Question of the Week

Does Your Firm Offer Sabbaticals? Have You Ever Taken One or Thought About Doing So?

In July, we noted that law firms in Singapore, which pay their associates approximately $50,000 in U.S. dollars, are offering those associates, among other things, one-month paid sabbaticals after four years of work. And earlier this year, Fortune put law firms Alston & Bird, Baker Donelson and Perkins Coie on…

Sep 21, 2011 5:21 PM CDT

How Much Time Do You Spend on Grooming Before Your Workday?

This week, we noted a study that looked for a correlation between the time workers spend on grooming before work—showering, styling hair, selecting and ironing clothes, shaving, trimming nails, applying makeup and polishing shoes—and their earnings. The study found that nonwhite men who do more daily grooming earn more, while…

Sep 14, 2011 4:30 PM CDT

Can You Think of Any ‘Delightful Client Malapropisms’ That You’ve Heard?

Last week on the ABA Solosez email discussion list, readers started a thread about “delightful client malapropisms.” One example, which the poster says was from a client intake interview: “I asked a client about a previous case on his record. I mentioned the charge (drug trafficking) and asked him what…

Sep 7, 2011 6:02 PM CDT

If You Had a Do-Over, Which Classes Would You Spend More Time on or Take in Law School?

Last week, we noted a survey conducted by George Washington University Law School that asked about 13,500 alumni to list which elective courses they considered the most useful and which classes they wish they had taken. Those results? Alums who had took an evidence class were glad they did, and…

Aug 31, 2011 8:00 PM CDT

Are You Satisfied at Your Job? Are Your Parents and Siblings Satisfied at Their Jobs?

We noted in a post this week a study of 1,772 people asserting that while individuals who dislike their jobs can probably give you a host of external reasons why they do, disliking one’s job might be an inherited tendency. The study found that people with the dopamine receptor gene…

Aug 24, 2011 5:30 PM CDT

Should Personal Info on the Web Have an Expiration Date?

Google yourself. Everyone’s done it. Depending on how large a reputation you have or how common your name is, there could be a host of information out there with which you’d rather not be associated. There’s a whole online reputation management industry devoted to helping people weed through websites looking…

Aug 17, 2011 5:40 PM CDT

How Do You Get Through Overnighters at the Office?

Those in law school and the legal profession—and the medical profession, as Paul Lippe reminds us in his column this week—are often forced to work through the night and battle exhaustion. We noted last week how some law firms in London have set up sleeping accommodations on premises, be they…

Aug 10, 2011 6:50 PM CDT

Which Fictional Works Should Every Lawyer Read? Do You Plan to Write Your Own Must-Read Novel?

In the August issue of the ABA Journal, 30 well-known lawyers each shared the title of a book he or she thought every lawyer should read. And earlier this week, reporter Stephanie Francis Ward talked to players in fiction publishing about what a lawyer with a novel needs to do…

Aug 3, 2011 3:53 PM CDT

How Do You Commune with Nature?

This week we noted a story about criminal justice lawyers in Ocean City, Md., who might be rivals during business hours but surf together in their downtime. “You’re sort of in a communion with nature,” Wicomico County prosecutor Richard Brueckner told the Daily Times. “When you see all the surfers…

Jul 27, 2011 8:27 PM CDT

Have You Ever Represented Yourself? Would You Ever?

This week, we noted the story of a retired Massachusetts audio visual technician who successfully fought a $25 traffic ticket pro se—after paying a $300 filing fee and having to wait two years for a resolution. “I prosecuted the case without legal help—something I will never do again,” Michael Rivers…

Jul 20, 2011 5:30 PM CDT

For Yourself or a Client, Have You Ever Challenged What You Considered an Absurd Law?

This week, we noted a misdemeanor criminal case that the city of Oak Park, Mich., made against Julie Bass who planted a vegetable garden in her home’s front yard. The city says Bass violated a municipal code provision that says she must put “grass ground cover, shrubbery, or other suitable…

Jul 13, 2011 4:59 PM CDT

Have You Ever Quit a Job on Principle, or Without Knowing When Your Next Paycheck Was Coming?

This week, a reporter checked in with former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, who abruptly left King & Spalding in April after the firm dropped its representation of the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives in the Defense of Marriage Act case. We also noted a young Georgia prosecutor who left…

Jul 6, 2011 6:20 PM CDT

Do You Take Your Family Along on Business Trips for ‘Bizcations’?

Earlier this month, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted a survey saying that 67 percent of frequent business travelers sometimes combined leisure travel with business trips. “Combining business travel with a mini-family vacation is a growing trend in a tight economy,” the story said. It also gave an example of a lawyer…

Jun 29, 2011 6:32 PM CDT

If You Had a Chance to Rewrite the US Constitution, What Would You Change?

In the wake of political unrest after its financial collapse in 2008, Iceland is drafting a new constitution. The nation of 300,000 people is reaching out to its citizens for input by way of a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a YouTube channel. The drafting project started in April…

Jun 22, 2011 5:07 PM CDT

What Would You Name Your Lawyer Band?

“Jailhouse Rock.” “I Shot the Sheriff.” “Folsom Prison Blues.” “I Fought the Law.” Plenty of rock songs have been written about legal troubles. But lawyers aren’t just the fodder for song lyrics. Many attorneys are musicians themselves, and many find a clever way to allude to their profession in their…

Jun 15, 2011 4:56 PM CDT