Lawyer Wellness

For Happy Life, Do What You Want to Do; Lawyer Explains How

The first step to a happy life is to do what you want to do, says a lawyer and former U.S. Supreme Court clerk who has spent a considerable amount of time researching how to be happy for a book on the subject. And, for those who don’t know what…

Sep 24, 2009 11:50 PM CDT

Advice from a Lawyer Who Pursued Happiness: Sleep More and Join a Group

A lawyer who spent a year following the experts’ advice on how to be happy has boiled down some of her findings. Sleep more. Join a group. That’s the advice of Gretchen Rubin, who spoke to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog about her findings and her new book, The…

Sep 24, 2009 1:50 PM CDT

Study Offers Tips About How Lawyers Can Succeed as Part-Time Partners

Conventional wisdom says that lawyers who cut back on their hours at work, often to make time for their families, also reduce their opportunities to succeed as partners, says Cynthia Calvert. But that isn’t necessarily true, according to a report (PDF) this month by the Project for Attorney Retention, where…

Sep 23, 2009 7:35 PM CDT

Breaking 24/7 Work Mindset Can Aid Retention, Benefit Clients, Study Finds

Fenwick & West may be on to something. At the Silicon Valley law firm, “workflow coordinators” review lawyers’ hours in an effort to “avert overload,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Such approaches may make sense, a new study suggests. The four-year study by Boston Consulting Group found “a paradoxical…

Sep 23, 2009 3:00 PM CDT

Working Mother Puts Four Law Firms on Its List of 100 Best Companies

This summer, Working Mother magazine released its list of the 50 best law firms for women, without ranking the firms. Now the magazine has included four law firms on its list of 100 best companies for working women, including one that didn’t make the top 50 list. Working Mother lists…

Sep 22, 2009 3:00 PM CDT

Blogger Asks His Readers: Is Work-Life Balance ‘So Last August?’

A law firm consultant suggests that work-life balance issues wax and wane with the economy and asks his blog readers to weigh in on the issue. Writing at Adam Smith, Esq., blogger and consultant Bruce MacEwen wonders if the work-life phenomenon has become “hopelessly ‘last August.’ ” His theory is…

Sep 4, 2009 5:41 PM CDT

Lowered Expectations Make Grads of Less Elite Schools Happier in BigLaw

Graduates of elite law schools are less satisfied with their jobs at large law firms than graduates of less selective schools, according two researchers for the American Bar Foundation. Researchers Ronit Dinovitzer and Bryant Garth offer a solution to the unhappy lawyer problem: BigLaw should try hiring more graduates from…

Sep 4, 2009 2:38 PM CDT

Want a Life? Get More Clients

Rainmaking made simple, not easy

Sep 2, 2009 2:10 AM CDT

Mom Loses Case Over Unauthorized 10 a.m. Breast-Pumping Bathroom Break

A ruling last week by a divided Ohio Supreme Court in a pregnancy discrimination case is igniting controversy on the Internet. Although the court didn’t reach the key issue of whether an employer violated a state law barring discrimination against pregnant women, its final dismissal of the claim brought by…

Aug 31, 2009 11:42 PM CDT

Research Finds Skimping on Vacations Is Bad for Your Health

Workaholic lawyers may want to take note of research that suggests skimping on vacations can be bad for your health. Arnold Pallay, the head of Changebridge Medical Associates in Montville, N.J., told the New York Post that the location isn’t important. “The key thing is getting away, hopefully without the…

Aug 31, 2009 3:57 PM CDT

Yale Law Women Name Top 10 Family-Friendly Firms

Yale Law Women and Working Mother magazine don’t agree on the top family-friendly law firms. A top 10 list of family-friendly law firms released today by Yale Law Women includes four law firms that didn’t make a top 50 list of best law firms for moms published last week by…

Aug 20, 2009 3:15 PM CDT

Top Law Firms Named for Working Moms; 62% Allow Full-Time Telecommuting

A bad economy may be hurting law firms, but it’s opening up more flex-time opportunities for male as well as female lawyers. Working Mother magazine reports on the trend in a story accompanying its list of the top 50 law firms for women. Nearly all of its top 50 firms…

Aug 11, 2009 3:30 PM CDT

Extra Recession Pressure on Women Makes It Harder to Say No

Recent news that a prominent lawyer had committed suicide, apparently under extra pressure both because of having had a baby within the year and because of the dismal economy, has brought new attention to the difficulties of work/life balance. Although it’s harder than ever in such circumstances, it’s also more…

Jul 29, 2009 11:50 PM CDT

Depressed After 3rd Child’s Birth, Successful Partner Committed Suicide

Seemingly very successful both at work and at home, Catherine Bailey returned to work as a finance litigator around Christmas after the birth of her youngest daughter a little over six months earlier. But the 41-year-old partner in the London office of SJ Berwin apparently may have been suffering from…

Jul 28, 2009 11:57 PM CDT

Educator Wonders If He’d Be Happier as His Twin, a High-Paid Lawyer

The differences between a Virginia educator and his brother, a partner at a Manhattan law firm, are partly a matter of paychecks. Emmet Rosenfeld, dean of students at the Congressional Schools of Virginia, recently cracked $100,000 a year, when his wife’s pay is counted, he writes in the Washington Post.…

Jul 21, 2009 4:58 PM CDT