Lawyer Wellness

BigLaw Firm’s Secret to Success in Retaining Women Partners: 82 Holidays a Year

One of the United Kingdom’s biggest and best-known corporate law firms has little difficulty retaining talented women lawyers as partners, reports the Daily Mail. Allen & Overy’s secret to success? Offering 82 holidays a year, in exchange for reduced pay. Men can also opt for a reduced schedule for up…

Aug 19, 2010 2:00 AM CDT

Firms Looking to Retain Talent Are More Accepting of Flexible Work Arrangements

The stigma long associated with not making partner the same time as classmates is melting way, even more so lately as newly minted lawyers enter the profession with an expectation that they will have a life outside of the office. “For today’s people coming fresh out of law school, it’s…

Aug 12, 2010 4:24 PM CDT

Collegial Culture Helps Put Ropes & Gray at Top of Quality-of-Life Ranking

For the second year in a row, Ropes & Gray has been named the best law firm to work for in a survey of associates by Vault.com. The law firm manages to combine a high-level practice with a collegial and respectful culture, Vault.com managing editor Brian Dalton says on his…

Aug 12, 2010 3:57 PM CDT

Does Money Buy Happiness? Only if You Spend it on Leisure, Research Suggests

Can money buy happiness? It all depends on how well-off you consider yourself, and how you spend the cash. Once you make more than $50,000 a year, there’s little relationship between income and satisfaction, according to University of Missouri law professors Nancy Levit and Douglas Linder. Instead, they say, the…

Aug 12, 2010 1:54 PM CDT

Why Lawyers Should Work No More than 40 Hours a Week

Lawyers, doctors and others in the service industry can be more productive and creative if they stop working so much and put away their BlackBerrys, according to a media executive and “serial CEO.” Manufacturers already focus on “asset integrity”—preserving plants and machinery from damage due to wear and tear, Margaret…

Aug 11, 2010 11:44 AM CDT

Lateral Move Should Make Career Sense First, Economic Sense Second, Experts Say

Lawyers considering a career move shouldn’t jump to a new law firm simply because they are fed up with their current job or they want to make bigger bucks. Instead, it’s important to consider whether the move will help achieve long-term career goals, according to legal search consultants Valerie Fontaine…

Aug 5, 2010 10:29 AM CDT

Women Pay ‘Steep Price’ for Time Off Work; Supreme Court Nominations Are Example

The last three women nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court—Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Harriet Miers—have more than one thing in common. They are all single and childless. The last three male nominees, in contrast, were all married with children. The New York Times uses the example to illustrate a…

Aug 4, 2010 1:51 PM CDT

Up in the Air

Caryn Carson admits that she tended to hoard airline frequent-flier miles. But a few months ago the Dallas lawyer won a million of them from American Airlines, and now she is happy to share.

Aug 1, 2010 5:14 AM CDT

Death of Reed Smith Practice Leader Struck by Train Ruled a Suicide

A senior partner at Reed Smith committed suicide last week, dying of multiple injuries after being struck by a commuter train in Chicago. Stewart Dolin was a corporate and securities partner who headed practice groups both at Reed Smith and, before it merged with Reed Smith, at Sachnoff and Weaver,…

Jul 20, 2010 11:40 PM CDT

Prof Links Professionals’ Helicopter Parenting to Failed Marriages, Forgone Friendships

Professional, middle class workers are more likely to be hyper-involved, hovering “helicopter” parents, and the children aren’t the only ones suffering the negative effects, a sociology professor suggests. Parenting styles in the United States are “starkly divided by class,” Middlebury College professor Margaret Nelson writes in the Washington Post. Professionals…

Jul 7, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Making the Home Work

It takes more than space to find home office success

Jul 1, 2010 7:20 AM CDT

Lawyer Building Tree House Office in Pine Forest

It’s safe to say that lawyer Richard Russeth is a fan of tree houses. We’re not talking about the tree forts with rope ladders from childhood days. Russeth, an avid collector of books about tree house architecture, is taking on his own endeavor: building a sophisticated tree-office nestled 20 feet…

Jun 15, 2010 2:36 PM CDT

Partner Advises Women Law Grads to Value Adversity, Get Real About Balance

Andrews Kurth partner Kathleen Wu wishes someone would have told her at her law school graduation in 1985 to get real about work-life balance. It’s possible to have work and a family, Wu advises women law grads in a Texas Lawyer article. But there will be sacrifices. “Recent grads shouldn’t…

Jun 9, 2010 1:44 PM CDT

Solving the Work-Life Equation

Workplace flexibility + exercise and leisure + family involvement = greater satisfaction

Jun 1, 2010 9:00 AM CDT

Working Together, Living Together

Sometimes the choice of practice can bring a better balance

Jun 1, 2010 7:00 AM CDT