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Question: Attorney Seeking Opportunities to Work From Home

Attorney Career Question: I am seeking opportunities to work from home. What are some good sources for searching for jobs of this nature?

Click here to respond

Monica Parker: A Fun Exercise to Improve Work Life Balance

Feeling like your whole life is out of whack?

Who do you know who doesn't have a jam-packed schedule these days?  Between work, errands, and family, you may feel as if you're missing out on the rest of your life.  It's easy to assume that you need to make a major overhaul, when, in fact, some minor shifts can make a major difference in the quality of your life.   

Here's a fun exercise from lawyer career coach Monica Parker for assessing and improving your work/life balance that she learned while training at The Coaches Training Institute. Please note: you'll need a friend or colleague to do the exercise with you, so you can coach each other through the process.

1. Create a Wheel of Life. Draw a large circle on a page. Divide the circle into 8 triangular wedges (like slicing a pizza). Each wedge represents a different area of your life. 8 sample areas are:  money, career, physical environment (your home and/or office), personal growth, friends & family, significant other, health, fun & creativity. Of course, you can create your own categories if you prefer.  See the sample Wheel of Life illustration above for guidance.

2. Rank your level of satisfaction in each area. With the center of the circle being "0" and the outer edge as "10," rank your level of satisfaction with each life area by drawing a line to create a new outer edge. "0" is complete dissatisfaction and "10" is complete satisfaction.  After drawing a new outer edge for each life area, color in the area between the new outer edge and the center of the ciricle. This will visually demonstrate your level of satisfaction with each life area. See the illustration above for an example of a completed wheel.  Remember, the new outer edge you create can (and often will) be different for each life area.  The new perimeter represents your life right now. 

3.  Take a look at your new wheel. I'm betting it looks a little bumpy. :) That's natural. The purpose of the exercise isn't to create a smooth ride, i.e., all "10's." The purpose is simply to note which areas of your life need some attention.  When we're out of balance, it's easy to overgeneralize and say that that everything is out of whack.  The Wheel of Life is a simple tool that quickly points you to the areas that need work . . . (click below for rest of article)

Webinar: Law Firm PR 101: How to Increase Your Firm's Media Visibility

JD Bliss is proud to announce our next webcast entitled "Law Firm PR 101: How to Increase Your Firm's Visibility -- And Get Your Lawyers Quoted in the Media."

The webcast will be held on Wednesday, December 6, 2006 at 12:30 p.m. EST. The presenter will be Mike Androvett an attorney and veteran journalist who now operates a highly regarded PR firm in Dallas specializing in public relations for lawyers and law firms. During this 60-minute webinar, Mike will offer practical tips and strategies on a range of media-related issues including:

• How the media chooses legal experts
• How to get your firm on the media's "radar" screen and generate positive publicity
• "If I can't talk about my cases or clients, what can I talk about?"
• Interviewing "best practices"
• What's the deal with blogs?
• Ethical considerations

Click here for further details including the program agenda, speaker bio, and registration details. Or use the button below to instantly access an online registration form.

David Lat: Former Federal Prosecutor and Wachtell Lipton Associate Turned Celebrity Blogger

Talk about a fascinating career trajectory. After graduating from Yale Law School, David Lat has moved from a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals clerkship to associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (billing 2,700 hours/year) to talent agent intern at Creative Artists Agency to federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark, N.J., and (simultaneously) anonymous publisher of Underneath Their Robes - a gossipy blog exploring the personalities and quirks of well known jurists.

Which brings us to Lat's current position: editor of Above the Law, a blog that bills itself as a "behind-the-scenes look at the world of law [that] . . . provides news and gossip about the profession’s most colorful personalities and powerful institutions, as well as original commentary on breaking legal developments."

We recently wrote a post about Lat after he was profiled on Law.com (see earlier post here). Despite his busy schedule (10-12 posts/day), he was thereafter kind enough to give us an interview, which you can read below.

Work Life Winner: Weil Gotshal Launches Flex-Time Partnerships

We never thought we'd see the day that we named Weil Gotshal a "Work Life Winner." But even the hardest working, white shoe firms are starting to come around to the need to boost retention rates by offering flexible working arrangements. In this vein, Weil Gotshal announced last week that it named 20 new partners - two of whom are "Flex-Time Partners," a new partnership category formed for new partners making a long-term career choice to work on a flexible schedule. The "Flex-Time Partner" title is available to both women and men entering the partnership. See the full press release here.

BTW, seems Weil has its PR engine on full throttle - some may recall that it was 4 Weil Gotshal associates -- Mandy Price Brown, Brian D’Amico, Brittany Perez, and Ben Bodamer -- who made an appearance in a New York Times photo earlier this year accompanying an article on rising associate salaries (see prior post here).

Interview: Marissa Tiamfook: Entertainment Lawyer Turned Actress

Marissa Tiamfook made a major transition from working as an entertainment lawyer…to entertaining. After two years at a corporate law gig representing entertainment clients, Tiamfook took center stage and became a full-time actress. But she hasn’t left her legal roots behind altogether, since she still manages to find time for plenty of pro bono work.

Tiamfook enjoyed practicing law, and credits her legal training with building her confidence and instilling within her a strong work ethic -- the kind that motivated her to tackle her new career with gusto - attending up to five auditions a day, browsing newspapers for opportunities, sending out cover letters, posing for head shots, preparing resumes and doing mass mailings. She also credits her career counselors at Celia Paul & Associates with helping her determine her priorities and conclude that it was best to leave law and pursue her childhood dream of being an actress.

Click below for our interview with Tiamfook.

Flexible Working Arrangements: A Short Primer

Advocates of flexible working arrangements throw around terms like "compressed work week," "reduced hours," and "job sharing." Curious what those terms mean? Click here to view a helpful list of definitions for some of the more common flexible working arrangements in a University of Iowa operations manual.

Work Life Winner: Addleshaw Goddard: A Model for Attorney Retention Best Practices

Addleshaw Goddard is a leading British law firm with over 500 lawyers.  A few years ago, the firm decided to make a concerted effort to improve its retention of women attorneys. A working group was set up and the project soon expanded to consider the personal needs of male attorneys from two-career families as well.

The outcome was a slew of work life balance initiatives that ultimately earned Addleshaw Goddard recognition in 2006 from the Sunday Times as one of the `100 Best Companies To Work For,' and qualify the firm as a "Work Life Winner" in our book.

One change involved publicizing the variety of flexible working arrangements available at the firm such as annualized hour plans, and compressed work weeks. More importantly, firm management made it clear that these arrangements were a fully acceptable and normal way of working; indeed, a high percentage of the firm's leaders are women who practiced under flexible working arrangements.

Another innovation was the introduction of a new rank - legal director - thereby creating an alternative career path to partnership.

Also impressive is a mentoring scheme to provide young attorneys with confidential career support, and an extensive professional development program that provides training in five areas:

• Technical Skills & Knowledge
• Client & Business Development
• Team & People Management
• Finance & Resource Management
• Achievement Orientation

Read further details in this article by the firm's head of diversity, Monica Burch (also a firm board member).

Lawyers Leaving Firms for In-House Jobs at Clients

A recent article on Law.com discussed how law firms are losing talented attorneys to in-house positions at their clients, which are often perceived as offering more of a work-life balance and presenting opportunities to directly contribute to the growth of a business. Such departures are hitting firms hard in the current tight market for talent, and the recruiting problems are exacerbated when a departing attorney is a partner who brings along several associates with him or her to the client. Adding to the pain is a trend among corporations to bring more work in-house that was outsourced to firms in the past.   

The problem, of course, is that accusing a client of "poaching" would probably irreparably damage the business relationship with that client.  Jon Lindsey, managing partner of the New York office of Major, Lindsey & Africa, an attorney recruiter, indicated that he has not encountered any "no-poaching agreements" between outside counsel and their clients.

One interesting comment that caught our attention was made by Robert Werner, managing partner of Texas-based Brown McCarroll, which lost lawyers last year to clients. Said Werner: "People should be doing what they're most interested in doing. They've got to make the appropriate career decision for themselves."

This is the right attitude -- firms should be more sensitive to the career development needs of their attorneys. While that may seem to run counter to the goal of attorney retention, in fact, offering career development options may actually promote greater loyalty by letting attorneys know the firm cares about their job satisfaction. Of course, career development resources are only one component out of a package of several measures that can help increase retention such as well-structured mentoring programs; work life balance options such as flex-time, telecommuting, job sharing and sabbaticals; and stress reducers like concierge services.

See the full law.com article here.

UK Group Finds That Millions of Office Workers Don't Get Home Until at Least 8pm

A recent study by the UK-based At Home Society found that a third of workers don't get home from the office until at least 8pm — and the trend for staying late is growing. A year ago, 8.6 million people said they regularly worked late, but this figure has now risen to 9.5 million, according to the newest study.

Despite the rise, almost half admitted they got little constructive work done in the office after 6pm and instead chatted to colleagues or did tasks such as filing or tidying their desk.

The study included a warning that the culture of staying late at work and spending little time at home was having serious social consequences. For instance, four in 10 of those questioned said they invested more time and effort in work relationships than in personal ones.

Click here for further details.

For lawyers, findings like these probably feel like deja vu. We wonder what percentage of lawyers regularly get home from work after 8 p.m., and how late hours are affecting their personal relationships. The answers would probably not be reassuring.

The 11th Annual At-Home Dad Convention

We're sorry we didn't hear about it sooner - the 11th Annual At-Home Dad Convention in Kansas City on November 11, 2006 targeting "all the men that have traded in the office for the daily rewards and challenges of at-home parenthood." See the convention homepage here. There's always next year.

An article about the convention shared the story of one of the attendees -- Phillip from Ohio -- a former attorney turned stay-at-home dad. Phillip's wife is also an attorney who has carved herself a niche working with pharmaceutical salesmen on what can and cannot be said to doctors. Both continued to work after the birth of their son, relying on nannies and others for help. However, with the arrival of their second son, the couple decided scaled back spending and moved to one income. Phil said he was a good lawyer but replaceable. His wife had a sought-after skill and a bigger paycheck.

New Catalyst Study Finds Lawyers Still Worry About Impact of Flex Time Arrangements on Their Careers

Catalyst Canada has just released a new survey of 1,439 lawyers from Canadian firms (consisting of 638 women and 801 men) focusing on their perceptions of, and experiences with, flexible work arrangements. Flexible work arrangements were defined as "explicit conditions of employment involving adjustments of hours, scope, and/or place of work for a sustained period of time (mutually agreed upon) between attorneys and the firm." This definition encompasses part-time or compressed work schedules, but also arrangements such as telecommuting and job sharing.

The major finding of the study (entitled Beyond A Reasonable Doubt: Lawyers State Their Case on Job Flexibility) was that while many lawyers are interested in flexible work arrangements, they also remain worried about the effect it could have on their careers. Specifically, 65 per cent of those who said they wanted to use a flexible work arrangement were concerned that they would be seen as less committed to their firm, and more than half think that taking part in a flexible work arrangement will jeopardize their opportunities for professional growth.

Study Finds Workplace Pressures Deter Nearly 50% of Female Techies From Having Children

A poll by UK online recruitment firm The IT Job Board found that 48.3 per cent of female IT professionals said their decision not to have children had been influenced by work-related issues.

Of the 31 per cent of women respondents with children, 70.4 per cent said they believed their choice to have a family had adversely affected their career.  Almost two fifths of women respondents with children would take a lower paid role at a company that offered childcare facilities, although only 12.2 per cent of people surveyed worked at organisations providing childcare.

See further poll details here.

Given the workplace and career stresses that often accompany the practice of law, are any readers familiar with any polls or studies posing similiar questions to women attorneys?

Book: Lawyer's Poker: 52 Lessons that Lawyers Can Learn from Card Players

Author Steven Lubet, a law professor, sees much in common between the human drama of the courtroom and the poker table, and he points out the ways that lawyers can benefit from studying strategies employed by good poker players.

The book is divided into suits: diamonds representing maximizing winnings; clubs signifying controlling the opposition; spades, digging for information; and hearts, ethics and character. Going beyond using poker playing as a metaphor, within each section Lubet plumbs the lessons that can be learned from the game that can be transferred to the courtroom.

The underlying principle is to distinguish between those who play the odds and those who gamble. Interspersed throughout, Lubet offers real-life experiences of gamblers playing the odds at poker and lawyers in historically significant cases gambling on particular legal strategies in their cases.

Overall, highly insightful and entertaining.

Cost: $18.48

Buy from Amazon

Another Lawyer Turned Baker: Rebecca Ditsch

By now, everyone knows the story of Warren Brown - government lawyer turned baker. Seems Brown has inspired a trend. The latest lawyer turned baker is Rebecca Ditsch who left law to launch The Farmer's Daughter - a Brooklyn bakery that produces made-to-order layer cakes and cupcakes. Her stuff looks delicious.

According to this post on jaunted, the name of the business refers to Ditsch's mother, who learned to do amazing things in a kitchen of a working dairy farm in the hinterlands of Minnesota and eventually passed on her baking knowledge to her daughter.

Anyway, seems like Ditsch finds baking much more fun than writing memoranda (PDF) at Fried Frank on the tax consequences of golden parachutes (see authors at the bottom of the memo - same Rebecca Ditsch?? - would seem so).

Leadership and Management Training for Partners: Three Major Philadelphia Law Firms Take the Lead

In the past (see post here), we've noted how the manner in which supervising attorneys treat junior lawyers can play a major role in a firm's retention efforts. Specifically, nasty, difficult and disrespectful partners drive associates out of a firm into the arms of competitors with more collegial working environments, while likable, respectful and appreciative partners will inspire and motivate their younger colleagues, and promote loyalty to the firm.

The obvious solution is offering training to partners and other senior attorneys that teaches them effective management and leadership skills. Accounting firms do it. Why not law firms?

So we were happy to see a post last month in the Leadership for Lawyers blog (published by Mark Beese) sharing how three leading Philadelphia firms -- Reed Smith, Blank Rome, Morgan Lewis -- are now offering leadership development programs. The post also references an article in the Boston Business Journal profiling Linda Pennington, a consultant with a master's degree in organizational dynamics who coaches senior attorneys on "informal" leadership qualities such as social skills -- precisely the type of "likability" training we think many senior lawyers need.

Life Imitating Art: Two Yale Grads Leave Law for Farming

Green acres is the place to be; Farm living is the life for me;
Land spreading out, so far and wide; Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.

Some readers may be old enough to remember that theme song from the 1960’s TV sitcom, “Green Acres,” starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor. Albert played New York-attorney-turned-farmer Oliver Wendell Douglas, who grows tired of the "rat race," and much to the chagrin of his socialite wife Lisa, decides to leave his Park Avenue lifestyle and pursue agricultural endeavors by buying a farm outside a community of country bumpkins called Hooterville.

Well, life has a habit of imitating art, and TV buffs will be pleased to know we've discovered our own real, live "Green Acres" couple -- Peter and Maryellen Griffin of South Peacham, Vermont. Both natives of the Northeast, Peter met Maryellen while they both studied law at Yale University. After graduating in 1996, the couple moved to Minnesota where each worked for law firms. However, after circumstances drove them back to New England, the Griffins left law to pursue their shared lifelong dream of being organic vegetable farmers.

Eager to chronicle their efforts, the Griffins launched a blog -- Down on the Farm -- in which they share their experiences planting, harvesting and marketing organic vegetables (they also share recipes and provide tutorials on the operation of farm equipment). It is quite interesting reading; the blog gets about 200 to 300 visitors a day, according to Peter. For those lawyers longing to live the rural lifestyle, at least vicariously, check it out.

Thanksgiving Special: The Lawyer Who Invented Cranberry Sauce

More than 94 percent of Thanksgiving dinners include cranberry sauce. But do you know who invented the delicacy?

The cranberry was considered a seasonal fruit until an enterprising attorney named Marcus L. Urann realized that the berries he harvested exceeded the demand. Since he didn't like waste, he perfected a sauce that he canned and called Ocean Spray in 1912. The "log" or jellied cranberry sauce became available in 1941.

Ocean Spray is now the number one brand of canned and bottled juice drinks in the United States. Legally, it is an agricultural cooperative owned by more than 650 cranberry growers in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and other parts of Canada as well as more than 100 Florida grapefruit growers.

Click here to read more about the history of Ocean Spray.

Holiday Gifts From the Sharper Image: Watches, Sound Systems, iPod Accessories, and More

Just in time for the holidays, JD Bliss has collaborated with The Sharper Image to assemble an exclusive collection of special holiday gifts. Select a link below to buy something memorable for those special people in your life.

Distinctive, high performance watches

Innovative golfing products

Cool, high-end sound and stereo systems

Sports and outdoor fun

Great health and fitness products

Innovative massage products to help you relax!

TechnoLawyer Takes The Stress Out of Technology

For all the efficiencies it brings to a lawyer's practice, technology can also be a major source of stress. Desktop crashes, missing or deleted files, security breaches, confusing interfaces . . . all conspire against lawyers trying to streamline their practice by harnessing the benefits of the latest technologies.

To the rescue comes TechnoLawyer -- a publisher of weekly electronic newsletters that provide lawyers who are members with product reviews, technology tips, practice management strategies, and other helpful information on a variety of technology-related topics. Contributors run the gamut from leading legal technology gurus to practicing attorneys with an enthusiasm for the latest software and gadgets. The TechnoLawyer community now stands at 13,673 members.

Public Interest Lawyers Trade Money and Prestige For Passion and Conscience

The vast majority of graduates from top notch law schools such as Harvard and NYU land jobs at major law firms with perhaps a year or two spent at a prestigious clerkship. For those who buck the trend and pursue a career in public interest law, there is the struggle of making do financially on a meager salary (while paying down often astronomical law school debt) and dispelling the notion often held by peers that they weren't bright or ambitious enough to land a high-paying job at a big law firm (interesting stat - while 50% of the students entering Harvard Law say they want to go into public service work, only 5% end up actually doing so).

The law.com recently shared the stories of two Harvard Law grads -- Lori Wallach and Linda Singer -- who pursued careers in public interest law (Wallach in the area of global trade, and Singer in legal aid and then as executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Appleseed, which operates a pro bono network).

For lawyers at large firms considering a move to public service work they may find more meaningful, it's a helpful read.

Click here to read the full article on law.com.

Work Life Winner: Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham: A Balanced Hours Policy That Works

While most major law firms have flex-time policies on the books, the sad truth is that most don't work well in practice. Among the problems cited by attorneys who take advantage of such policies are "hours creep" (i.e., actual hours worked exceed hours budgeted) and a cultural bias at firms against part-timers in terms of partnership. As a result, just 4 percent of lawyers work part time, compared with about 14 percent of professionals in engineering, medicine, or architecture (source: Association for Legal Career Professionals).

Not so at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, a law firm with 1,000 lawyers that says that "dozens" of lawyers work reduced hours and that their numbers have risen 40 percent since January 2006.  The firm's secret? According to a recent article in The Boston Globe, an in-house advocate to help people find the right part-time arrangement for their needs, broker the change with management, and monitor its success (as we've mentioned in the past, hiring such an advocate - often referred to as a "balanced hours coordinator" - is a "best practice" strongly advocated by the Project for Attorney Retention for firms looking to reduce turnover - see prior post here).

Strategies to Help Women Returning to Work From Maternity Leave

Came across an interesting article that describes a program implemented by the Salmon Arm Savings and Credit Union of Canada that organizes weekly conference calls for mothers returning to the company from maternity leave with a facilitator who is an expert on post-maternity return to the workplace.

One participating mom calls it "a chance for moms to talk about some of the challenges and how they are going to balance things out." From the company's standpoint, the program is a good retention tool - as one executive explained: "We've put a lot of training in them and they've put a lot into the business, so it's a way of hanging onto them as well."

Some of the benefits moms have taken from the sessions include time management tips, and the reassurance of knowing that there are other people experiencing and coping with the same difficulties as they are.

Sounds like an idea law firms can consider for their own attorneys returning from maternity leave. In fact, the article cites a study in which a participating law firm estimated that it realized a return on investment of $4 for each $1 invested in work-family balance programs.

See the full story here.

Interview: Scott Turow: From Law to Best-Selling Novels

Scott Turow is the author of seven best-selling novels: Presumed Innocent (1987), The Burden of Proof (1990), Pleading Guilty (1993), The Laws of Our Fathers (1996), Personal Injuries (1999) and Reversible Errors (2002). One L - a non-fiction account of Turow's experiences in his first year at Harvard Law School - is on the reading list of nearly every law school student.

In a recent interview with JD Bliss, Turow shared that he dreamed of becoming a novelist since he was 11 years old.  He diligently pursued this goal even after embarking on his legal career, taking every opportunity to write and practice his craft even if it was only a paragraph or two while commuting by train to his first day job at the U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago.

Having achieved enormous success as a writer, what is less well known is that Turow continues to practice white collar criminal defense law at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (albeit on a reduced schedule from his earlier years). Turow finds that law nourishes his imagination and engages the side of him that sees law as an instrument for change and reform.

See our interview with Turow below.

Top Ten Questions to Ask a Headhunter When the Call Comes

With mergers all the rage now in the legal community, and downsizing a possibility at many merged firms, lawyers at all class levels are keeping an eye out for opportunities. The legal economy is also strong and mobility between law firms is more generally accepted. All of which is keeping legal recruiters, a/k/a "headhunters," very busy.

For lawyers dealing with headhunters, we recommend Dan Binstock's article appearing today on Law.com entitled Ten Questions to Ask The Headhunter. Binstock is the managing director of the Washington, D.C., office of BCG Attorney Search (a major national recruiter) where he handles lateral associate and partner placements. So he clearly knows his stuff.

Here are Binstock's top ten questions (jump to the article here for more detailed explanations of the rationale behind each question and the responses you'll want to hear):

• Do you work exclusively in my market, or do you work in multiple markets?
• How long have you been recruiting?
• Will you be writing a cover letter to the employer on my behalf?
• Can you share what you will be communicating in my cover letter?
• Are there any firms that you do not work with, but that still could be a good match for me?
• What role do you play in the recruiting process?
• Am I obligated to work with you exclusively?
• Does your company divide employers between its different recruiters?
• Are you a member of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants?
• Can I meet with you in person?

Binstock cautions that goal of these questions is not to scare off a potential recruiter but to clarify the terms of the relationship and to determine whether that recruiter is the best person to help you with your transition. That is, to become an educated consumer.

Read the full article here.

Interview: Stephan Pastis: Attorney Turned Cartoonist

Stephan Pastis started drawing cartoons as a kid -- and loved it. However, he decided to attend law school after considering that "the odds were really against making a living as a cartoonist."

Starting out as a litigator, Pastis quickly became disenchanted with practicing law - he didn't like the adversarial nature of it, nor "the anxiety and tension it produced." As a release, he resumed cartooning in his spare time.

In 1997, Pastis developed the concept that today is the popular strip Pearls Before Swine, starring the character of Pig, who is gentle and guileless, and Rat, who is arrogant and self-centered. The strip was rejected multiple times until it was accepted by United Features Syndicate. By January 2002, it was running in newspapers and Pastis left law for good. Pearls Before Swine was nominated in each of its first two years as "Best Newspaper Comic Strip" by the National Cartoonists Society, and won the award in 2004. Articles about Pastis' increasingly popular strip (now running in hundreds of papers) have appeared on sites such as MSNBC, and cartoon luminaries such as Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert) have praised Pastis' technique.

Pastis' advice for unhappy or burned out attorneys seeking alternative careers? "Attorneys may be reluctant to leave practice because they’re afraid they’ll initially make less money . . . But there’s no comparison between that kind of sacrifice and the joy you can get from doing what you really love to do . . . It takes hard work and some luck, but I think pursuing what you really love to do is always the best option."

Click below to read our interview with Pastis.

National Association of Women Lawyers Releases Survey

The National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) is the leading national voluntary organization devoted to the interests of women lawyers and women's rights. On October 25, 2006, NAWL held a national press conference in New York to release the findings from the NAWL 2006 National Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms.

Briefly, the Survey found that while women lawyers are well-represented at the entry level of the profession, constituting 45% of associates, they make up only 16% of equity partners, 28% of of-counsel lawyers, and 26% of non-equity partners. The Survey also found that women play a less extensive role in the governance of law firms than male attorneys, with only 16% of governance committee members and 5% of managing partners being women.

See a more detailed summary of the Survey results here (PDF).

See the full press release concerning the Survey issued by the NAWL here (PDF).

The NAWL has called on law firms to double the number of women equity partners and for corporations to double the number of women chief legal officers by 2015.

Book: The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law

The recently published The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law, authored by Jones Day litigation partner Mark Hermann, has gotten some nice reviews in the blogosphere.

The Wall Street Journal Law blog had this to say:

Jones Day litigation partner Mark Hermann has penned a well-written and clear guide on how to be an effective law-firm associate. It’s also funny: Hermann writes as The Curmudgeon, a grizzled law-firm partner who has zero tolerance for such horrors as the passive voice, long string cites and sloppy billing records. Were this material covered in some big-firm internal handbook, it would surely bore us to tears. But Hermann’s cutting wit and lively writing bring to life such painful topics as how to write a brief, how to treat your assistant and how to take a deposition.

The WSJL blog enjoyed the book so much it devoted several subsequent posts to excerpts (see, e.g., here).

Over at the Legal Sanity blog, Arnie Herz calls the book a "very funny and quite practical guidebook for budding and seasoned lawyers."

Does Better Work Life Balance Lead to More Ethical Decisions?

Sharon Allen is chairman of the board at Deloitte & Touche USA. She has been named by Forbes as one of "The World's Most Powerful Women." At a recent speech, Allen - a proponent of work life balance - noted that achieving work/life balance has become more feasible today with increasing technology and greater opportunities to work virtually

Why is work life balance important? Allen suggested that there is a correlation between work/life balance and the environment to make good ethical decisions. Her theory is that if work becomes a person's life, he or she may become more dependent on that career for rewards -- which can pose a greater temptation to cut corners to succeed.

An interesting perspective, and something for firms to consider as business ethics have become a major issue.

See further details here.

CCH Survey Finds Employers Increased the Variety of Work Life Balance Programs Offered But Still Not Sure Which Are Most Effective

The 2006 CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey revealed that on average, organizations are offering employees 11 work life balance programs, up from nine in 2005 and eight in 2004. However, the results also indicate that there is a disconnect between what programs organizations think are most effective, and which ones employees are actually using most frequently. For law firms wishing to roll out work life balance programs, the survey highlights the need to perform research (such as attorney interviews) upfront so that the programs implemented meet actual needs. Firms that don't research their attorneys' needs may find themselves with programs that don't help employees achieve the work-life balance they want and therefore fail to show a return on investment.

The top five work life balance programs implemented by organizations participating in the survey were: Employee Assistance Plans (76 percent), Wellness Programs (67 percent), Leave for School Functions (65 percent), Flu Shot Programs (64 percent) and Alternative Work Arrangements (63 percent). Other interesting initiatives were Fitness Facilities (59 percent), On-site Health Services (48 percent), and Sabbaticals (47 percent).

The work-life programs rated by employees as most effective were Alternative Work Arrangements, Leave for School Functions, Compressed Work Week, Telecommuting, and Emergency Child Care.

See further details here.

Power Couples Share Balance Strategies

So you're married to a lawyer, and you both spend 60 hours a week or more working? How do you find balance? How do you maintain a strong relationship?

In a recent panel discussion at Harvard entitled "Stopping for Directions: A Conversation About Career, Family and Success," several couples where both spouses had high-powered, busy careers spanning business and politics, shared their secrets for creating a strong relationship despite intense work demands.

One useful anecdote was shared by Sharon Meers, an author and former managing director at Goldman Sachs, married to real estate developer Steve Dostart. Initially, Meer's high-powered career at Goldman Sachs left Dostart carrying the load in their home life even before their two children arrived. Since talking seemed always to lead to an argument, Dostart told Meers to write down her goals and desires for the family they hoped to start. It turned out, he said, that they shared those goals, and writing them down helped them both realize that. "The main message was that both of our dreams counted and we'd facilitate [achieving them]," Meers recalled.

Other couples added that it's important to review the couple's shared and individual goals at least once a year, to ensure they are still moving in the same direction, and to see if any adjustments are needed. All agreed that life often throws unexpected obstacles and opportunities at you and so both spouses have to be flexible and committed to each other and the family unit to adjust to the new realities.

See the full story here.

Court Denies Fees to Attorney On Grounds He Turned Peaceful Divorce into Costly Feud

A California appellate court recently rejected the request of John Fuchs, a divorce attorney, for $250,000 in fees -- and referred him to the State Bar of California for possible discipline -- on the ground that his tactics in a divorce proceeding aggravated a simple case into a costly legal feud that wasted the parties' money.

According to the court, Rochelle and John Tesoriero were about to settle their two-year-old divorce case in 2002 when John Fuchs began representing the wife and provoking the other side. Among other things, Fuchs repeatedly sent nasty letters to the husband's attorney that the court called "outrageous" (one excerpt: "perhaps we should start sending my friends, Vito and Luigi, to [John's] house on a weekly basis.").

See the full story here.

Given the increasing lack of civility among lawyers (see post here), financial sanctions are a great way for courts to send a message to the bar that harassment and other forms of outrageous behavior by lawyers will not be tolerated.

25 of Our Nation's Presidents Were Lawyers - Can You Name Them? (Be the First and Win an Amazon.com Gift Certificate)

Twenty five of our nation's President's were lawyers - can you name them?

First reader to respond correctly via the comments link below will receive a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate.

To get you started, one was William Howard Taft, who later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He was reportedly so pleased with his career change that he later wrote, "I don't remember that I was ever president."

Response Update:

Congratulations to Alex Simpson of Alex Simpson PLLC and publisher of the Corporate & Securities Law Blog who responded with the correct answer first at 1:44 PM EST.

Click the link below for the correct list

Note: some readers included John F. Kennedy on their lists. JFK was not a lawyer though, although his brother, Robert, was.

Desiderata: Inspiration from Poet Lawyer Max Ehrmann

The poem Desiderata - Latin for "Things to be Desired" - has inspired millions. Fewer, however, are aware of the identity of the poem's author - lawyer-turned-poet Max Ehrmann of Terre Haute, Indiana. Though a lawyer, Ehrmann's somewhat careless handling of his copyright spawned litigation that has persuaded some courts that the poem is in the public domain.

In any event, the poem's opening paragraph conveys thoughts worthy of contemplation by attorneys seeking greater tranquility within the confines of what is often a stressful profession:

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Read the rest of the poem