearful world. Living fearlessly is not the same thing as never being afraid. It’s good to be afraid [...]
Stephanie West Allen has tagged me to participate in the Gotta Get Goals meme. The idea is to share 5-10 over-the-top, fabulous goals that I will need to achieve to say I’ve reached my wildest dreams in life. Now, that’s fun!
I’ve always kept goal lists in one form or another, simply because I think it’s critical [...]
Money is always an interesting topic, and wealth even more so.Â
I remember being in middle school and fantasizing with friends about being rich. We imagined that if we could just make about $60,000, we’d be set. (Of course, I’d venture to guess that all of our parents were earning at least double that at the [...]
One of my mother’s friends, Margie Pitts Hames, argued in the Supreme Court in 1971, in Doe v. Bolton, the companion case to Roe v. Wade.  She told me that when she went to the clerk’s office before arguing, she was told to put on her hat — because court reporters at that time were required to wear [...]
Today I ran across a Law Practice Today article titled How to Be More User-Friendly, by Wendy L. Werner. The article lists reminders of what lawyers need to do, be, or think about “to not just be tolerated by the rest of the world, but to flourish.” Here’s the list, and I strongly encourage you to [...]
I tried something new and different this week.
I left my Blackberry at my desk when I closed up shop for the day.
Now, granted, I work from home, so it isn’t such a big issue for me to go back to my desk, check email there, etc. And I can hear my office phone ring from [...]
Most of the news about associate retention is cast in negatives — quoting, for example, that 60-62% of entry-level associates will have left their firms by the end of their fourth year in practice. What if changing jobs more frequently is simply a fact of modern life? Or the result of dual career couples, the consequence [...]
Has anyone missed the news about the recent salary bump? Somehow, I doubt it.Â
Plenty of questions remain, such as to what extent salaries increases will spread to other parts of the country and what increased expectations, if any, will be imposed on the anointed associates. Â I’d like to make several predictions about what’s likely to [...]
June 30, 2007 
