Book Review: Play Like a Man Win Like a Woman: Gail Evans

I recently heard Gail Evans talk and she was great.  Her talk was inspiring and also very practical and prompted me to finally read her book, Play Like a Man Win Like a Woman.  (It is currently only $10.17 on Amazon!).  At the end of the book, Ms. Evans writes, "This book is about learning to make noise, and also, learning to make choices.  Think of my advice as clothes you are tyring on. Does the rule fit? Do you look good in it?  Is it you?"

I highly recommend this book to Ms. JD's readers.  It is short and very read-able.  It is sincere, to the point and very applicable.  She gives a lot of advice about how to win in business playing by male rules.  She is very good at pointing out differences between men and women and the reasons why the male approach is often more successful in the business context.  The big reason for that, however, is that men have made the rules.

A Book Review on a Great Find: "View from the Top: Q&A with Legal Women Leaders"

I was in the firm's library the other day looking for a securities law practice guide when my eyes were drawn to the following title: View from the Top: Q&A with Legal Women Leaders.  It is a book in the Vault Career Library and just happened to be on the shelf across the aisle from the corporate securities collection.

What a lucky find!  This book was published in 2007, so it is current and relevant.  It consists of interviews with over 100 women at the top of the legal profession, leaders at law firms and as general counsel at companies and nonprofits.

Another Book You Can Skip-- Full Disclosure: the new lawyer's must-read career guide

Sorry to report that I have wasted my money on another lawyer career guide that wasn't worth it.  This book full disclosure: the new lawyer's must-read career guide is just not good.  One the cover it says "An indispensible mentoring guide for young lawyers and those about to enter the practice of law".  That statement couldn't be more wrong.  First, the book is very dispensible.  In fact, the information offered by this book is dispensed by every would-be career counselor and advice-giver out there; it is information you can generally glean from life's experiences if you are even a little perceptive.  The advice is so basic that it is not useful.  Second, the book tries to be too many things to too large an audience.  It is more 1/2 about finding a job out of law school and 1/2 about how to navigate that job once you have it.  This really means that it doesn't do a good job of meeting the needs of either the young lawyer or the law student.  If anything, this book should really be marketed to law students -- but, even then, it is not worth it.

Take this nugget of advice:

Occasionally, a client wiil request a budget consisting of a written estimate of the type and amount of services that the firm expects to provide for a client in a given matter.  The preparation of a budget is a good exercise for lawyers because it forces them to think about the value of their services and provides a yard-stick by which to measure that service.

Really?  Is this insightful?

Ms. JD Summer Book Series: The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book

Ed. Note: KHernan881, a regular contributor to Ms. JD, has agreed to sub-in for the regular Ms. JD Summer Book Series writer this week with the following review of The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book. Ms. JD's regular series should be back next week.

The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book: A Survival Guide, 2nd Edition by Thane Josef Messinger is the subject of this week's book review -- a little off track of what we've been reading so far this summer but hopefully, you'll find it useful nevertheless!

There are a bunch of advice books for new lawyers out there.  This one came highly recommended to me by a senior associate acquaintance. So I read it, admitedly in small doses about a chapter at a time until I could get through the whole thing.  I will say that I read it slowly not because it wasn't interesting but, let's face it, this is a professional advice book, not a novel, and you can only take so much advice in one sitting.

Overall, I think this was a worthwhile read for a new associate in a big law firm.  Mr. Messinger gives very practical advice in a no-nonsense kind of way. He tells it how it is in manner that isn't apologetic or politically correct.  (It is perhaps a little male-focused as he hides a little bit from the issues when he discusses gender politics in firms or gender diversity in the profession.)  By and large, I think the advice is sound and something that was worth the effort and time and would have been valuable before my summer associate job or a great read between the bar and starting work at the firm.  Some things are common sense but those things likely differ for each reader.

Why I decided to go on my first real diet while studying for the Bar.

All advice I received for bar study strategy said that you eliminate all obligations, responsibilities, and distractions from your life before BarBri starts.  Bar study, I was told, will demand every brain cell and every free minute of your life.  On the first day of BarBri a rep from the company even told us that we shouldn’t take time to grocery shop or get hair cuts and that we should basically outsource every aspect of our lives to our personal support system of friends and family.

I took this advice to heart.  I prepped my spouse for months and months before hand that I wouldn’t be available to help with family responsibilities.  I warned my family that they wouldn’t be hearing from me and that I would be absent from all events for three months.  I was ready to disengage from life with the exception of my books, notes, and practice tests.

Here’s the thing with this strategy, I am better at juggling four balls than three.  I perform better when I am busy and multi-tasking.  I think that many women are like that.

Should you supplement CA BarBri with PMBR

So, the first thing I want to point out is that this is not a paid advertisement and I don't have a relationship of any sort with Kaplan PMBR.

Congratulations to all graduates.  I think most around the country will graduate some time over the next three weeks or so (sorry, Chicago!).  If you are like I was, you may be looking to the not-so-distant future and wondering if you have the right plan to tackle studying for the bar exam.  Hopefully, this advice isn't too late, but if you haven't signed up for a course that will supplement BarBri's MBE program, I think you should, at least if you are taking the CA exam.

Did you know that the best indicator of whether somebody will pass the CA bar exam is their LSAT score?  Why, likely because 1/3 of the test is multiple choice and such a test requires a skill set that translates from one multiple choice test to the next.  Also, it is likely because the essays are so subjective that many get through them without doing all that great objectively.  California test takers have one of the top average MBE scores in the country.  I also believe in the idea that practicing can help improve your multiple choice test performance.

I think that, if you have the time and the money, you should take the 6 day PMBR to kick-start your summer of studying.  Personally, I took my last semester kind of easy.  I took the minimum number of credits required and took sort-of soft, theoretical-type classes instead of black letter law type courses.  I found the five days that I spent in PMBR before BarBri started to be a great way to kick-start my black-letter-law brain and get going on the summer.

However, the biggest reason why I think you should take the course is for the practice questions.

Bar Study Challenges for a Studier in a New Community

Study challenges; what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.

I studied for and took the bar exam in a city other than where I went to law school. The local law school libraries were not all that convenient or close to my house and all three are private schools that I wasn’t familiar with. Therefore, I decided to study primarily in public libraries. This presented unique challenges, all of which are able to be overcome. I’ll share some of the pros and cons of studying in public libraries here in case any readers find themselves in a similar situation:

Pros:

• you won’t see any other bar studiers there
• you won’t see any law school friends there so you’ll avoid the distractions that are friends
• close to home
• no distractions of home: refrigerator, tv, neighbors, laundry, etc

Cons:

• limited hours – public libraries usually close pretty early in the evening; this was actually a big challenge for me that entailed keeping track of all the random hours of the libraries near me so that I knew where I could go study depending on the day of the week and time
• noise – my public libraries have a lot of events in the summer like public speakers, kids’ events, musical performances, etc
• loitering, especially by homeless people in my area
• intermittent internet connection
• lack of privacy and having to share tables

I was able to make it work and spent most of my time studying in the public libraries in my area but had to balance the concerns listed above.

Another thing that I'd like to point out about studying for the bar in a different city than where you went to law school -- it is very lonely. I didn't know anyone in my BarBri class, I didn't have any fellow studiers to take breaks with or talk to about the program. Sure I had family and friends in the area, but I pretty much limited contact with them during my study time and even when I did take time with them, they couldn't begin to understand what I was going through. I did make shallow friendships with the people that I regularly sat near in BarBri but we never got too far past, "how are you" each day. My point is, be ready for solitude, its hard. I remember full days passing by without talking to anyone. This was tough and a little depressing for me.

Advice on Passing the Bar Exam: Part III

Following up on sintecho and Jessie's recent posts giving advice for passing the bar, I have a couple of tips to add to the great information already provided on this site.

I sat for (and passed) the July 2007 Bar Exam in California. The two tips that I will share here relate to the written portion of the test and I think now is the perfect time to share them as the February test is just weeks away!

Both of these tips relate to matching how you study to how you will test.

[More after the jump]

A book you can skip: It's Harder in Heels: Essays by Women Lawyers Achieving Work-Life Balance (July 2007)

I am sorry to report that this book with a very promising title is really not that good. I am infinitely interested in how women lawyers make it all work, how they balance work and life, how they network, who their mentors are, etc etc. I purchased this book with extreme excitement over the possibility that this would be the lawyer's counterpart to the Mommy Wars book which was basically written by journalists. The back cover promises essays that are "inspiring, observant, introspective, insightful, and wise."

Money Talks: The free-market answer to more diversity in law firms

With all the talk about diversity being a good business practice for law firms, it is nice to finally see a client put some pressure on law firms to change. In the November issue of Corporate Counsel magazine there is a short story about General Motors and the demands it makes of its outside counsel to be more diverse.