idealawg

Oct/Nov 2007 edition of ABA's Law Practice online

Looks like another fine edition of Law Practice; this one focuses on Big Dream: Midlife Career Transitions. The first article is by a friend with many talents. I have mentioned before at idealawg author and speaker Tama Kieves. This current edition of Law Practice carries an article by Kieves written for those evaluating their careers titled "Advice for the Restless Lawyer: Discovering Your Possibilities." An excerpt:

Please know that your current mood is not indicative of your potential or future. It’s only that it’s hard to feel passionate about anything when you’re miserable. You may start thinking you have no interests or energy. But you may just be beaten down with current circumstances. It doesn’t mean you don’t have a calling with your name on it. It could simply mean you’re tired.

Let’s just look for a moment at what you might do to tweak or refine your current situation. And then let’s talk about how to find out what else you can do instead.

Other career-related articles include

• "You and Me and Our Life Passions" by John F. Evans
• "Pursuing My Passion: A Lawyer Novelist Plots Perfect Endings" by Pamela Samuels-Young
• "Right Time, Right Place: A New Mission as Law Firm COO" by K. William Gibson
• "No More Default Judgments: Recapturing the Dream" by Barbara D'Amico

And you may enjoy

• "Making Hay: Tips for Optimizing the Second Half" by David Bilinsky and Laura A. Calloway

  Lawyers at mid-career must optimize the yield derived from their client base and staff leverage.

• "How to Prepare the Groundwork for Transitioning Your Relationships" by Susan Saltonstall Duncan

  Turning over clients is one of the toughest retirement-planning hurdles. Here are tips for smoothing the way.

• "Creating an Excellent Client Service Environment" by Marcia Pennington Shannon

  One firm’s showcase program for bridging the divide between administrative staff and lawyers.

• "Seven Simple Rules for Avoiding Malpractice Liability" by Alan S. Rutkoff

  Advice for staying on track and out of the hot seat.

Remember that the articles are available online for non-members only until the next edition is posted.

Upcoming neuroscience program, plus preventing versus curing conflict

Two quick things for you from my Brains On Purpose blog . . .

• An upcoming neuroscience program in Santa Fe
• Preventing versus curing conflict (and the brain's role in both)

Improv class being planned for attorneys

At my other blog, I have posted about the value of improvisation for improved self-awareness and ability to resolve conflicts. From that post:

. . . Because doing improv well requires being acutely aware of yourself and others at the same time (just as does conflict resolution), I have used improv structures for years when teaching communication. Get a copy of one of Viola Spolin's books, maybe Improvisation for the Theater, gather up some colleagues, and practice. An extra benefit: It's great fun.

All of us working in conflict resolution know that awareness of our bodies and that of others in the dispute is important for reasons such as reading and projecting body language. Now we are learning even more reasons why that awareness is important.

Self-awareness is a professional obligation, don't you think? I will end with just one reason I think so: When the person facilitating the resolution of the dispute is self-aware, that awareness affects the parties, perhaps through emotional contagion or empathic resonance. (More about that in another post.)

Looks like attorneys in Atlanta have recognized the value

Blog Glob: Article on collaborative law practice

Excerpt:

"Collaborative law arose as a response to the harms of family law litigation and the limitations of family mediation. It consists of lawyers and clients working exclusively toward settlement. The lawyers and neutral experts are disqualified if the parties should litigate. Lawyers behave and think quite differently in collaborative law. To do it well requires new skills and knowledge not learned in conventional practice. Performed well, collaborative law can have a transformative effect on lawyers, clients, families, and communities. It has healing effects that distinguish it from adversarial practice and bring it within the compass of therapeutic jurisprudence".1

Collaborative family law was founded by Stu Webb, a lawyer from Minneapolis, in the United States, in 1990. Stu Webb, suffering from the negative effects associated with family law trial work, discovered an alternative method of

Blog Glob: Monday morning shorts

Excerpt from What's It Really Like to Take the Plunge Into Entrepreneurship? (Self Made Chick):

Hang In There: If you’ve worked for someone else your whole adult life, your mind must go through the process of ‘unlearning’ everything you’ve been taught about making money. It will take time, but the world on the other side is incredible and something not to be missed.

Excerpt from Ripples (Medic Interrupted):

Heck, even barbers have externship programs set up so that barber students can practice their profession before going out into the real world.  Not law though.  So long as you score high enough on the bar exam, you're good to go.   So, all you newly admitted attorneys out there, remember- give your clients a little PFA [psychological first aid] once in a while, even if you're not tested on it on the bar exam.

Excerpt from MakingMediationYourDayJob.com (Mediator Tech):

A new strategy? A spiritual approach to the practice of law

My e-friend Pat McHenry Sullivan sent me the link to an article, for which she was interviewed, about the legal profession. I do believe many of you will enjoy reading "YOUR LEGAL WRITES: Conscience and clients." An excerpt:

If this particular film [Michael Clayton] were a book, the title might read, "Lunatic Lawyers (and the clients who made them)." As one movie critic wrote in a review, magnificently intelligent maniacs are able to convince anyone to drop or settle a case. This ability is what makes them famous and wealthy, but at the end of the day, what is the real cost of doing so?

The quest for personal transformation stems from the profession's dark side. Research posted on various Web sites reveal that one-third to two-thirds of lawyers claim to want to leave the practice of law, while at least one in five lawyers exhibit symptoms of clinical depression. Even more surprising may be that one in eleven lawyers contemplates suicide on a regular basis. While attorney Michael Clayton eventually discovers what is important in life, lawyers in the real world are implementing a new strategy: A spiritual approach to the practice of law.

Click to read the rest of the article.

"There is an invisible world out there, and we are living in it."
-Bill Viola, quoted in Beyond Belief by Elaine Pagels

New caregiver site launched yesterday: Caring.com

The tagline of Caring.com is: How can we help you care for your parents? The site includes many resources under headings Health, Housing, Finances, Life, Daily Care, and Legal.

From the Caring.com blog:

Our goal for the site is that people will tell their friends that Caring.com saved them time, helped them make better decisions and left them feeling less alone.

Take a look. I think this new site may be a helpful resource for you and perhaps some of your clients.

Some leadership links for you all during this Thanksgiving week

First, from Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, an interview of Sandra Sucher on her course The Moral Leader. An excerpt:

Q: The course has a unique structure by incorporating learning through literature. What are the benefits of this integration?

A: One benefit derives from the literature itself. Through the novels, plays, short stories, and historical accounts students are brought much closer to life as it is really lived, certainly closer than in lecture learning and even closer than in a case discussion. That's because the authors lay out for us the full context of a situation: the fast friendships, bitter enmities, strong ambitions, and confused goals that the characters must navigate. This feels like reality to us—it's how we live and experience the complexity of our own lives. So through literature, the study of moral leadership becomes a very real hunt for clues for how to confront situations that we believe we could encounter ourselves.

A second benefit of working with literature

Thanksgiving Guest Liability and Indemnification Agreement

The Center for Consumer Freedom has prepared an agreement to be signed by your Thanksgiving guests under the tagline "Don't sue the hand that feeds you." The agreement begins:

_____________________(hereinafter referred to as “Guest”) has been given permission to eat at the table of _____________________ (hereinafter referred to as “Host”).

Guest acknowledges and understands that no warranty, either expressed or implied, is made by Host as to the nutritional content of the meal. This document is offered in order to duly warn Guest that dangerous conditions, risks, and hazards may lurk in the turkey, stuffing, vegetables, cranberry sauce, fixings, drinks, desserts, appetizers, and any or all other comestibles that may be served.

Guest is hereby informed that Host’s food may contain any of the following: calories, carbohydrates, sodium (salt), fat, saturated fat, trans fat, polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat, peanuts, sugar, alcohol, tryptophan, caffeine, and good cheer.

Guest acknowledges that eating may incur risks including, but not limited to, satiation, indigestion, heart burn, dizziness, laziness, heart disease, holiday spirit, “food coma,” and “that bloated feeling.” Host’s meal includes any and all items served, including those brought by other Guests (including “Grandma”).

Click here to read the rest and download your copy of the Thanksgiving Guest Liability and Indemnification Agreement.

Attend our seminar on the neuroscience of conflict resolution on your computer

I was just talking with my client at Portland State University. She tells me this Friday's seminar will be streamed and available for viewing for a few days after the program. She kindly gave me  permission to offer my colleagues and friends who watch by computer the human services discount registration rate. The seminar is six hours long.

To sign up, call 1-800-547-8887. Hit O and dial extension 4832. Tell them you are registering for Neuroscience of Conflict Resolution at the human services discount. She recommended registering by phone instead of online as the online is glitchy.

Click for more information about the seminar on neuroscience of conflict resolution.