Lawyer Wellness

Forget Work/Life Balance: All Work Is Great Fun for Some, Says Consultant

Once a litigator, Yolanda Cash Jackson is now a more than full-time lobbyist and she loves it. The 51-year-old partner of Becker & Poliakoff in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., intertwines her work and social life, “relationship building” with a signature smile throughout a jam-packed schedule that could begin with a breakfast…

May 18, 2010 5:55 PM CDT

It’s Time to Give Up Fantasy of Perfect Work-Life Equilibrium, Lawyer Coach Says

Many lawyers believe that there are other, better attorneys out there who manage to give their firms more than they earn in salary, while also finding quality time for families, exercise, hobbies and sleep. James Dolan, a professional coach and psychotherapist, treats lawyers with this belief, and he has a…

May 12, 2010 2:11 PM CDT

Sober Since 1981, Lawyer Has Helped Many Others With Wide Array of Issues

William “Bill” Leary never drank at work. But he often hit the booze at night, decades ago, and was never as good the next day as he otherwise would have been, he tells the Connecticut Law Tribune in an article reprinted in New York Lawyer (reg. req.). After multiple efforts…

May 11, 2010 6:56 PM CDT

Student’s Prizewinning Law Review Article Ignites Texas Tax Debate

Nikki Laing is no ordinary law student. And her upcoming Baylor Law Review article is more than a bit unusual, too. At 35, she is the mother of an 11-year-old and has already put together a successful small business. Plus, she is not only an accountant but last year scored…

May 10, 2010 8:21 PM CDT

Lawyer Wins Long Island Marathon Again, ‘Would Have Liked to Run Faster’

The last time Dan McGrath won the Long Island marathon, in 2008, he had to go back to the University of Notre Dame for a law school exam the next morning. But yesterday the 27-year-old New York practitioner was on home turf when he beat the heat and humidity to…

May 3, 2010 7:50 PM CDT

List of Top 10 Family-Friendly Law Firms Has Only Four Repeats

What a difference a year makes. Yale Law Women has released its list of the top 10 family friendly law firms, and six firms on last year’s list are gone. The group’s survey of large law firms shows BigLaw is offering more flexible career paths for women, but some statistics,…

May 3, 2010 12:53 PM CDT

Government Work—At Home

PTO telecommuting is a patented success

May 1, 2010 6:20 AM CDT

Lawyer Takes Pay Cut to Save His Marriage and Help His Epileptic Son

A Fort Worth, Texas, lawyer expects his salary will nearly double after the new federal health insurance law takes effect. Andrew Griffin took a pay cut at the law firm he joined two years ago so he could qualify for health insurance coverage for his epileptic son under a Texas…

Apr 29, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Balanced Life Was a Choice, Ex BigLaw Associate Says

As a successful New York attorney, it was the rule, rather than the exception, for her to work both Saturday and Sunday every week, writes an attorney identified only as “Beth” in a Becky and Hollee blog post. That didn’t leave time for dating, let alone marrying and starting a…

Apr 28, 2010 9:26 PM CDT

Multiple Women Make Partner at Some Firms, While Others Promote All-Male Classes

The economy seems to be on the upswing again for a number of women associates who were promoted to partner this year at major law firms: More than one-third of this year’s new partners, among the 118 law firms surveyed by the Project for Attorney Retention, were female, up from…

Apr 20, 2010 8:46 PM CDT

While Winning $1.25B in Bet-the-Farm Case, Lead Trial Lawyers Also Were Divorcing Each Other

As one of the top trial lawyers in California, partner Linda Smith of O’Melveny & Myers was an obvious choice to work on a major antitrust case against Intel Corp. on behalf of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. And so was her husband, O’Melveny partner and litigation star Chuck Diamond. The…

Apr 13, 2010 8:54 PM CDT

Facing an Uncertain Future, Lawyer with Lung Disease Focuses on Music

After being diagnosed with a potentially fatal lung disease, Jeff Bove rearranged his priorities. Now 58, the Wilmington, Del., attorney has spent the last seven months preparing to release a four-disc box set of his work with four local bands over the past 25 years. It is dedicated to his…

Apr 5, 2010 4:41 PM CDT

After 17 Years as a Stay-at-Home Mom & Contract Lawyer, Amy Beckett Lands a New Job

After she began having children in 1992, Amy Beckett wanted to stay at home to take care of them and, fortunately, her husband earned enough that she was able to do so. A 1982 graduate of New York University School of Law, she had completed a judicial clerkship and had…

Apr 2, 2010 10:55 PM CDT

Not Done Yet

If 65 is the new 50, how will baby boomers remake retirement?

Apr 1, 2010 9:50 AM CDT

Why So Few Women Partners? Maybe They Don’t Want the Job, Lawyer Says

A partner at Lewis and Roca in Las Vegas notes the numbers: About half of law school graduates are women, but fewer than one in five big-firm partners are women. So what are the reasons for the “leakage?” Writing for the Las Vegas Sun, lawyer Lisa Wong Lackland notes possible…

Mar 19, 2010 2:01 PM CDT