You Don’t Need More Passport Stamps

I was reading a new book to my son tonight, “The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig.” I picked it out mainly because he adores the Three Little Pigs fairy tale, and I figured it would be in the same vein, but with a more sympathetic view of the wolves.
Oh, how marvelously wrong [...]

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Lawyers and the CareerBuilder SuperBowl Ad

Admit it–if you’re thinking about leaving the law, you have felt EXACTLY like CareerBuilder’s brilliantly subversive commercial from the SuperBowl: “If you make loads of money, but hate going to work every day, your coworkers don’t respect you, you always wish you were somewhere else, you cry constantly, you daydream of punching small animals, and [...]

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Get On Your Hobby Horse

It used to be normal, even expected, for adults to have hobbies. You know, something you pursue just because you like it, not because it could land you a job, a client, or whatever eventually. But in our mad-rush existence, hobbies are one of the first things to go. And that’s more than a shame, [...]

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The Toolkit for Beginning Lawyer-Writers

To be a writer, all you have to do is write. Which sounds all fine and well and good in theory, but most lawyers immediately start worrying about the quality and quantity of their efforts, and quickly conclude that since they are not the next Ernest Hemmingway or even produce the volume of work of [...]

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Lawyers Who Want to Write

So you think you might want to be a writer rather than practice law? Maybe it’s been a secret ambition for a while, secret even from yourself. Yet it’s not that unusual an ambition for lawyers wanting to get out of law practice.
Law is a wordy profession, even though it’s filled with poor writing and [...]

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Your List for Success

One of the many toxic things about working in law is the notion that simply by hard work, you will succeed. This is a highly cherished notion, but it’s also rot.
Let’s tackle the notion of success. If you’re here, your definition of success is probably not achieving the corner office with the highest possible salary. [...]

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Country Road

Today was one of those wondrous, wide-open autumn days. And since my 3 year old desperately needed a nap, I packed him in the SUV and did something that these days is politically incorrect: I took a drive.
I drove out toward the country, in a big loop whose return followed a gorgeous creekside road. Curving [...]

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