Attorney Work-Life Balance

I have a group of mental gremlins that live in my head. Other people I know call their gremlins “the girls” or “the committee.” These are the voices in my head that tell me I suck at everything. Do you have a name for yours? When my gremlins ...

New Year's resolutions, like eating healthy or spending more time engaging with friends and family, are quickly abandoned when you're under constant scrutiny at work. (There's nothing like a civilized “Hunger Games,” right?) But you do have some ...

Now is the time that we reflect on our successes and failures of the past year — both professionally and personally — and plan for the upcoming year, setting goals for ourselves, our firms and our practices. As I think about 2017, I see many ...

They say, “work hard, play hard.” Unfortunately, this adage may normalize workplace behavior that can be very dangerous. In fact, a 2015 study found that workaholics are more likely to drink in excess than their peers. At many major firms, ...

In the competitive world of law, it is not uncommon to feel (consciously or unconsciously) that failure is not an option. However, the quest for perfection is a double-edged sword. While striving toward it can motivate us to improve, perfection ...

In a 1955 essay in The Economist, Cyril Northcote Parkinson, a British historian, described a phenomenon that would come to be called “Parkinson’s Law.” His key insight: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” In ...

Change is exciting … and overwhelming. When faced with change, you must manage all the transitions that flow from it. You can feel adrift, and sometimes alone, as you re-evaluate your circumstances, or decisions, or even your entire ...

You’re an unstoppable legal machine. You churn through a hundred pages of briefs and legal research every day. You’re running two phones, a tablet, a laptop and a portable fax machine off a light pole at the airport. Your inbox is an email ...

There’s no denying it: Lawyers have the highest behavioral impairment rate of any profession. Research has shown it, and it is spotlighted in the media, as in a recent New York Times feature on a lawyer who tragically spiraled into addiction ...

“This is the year.” He sounded casual enough, but I saw the inner force he hoped to screw to the sticking place. “This is the year I finally get out of here and start doing things I love.” We’d been down this road before. The goal is always the ...