Browse Topics
Problems to Solve, or Tensions to Manage?
By Jenny Patten • August 11, 2019 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
A few days ago, I ran into a colleague that I hadn’t seen in a few weeks at our company café. As we caught up while standing in line to order our lunches, he commented on the fact that I carry two phones with me and asked why. I explained that I try to keep my personal and work communications separate, and this allows me to “put away” my work texts and emails when I’m spending time with my kids by physically placing my work phone in my purse for a few hours. I admitted that while this tactic had…
Interview with Deborah E. Johnson, Entertainment & Sports Lawyer - On the Field: Women in Sports Law
By Tatum Wheeler • July 24, 2019 •Ms. JD, Careers, Other Career Issues, Law School, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life, Women and Law in the Media
Please welcome Ms. Deborah E. Johnson, an entertainment and sports lawyer from the Dallas area and Texas A&M University School of Law graduate. A solo practitioner for over five years specializing in entertainment and sports law, Ms. Johnson runs her own company, teaches government at a local college, and serves as in-house counsel of a construction company. Ms. Johnson has experience in diverse practice areas including compliance, education, juvenile representation, in-house practice, and transactional law. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me! Let’s get started. I enjoyed your post, How to Survive Law School, in which…
Self-Care Everyday: The Importance Of Taking Care Of Your Mind, Too
By Brittany Raposa • June 07, 2019 •Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
Lately, in the craze of social media, "self-care Saturday" or "self-care Sunday" has become a phenomena. What does self-care mean? To many, it means working out, taking time to yourself, going for a hike, or meditating for 20 minutes. What it should be, however, is much more than this. We should participate in self-care every minute of every day, to the extent that we can, of course. It's important to take care of your body, which includes working out, eating right, and taking care of each part of yourself. Most of us, I think, forget to take care of one…
5 Ways Women Attorneys Try to Reduce Stress…That Actually Increase Stress
By Amy Wood • May 14, 2019 •Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
As a professional coach to ambitious attorneys, I regularly meet with women lawyers who are beyond stressed out. And it’s not like these women aren’t trying to dial down stress. To the contrary, most of them seek me out as a last resort because, despite having applied all sorts of supposed “expert” advice to feel calm and in charge, they are evermore sinking under the weight of these issues: Nearly impossible billable hours quotas Difficult clients Snowballing workload Insufficient personal time Elusive sense of satisfaction The problem, I’ve come to realize, with successful attorneys who want to lighten their load…
Millennial Women: Estate Planning is for You Too!
By Iffy Ibekwe • May 10, 2019 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life, Other Issues, Features, •Myths & Truths
Millennial Lawyers are Powerful. I can say that because I too am a millennial lawyer. We are highly educated (sometimes in the school of hard knocks), talented, committed, innovative and ready to take on any challenge head-on. Watch out! The world is changing for women and millennials are leading the way for future generations: Around 72% of millennial women are in the workforce. [i] Although a gender pay gap still exists but is narrowing. [ii] More than 28% of millennial women start a business because they see an opportunity. [iii] Millennial women are more likely to have bachelor degrees than their male…
Time Management Tips for Women Lawyers from Harmony Planners Creator Kellie Beach Sims, Esq.
By Roberta O. Roberts, Esq. of Grace for the Grind™ • May 10, 2019 •Careers, Other Career Issues, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life, Features, Guest Bloggers and Profiles of Women in the Law
A survey of 146 female lawyers revealed the “constant need to be the best” as the “single greatest obstacle to juggling career and family,” and that more than half of the female lawyers surveyed “reported difficulty delegating responsibility (compared with about 38 percent of the overall sample).” But the average woman lawyer probably doesn’t need a survey to validate these facts: many of us feel stressed getting it all done in our demanding careers while also being present and showing up in our family and personal lives. As women, we often want to “have it all” and may feel like…
The Mental Load: There’s No App for Work-Life Balance…but Property Law Might Help
By Amy Bowen • May 08, 2019 •Writers in Residence, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
Whether you’re on team Sandberg or team Slaughter, you’ve probably realized by now that nobody “has it all”. Exhibit A: Michelle Obama's candid slip when discussing techniques for achieving the elusive work-life balance: “That $%#& doesn’t work all the time.” Despite the polarizing opinions on work-life balance (or work-life integration, if you prefer), there’s one thing all women have in common: we want things to be better, both collectively and individually. But with an overabundance of advice on how to get something that we've established doesn’t actually exist, it’s easy to feel like this whole dialogue is muddling into meaningless mush…
The Happy Lawyer: A Year-Long Experiment
By Kate Miceli • May 05, 2019 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Politics and Government, Other Career Issues, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life, •Mentoring and Networking, Other Issues
My last year of law school, I took a seminar class called “The Happy Lawyer”. The concept was simple; ten law students, one dean, and one professor read six books about happiness and discuss them over dinner throughout the school year. Full disclosure, I took this class because it was at the dean’s house (who doesn’t want to see their law school dean’s house?) and was taught by one of my favorite professors. The happiness and mindfulness aspect of the class was secondary at best. Over the course of the year, we read six books including; Happiness: A Very…
Chicken or the Egg: The issue of retention starts with perspective.
By Kim Tran • April 30, 2019 •Writers in Residence, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life, Other Issues
Why can't we retain our female and minority lawyers? Last month I told you I would share my story first. The story of why I choose to stay, when a disproportionate number of lawyers like me choose to leave the traditional practice of law. I am a female minority lawyer practicing in BigLaw. I have been in practice for 12 years. I started in a smaller firm and made my way steadily through bigger more established firms. In my city, there are few lawyers like me practicing in the larger law firms. There are plenty, however, that opened up their…