Question of the Week

Tell Us About the Worst Boss or Co-Worker You’ve Ever Had at a Law Job

This week, we talked to the operator of eBossWatch, a site that allows workers to investigate would-be employers by seeing how others who have worked with them have rated them on the site. Even though the site names names, founder Asher Adelman says he doesn’t fear libel suits because he…

Jul 28, 2010 4:48 PM CDT

Did You Ever Skip a Law School Class—And Have Dramatic Consequences?

This week, we wrote about a student at the University of San Diego School of Law who debated whether to risk having to miss some sessions of his tax law class—a class for which he knew attendance counted toward the grade—to participate in the World Series of Poker. The professor…

Jul 21, 2010 8:19 PM CDT

What’s the Biggest Intern Blunder You’ve Witnessed?

Law students have arrived at their respective summer legal jobs, striving to do good work and make good impressions on their potential future employers. Or at least not make bad impressions. But sometimes they fail at that. This week, a female lawyer at a government agency asked the blog Corporette…

Jul 14, 2010 8:16 PM CDT

What Songs / Artists Are on Your Office Playlist?

This week, we noted that Attorney General Eric Holder likes to listen to Jay-Z and Tupac Shakur while working at his office at the Department of Justice, but works in silence at his kitchen table when at home. (And last month, we picked up a report that U.S. Supreme Court…

Jul 7, 2010 5:35 PM CDT

Do Your Clients, Opponents Seem to Be Getting Angrier?

This week, we learned that researchers are warning about the potential influence of over-the-top emotional reactions on reality TV. University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds added his two cents, telling USA Today that he doesn’t see people overreacting in his own daily life, but sees where TV may have…

Jun 30, 2010 8:11 PM CDT

How Do You Manage Job-Related Stress?

This week, recent law graduate Michael Serota said law schools have a moral obligation to produce healthy and satisfied lawyers and should do so by helping students identify what their professional values are and find law careers that mesh with them. Serota cited a “modest empirical study” by two professors…

Jun 23, 2010 7:21 PM CDT

What Would Your Dream Law Office Be Like?

This week, we took note of a general counsel who has just started building a tree house office in a forest near Evergreen, Colo. The game plan is for a 12-by-19-foot space complete with Wi-Fi and possibly a wood-burning stove. Some major law firms have also recently overhauled their offices’…

Jun 16, 2010 6:54 PM CDT

Does Your Office Have a Dress Code? Do You Follow It?

Summer temperatures are here, and with them come workers’ motivation to push the limits of their office dress codes. This is actually part of the inspiration for next week’s ABA-CLE teleconference and webcast: Flip Flops Are Not Business Casual! Drafting Dress Codes for Your Firm and Clients. It focuses on…

Jun 9, 2010 6:49 PM CDT

What Poetic, Alliterative & Not-So-Nasty Words Would You Use to Describe Your Position at Your Firm?

We were fascinated this week by reports from the legal press about Facebook’s new automated community pages—the pages generated when someone fills out details about themselves as they flesh out their profile descriptions. Apparently these pages are making image-conscious law firms a wee bit uncomfortable. Among the more distressing—or humorous,…

Jun 2, 2010 6:34 PM CDT

How Will You Spend Memorial Day?

Many people observe Memorial Day by enjoying the long weekend, often among the warmest yet on the heels of spring and leading into the summer months. Maybe they’ll take in a parade or party. Others will raise a glass or lay a flower down in memory of a loved one.…

May 26, 2010 8:40 PM CDT

How Many Hours Have You Worked in the Past 7 Days?

We often post here about different lawyers’ takes on work-life balance. Last week, James Dolan, a professional coach and psychotherapist who works with lawyers, said lawyers should not try to ascertain the magic amount of time that can be spent on duty vs. off-duty that will make a lawyer feel…

May 19, 2010 4:32 PM CDT

In Your Practice, What Do You Focus on to See the Big Picture?

Last month, the ABA released a new book by J. Kim Wright titled Lawyers as Peacemakers: Practicing Holistic, Problem-Solving Law. Wright thinks that—in some disciplines, anyway, such as family law and juvenile justice—the adversarial legal system needs to evolve into something more collaborative. “I did my first custody case: I…

May 12, 2010 4:58 PM CDT

What Title Would You Give Your Legal Thriller?

We noted this week that Scott Turow—in addition to the Fox pilot Pleading Guilty that was shot in part outside ABA offices in March—has a sequel to his best-seller Presumed Innocent. It catches up with protagonist Rusty Sabich, now 60 years old, and is titled Innocent. Turow’s latest hit stores…

May 5, 2010 4:48 PM CDT

Whose Opinions Are You Anxious to Read—Whether You Agree or Not?

This week, we noted an upcoming article in the George Washington Law Review in which two George Mason University law professors propose that Congress cure the U.S. Supreme Court of its “cult of celebrity” by passing a statute that requiring their opinions to be anonymous. The idea is that judges…

Apr 28, 2010 7:57 PM CDT

Who Is History’s Top Lawyer or Judge?

This week, a commenter on a post about lawyer-ranking site Avvo noted that Abraham Lincoln has a listing on the Avvo site. CNET also noted Lincoln’s listing at the time of Avvo’s 2007 launch. Lincoln, as a deceased lawyer, is not rated on Avvo’s 1 to 10 scale. But seeing…

Apr 21, 2010 7:26 PM CDT