ABA Journal

Your Voice

Waiting to exhale: The ill effects of technology on legal practice

At my law school 50th reunion earlier this year—by Zoom, of course—several of us with careers in large law firms compared notes. We spent the expected amount of time reflecting on how much law practice has changed over the past half century.


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What lawyers can learn from self-love

The trendy catch phrase these days is “self-love.” When I first learned about “self-love,” I mistakenly believed this meant pampering myself. Massages, candles, scented baths, vacations and other pleasantries were indulgences that, as a busy trial attorney, I did not have time for. Loving myself might include indulging in earthly delights, but it goes much deeper than superficial rewards.


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A lawyer's primer on loss: Grieving the death of a parent

“We are on borrowed time now.” That is what the manager at the assisted living facility where my father has lived for nearly four years gently tells me. A few weeks earlier, during a phone consult with my younger brother and me, my father’s physician introduces the word "hospice" into the conversation.


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Law professor makes a case against automating legal writing in law school

Give a dozen brilliant mathematicians the same problem, and they will give you the same answer. Math has an objective truth to it; however, legal writing is different.


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Solving civil justice issues in the classroom

Throughout my time as an access-to-justice scholar, I have noticed a meaningful gap in our collective understanding of the scope of civil justice problems in the United States and of the real work needed to address the access-to-justice crisis.


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The victory lap: Why I still go to the office after retirement

These days, a lot of what is written about law practice is negative.


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A brief primer on LGBTQ allyship for lawyers

“Hey, I want you to know that I’ve got your back.” How many of us have ever said something like that to a colleague or friend? More pointedly, how many of us have ever truly meant those words? And what does “having another person’s back” actually look like?


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7 tips to strengthen the mind through identifying and overcoming implicit bias

Science explains that our minds are like icebergs: Our conscious awareness represents 10% of the iceberg above the surface of the water, and our unconscious awareness represents 90% of the iceberg unseen below the surface of the water. We are not aware of 90% of our thoughts/brain functions, which are unconscious—by definition.


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How legal practice is like working retail

“Have you got your blade?” the leader asked, as we walk past the hoes on the corner.


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What this senior counsel learned from 'the solar-powered lawyer'

I sowed each seed in my garden with equal care and affection. I took great pains to ensure optimal growing conditions: watering them, providing the prescribed fertilizer and periodically extracting weeds.


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