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Over the last year or so, I’ve been subjected to extensive travel and the occasional unorthodox office arrangement. That means I’ve had to find a way to work effectively without a reliable and constant internet connection. Easier said than done. For a while, I did the coffee shop and library thing but eventually came to my senses and realized that working on an open wireless network is a worse idea than the Tupac hologram. So I decided to look in to some of the “hotspot” devices that Verizon offers to see if they could hook me up with what their ads claim to provide, i.e., secure internet everywhere.
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I’ve signed up for one of my state bar association’s email listservs about five times in three years. I’ve subscribed five times because I’ve unsubscribed four. If you don’t know what a listserv is, the Pennsylvania Bar Association describes it as “an internet-based discussion group of individual subscribers. Discussions are accomplished through the use of e-mail.”
Listservs can be a good way to get some questions answered by attorneys that love answering questions (both correctly and incorrectly), but they can also be giant pains-in-the-ass.
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Much has been said on Lawyerist about the problems lawyers face with work-life balance. Generally, the way we measure whether we are working too much is by looking at how many hours out of the week we are at the office. But office hours are simply one part of the question. With the potential for constant availability no matter your location, and the capability to work on office projects from anywhere, the real question is: “when am I not working?” And to answer that question, you need to be honest with yourself about whether you are actually done with work when you leave the office.
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It is super easy to get distracted at work. Emails, client phone calls, Tweets, RSS Feeds and bored/lonely/talkative co-workers all contribute mightily to a collectively dwindling attention span.
The lawyer hive-mind is being pulled in a million different directions thanks to our self-imposed expectation of constant availability. Now, I’ve never been diagnosed with ADHD or anything, but I’m pretty sure that if a doctor observed me on a bad day, she would say that I am definitely suffering from some kind of att—HOLY CRAP IT’S NICE OUTSIDE, YOU GUYS. I’M GONNA RIDE MY BIKE AFTER WORK TODAY!!!
Anyway, I have problems focusing sometimes. And when I spend a day working where I allowed myself to be pulled in a million different directions, I can definitely see a drop-off in quality and amount of work performed.
Unfortunately, it has taken me a few years to gain respect for the power of distraction and learn how to fight it. But I know I’m not the only one that gets pulled away from the precious gift of Jedi-like concentration throughout the day, so I thought I would share some of the habits that have helped me fight off the mental urge to diverge.
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Many lawyers often go out of their way to show off how much they know about a particular subject. We make a great deal out of being “experts” in our particular field; and in my jurisdiction, there are even requirements you have to fulfill before you can call yourself a “specialist” in an area of law. Oh yes, knowing junk is valuable currency in attorney-land, but what unfortunately seems more important to some is avoiding looking stupid.
Somewhere in our legal training we took it to heart that being perceived as ignorant on a particular procedure or precedent is the hallmark of a crappy lawyer. And that’s garbage.
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Metaphysics aside, there are some very real differences between what a person looks like on paper and how that person comes across when they are sitting down in front of you. Companies interview its job applicants for this exact reason. Many graduate programs—including Medical Schools—require applicants to interview with someone from the admissions office prior to acceptance. These institutions place a great deal of value on the opportunity to read someone. So my question is, why don’t law schools?
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The practice of law has changed in a lot of ways in recent years. Technology has changed how lawyers interact with clients, it has changed the way we advertise, the way we bill and the way that we run our business among many other things. In nearly every respect, the practice of law is becoming unrecognizable. But for several reasons, it’s important for us to focus on the ways in which the practice of law has not changed.
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As law school admission deadlines approach, prospective students around the country will start to hear back from the schools that want them (and the ones that don’t). In the coming months, wide-eyed future 1Ls will be faced with a difficult decision: where to go to law school.
Much has been said on Lawyerist about whether you should even go to law school (some say yes, some say no), but an equally important decision for future students is exactly where they should potentially spend three years and more than $100,000. Here are some major factors to consider:
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I remain somewhat dubious about the alleged importance of networking. A lot of gurus talk about how vital it is for your career to actively network in one form or another.
I am a little unclear as to what this means; does it mean that I go to get coffee with anybody that asks (including guys trying to sell me financial products)? Does it mean that I should join a networking group like BNI or a Chamber of Commerce? Does it mean going on informational interviews? Does it mean that I just go out to a happy hour and B.S. with people (Blind Date: Lawyer Edition)?
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One of the big concerns for any solo or small firm owner is what they should spend on an office. When starting and running a firm, the biggest potential drain on a practitioner’s budget is office space. The drain is so substantial that in fact some attorneys decide not to have an office altogether.
Some office-less attorneys choose to work from home or from a coffee shop. And that’s fantastic if it works. But when I first started, I learned quickly that I needed an office.
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