Everyone’s talking about corporate culture and employee engagement these days because talent attraction and retention are so critical to the success of every company. So much goes into developing culture, and lawyers can have a positive impact on their company’s culture just by modernizing the old, boring personnel policy manual.
Bill Hutchens taught me this lesson, along with the value of humor — in life and law. We recently lost Bill after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease (a condition with which, coincidentally, my father, also a lawyer, was afflicted).
The thought of mentoring junior attorneys can be a restraining force in itself. Some of you are probably thinking, “Been there, done that!” having invested in a junior attorney (or more than one) who then opened their own practice, joined another practice or wasn’t a good match after all. But even given what seems like a daunting task, it can be done.
I completed Love First Clinical Intervention Training last May. The five-day intensive training covers every aspect of intervention. Trainees are taught first and foremost on the importance of leading with love.
I’ve gotten to know Indiana Lawyer’s 2018 Leadership in Law honorees a bit in the past few weeks. What I’ve learned is, in addition to being collectively capable of handling just about any legal matter imaginable, our Distinguished Barristers and Up and Coming Lawyers also demonstrate the spirit, dedication, humanity and drive to make their profession and their communities better.
Practicing law is stressful. Stress breeds anxiety, depression, problem drinking and other challenges to being a well-adjusted, successful lawyer. Help can come from many areas, such as friends, family and medical professionals. An American Bar Association-backed task force report recommends law firms should be squarely in this remedial mix.
“It’s only minimal competence.” This well-meaning phrase is meant to reassure bar examinees that, though the exam is difficult, you only need to pass it, not receive a high score. Despite the minimal competence standard, bar examinees still stress about the exam. As a recent examinee, I want to share how three significant changes surrounding the bar exam in the past 20 years have contributed to examinee stress.
In this issue, we’re launching a new column from Don Hopper about law firm succession planning. And speaking of the future and succession planning, we’ve got a succession plan in place here at Indiana Lawyer.
I want to let you know about a fun evening coming up on Oct. 6 at the Crane Bay Event Center. Like last year, when famed Indianapolis attorney Jim Voyles was roasted to benefit Indianapolis Legal Aid Society, Indy Mayor Joe Hogsett is stepping up this year to take the heat for the same great cause.
Read a first-person account about one lawyer’s struggle with alcohol addiction and help received through JLAP.
You may or may not be aware of it, but at JLAP we are sensitive to the reality that a lot of people feel pretty crummy right after the holidays. We talk to lawyers a lot about how they are feeling and our observations are that despite all the advice on how to avoid feeling stressed during the holidays, more people struggle after the holidays than during the holidays.
Six years have passed since Indiana sued IBM over the failed $1 billion contract for the computer giant to modernize a punch-card-era system for determining welfare eligibility. After the contract was famously canceled, IBM blamed the state, the state blamed IBM, and they’ve been fighting in court since.
A proposed overhaul of Admission and Discipline Rule 23 contains some good ideas among the 108 pages of side-by-side comparisons of the old and the new. But the proposals would do little to deprogram the Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission’s culture of confidentiality or boost public confidence in the agency that polices Indiana attorneys.
If you voted for President Barack Obama in 2012, sorry, but your vote no longer counts. That’s effectively what the Republican members of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary said in a Feb. 23 letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
As we complete a long, complicated year, my great judge journey leads me to a wish list. While wish lists are not uncommon for gift-giving season, or the start of a new year, this one is intended for regular rumination.
After 27 years in the trenches of civil litigation, most on behalf of injured plaintiffs, it is still shocking to see the blind eye that some judges turn toward even the most egregious violations of the discovery rules.
Note my musings on friend Larry Reuben on the occasion of the spring opening of the Riviera Club pool.
Indianapolis attorney Lawrence M. Reuben, who created a strong legacy of community activism, died Sept. 11, 2015. He was 67 years old.
If you have not had an opportunity to take our survey, please take a moment to do so at www.theindianalawyer.com/survey-2015.
As we approach the 228th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution this Sept. 17, we might consider where civic literacy is taking place.