idealawg

"Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be...Lawyers"

Abstract:

This essay treats a legal education as an investment, and asks the question of whether, based on known costs and expected benefits, such investment should be undertaken. The inquiry will necessarily differ from one potential law student to another. But for three posited “typical students,” the investment is shown to be a bad one.

Click to download "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be...Lawyers" (SSRN).

Living in the zone: Another article about physicians learning mindfulness

Pressures have increased in the medical profession. From "How Mindfulness Can Make for Better Doctors" (New York Times):

All of us [physicians] had had the experience of “disappearing” into the meditative world of a procedure [in the OR] and re-emerging not exhausted, but refreshed. The ritual ablutions by the scrub sink washed away the bacteria clinging to our skin and the endless paperwork threatening to choke our enthusiasm. A single rhythmic cardiac monitor replaced the relentless calls of our beepers; and nothing would matter during the long operations except the patient under our knife.

We had entered “the zone.” We were focused on nothing else but our patients and that moment.

But my more recent conversations with surgical colleagues and physicians from other specialties have had a distinctly different timbre. While we continue to deal with many of the same pressures that my mentor dealt with — decreasing autonomy, increasing administrative requirements, less control over our practice environment — the demands on our attention have gone, well, viral.

Extreme multitasking has invaded the patient-doctor relationship.

After describing the problems associated with these demands on attention, the writer then goes on to talk about a mindfulness program for physicians (which I have blogged about here at idealawg).

It turns out that working and living in the zone, not just getting into it on occasion, may be one solution.

Last month, The Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a study examining the effects of a year-long course for primary care physicians on mindfulness, that 

October 15: Seminar on managing Gen Y

The workshop "Managing the Gen Y Workforce: To Get the Most from 20-Somethings, Keep Their Brains and Values in Mind" will be taught from 8:30 to 10:30 AM at

5181 Ward Road

Suite 202

Wheat Ridge, Colorado

A shift has occurred in the work environment. Baby Boomers are retiring and Gen Xers are moving into management and executive level positions. Generation Y has joined the workforce and dominates the frontline of entry level sales positions. In order to engage and motivate Gen Y (the new breed of professionals), you need to understand the generational differences and start developing a more fluid management style.

Presenters are Steve Parry and me.

Click to sign up.

Another critic of Gen Y: Are you a narcissist too? Here's a test to find out

The millennials are sure taking a beating these days. Here's another article decrying their narcissism, this one in Psychiatric Times. From "Twitter and YouTube: Unexpected Consequences of the Self-Esteem Movement?":

While the self-esteem movement has been largely debunked, we are just now reaping what it has sown. The generation raised under these conditions is entering the workforce and has been described as difficult and that their expectations far exceed those of their predecessors in entry level positions. The praise they have been given all of their lives is still expected, even if they have not done anything to earn it and they lack the resiliency to deal with real disappointment and the realities of life.

It should come as no surprise, then, that survivors of this largely failed social experiment have turned to other outlets to seek the praise to which they have grown so accustomed. Their choices, however, may not be improving their lot. By investing in virtual relationships in cyberspace rather than in the real world, they may be continuing a vicious cycle of empty praise, disingenuousness, and superficiality. The computer screen lacks the nuances of interpersonal interaction but may lead to a false belief that the

Still another reminder to be mindful in our career choices

Guess we can't hear it too often. Here it is again . . .

From On Lawyers and Happiness; a Chat with Gretchen Rubin, Part I (WSJ Blog):

Unhappiness among law-firm lawyers is a well-known phenomenon nearly at every level. Young associates are bored and unhappy; midlevel associates are overworked and stressed about making partner; and partners are, as the old saying goes, the winners of the pie-eating contest who get to eat more pie. What are your thoughts on lawyer unhappiness at law firms?

I think the main one is the one I referred to earlier — that people don’t go into it mindfully. They didn’t choose to be there. ... [I]f you’d rather be doing something else and you’re stuck in a law firm, you’re liable to be unhappy.

Blog Glob: "Is there Life after Law?"

Excerpt:

Non-practicing lawyers tend to fall into one of two categories.

Either they always wanted to be lawyers but found once they started that it wasn't what they'd hoped for, or they never wanted to be lawyers but drifted into law school because they couldn't think of anything else to do.

The Daily Record spoke to a dozen people who have law degrees but don't practice law. They work in fields such as finance, education and nonprofit leadership. A representative sample of their stories is featured below.

Click to read the rest of "Is there Life after Law?" (Daily Record - Baltimore, MD).

More about law schools adding practical skills to the curriculum

Now I know what my alma mater is up to in this changing climate for the legal profession. From "Law schools in Silicon Valley add practical skills to help students compete" (subscription required - San Jose Business Journal):

Local law schools are responding to marketplace realities by developing curriculum better suited to law firm needs. Universities are retooling their curriculum and incorporating management, leadership and specialized disciplines.

...

Santa Clara University Law school is relying on the Dean’s Legal Recruitment Advisory Board — an amalgamation of administrators, faculty and practicing alumni — to help determine the curriculum needed going forward to achieve this objective.

One member, Mark Pitchford, a Santa Clara Law school alum and chief operating officer at

Life after law: From practicing law back to being a musician again

Jeff Strahan was a trial lawyer for 10 years. Prior to that, he was a musician. From his bio:

Frustrated with the state of the music industry and the popularity of “boy bands” in the late 80’s, Strahan put his music career on “part time” status and returned to college.  His goal was to find a career where he could make enough money to pay for his own recordings and promote his material independent from the major label “machine.”  He decided to become a lawyer, work hard to build his own studio, and then return to music when the time was right.  He was a successful trial lawyer in Texas for ten years and his plan to once again pursue a music career came to fruition in 2000.  His timing was actually perfect with the advent of “Independent” music labels and Internet/Satellite Radio.

He quit the practice and moved to Colorado.

Colorado provided the perfect area for musical inspiration and examination of his soul.  The end result was a new and refreshed Strahan who could now spend his time performing, writing, and recording music on his own terms.  He is devoted entirely to it and could not be happier.

Click to hear him sing his song "Superman."

Blog Glob: Work-Life Balance: So Last August?

Excerpt:

With the economy still in the tank and many law firms still struggling, has the legal profession lost sight of its quest for that elusive prize, work-life balance?

At Adam Smith, Esq., fellow Law.com blogger Bruce MacEwen recently bemoaned its disappearance. "Among the phrases, and phenomena, that now seem so hopelessly 'last August' is that of the fabled Work-Life Balance." Within the legal profession, MacEwen believes, work-life balance "waxes and wanes in synch with demand and supply in the lawyer talent market." More importantly, he suggests, the highest performing firms, the cream of the global crop, will never be lifestyle firms. High performance and work-life balance are simply incompatible, he contends.

Having shown his cards on the question, MacEwen put it to his readers, in the form of a poll. Now he has posted the results of that poll. Out of 170 votes, here is how they tallied on the question, "Work-life balance is":

Click to read the rest of Work-Life Balance: So Last August? (Legal Blog Watch).

Blog Glob: "Tech-savvy lawyer is connected"

From the article:

To borrow from an old Oldsmobile ad, Nicole Black is not your father's lawyer.

But she very well could be the lawyer of the future, a tech-savvy, well-connected professional who uses online tools to build and grow a business, communicate with prospective clients and share the latest research and case law with other lawyers.

She works for the law firm of Fiandach & Fiandach, but you'll more likely find her at one of the Pittsford Starbucks, working from her lap-top.

Click to read the rest of "Tech-savvy lawyer is connected" (Democrat and Chronicle).