And the truth is, there’s nothing wrong with any of those "ruts" unless they don’t fit. If I hate practicing criminal defense work but I’ve been doing it for 10 years, the point of decision comes when I realize that I could switch to a different specialty that might be more within my area of interest, or one that better complements the personal life I want to lead. Not to say that there are no costs involved in making a change, because there may well be enormous costs. But the highest cost of all lies in failing to see the options.

If we feel stuck, without options, in an uncomfortable practice (or in a firm that isn’t a good fit, or in a relationship that doesn’t meet our needs, or anything along those lines), chances are good that we’ll fight for a little while but eventually give up the struggle, succumb to the familiar even if it’s uncomfortable. But if we see options, the struggle may be more intense because we’re struggling with the situation as well as the options we’ve identified, but eventually we’ll have the ability to make a choice. The choice may demand a huge investment from us, but we avoid the impotent sense of surrender. Choice provides power.

Sometimes the answer is both as clear and as obscure as pulling the bathtub plug when presented with the options of a bucket, teacup, or a spoon to use to empty the tub. Alternatives that may be obvious to someone standing outside the situation may be invisible to the person facing it.

What challenges are you facing? What options do you have? Can you identify all of the options (including those hidden in plain view) and the results of each? That’s the moment of decision and the moment of power.

Julie A Fleming, J.D., A.C.C. provides attorney development coaching and consulting to law firm associates and partners, focusing on topics such as leadership, client, and professional development; career strategy; and work/life integration. A certified leadership coach (Georgetown University), Julie publishes the weekly email newsletter Leadership Matters for Lawyers and posts often on the Life at the Bar Blog. Learn more at www.LifeAtTheBar.com or by contacting Julie by telephone at 800.758.6214 or by email to jfb@lifeatthebar.com.

©Stu Rees. All rights reserved.

Questions about ordering greeting cards from The Billable Hour Card Store? Check out our greeting card FAQs.

Did you know that Stu also licenses his artwork for use in newsletters, presentations, print publications and on websites? He even offers special rates for student and teacher use.

You can also purchase original artwork and custom prints (framed or unframed) from Stu.

Timesheet readers get 15% off all licensing orders, original artwork and custom prints (use coupon code BILLHOUR). Click here for information on licensing or purchasing Lawyers Date, any of Stu's other tax and IRS cartoons, or any of the hundreds of images Stu offers. For more information on original artwork and custom prints, click here.

Courtoons are the creation of David Mills, an Ohio appellate lawyer who works with litigants and law firms involved in civil and criminal cases in federal courts across the country. Visit David's law firm website at www.MillsFederalAppeals.com

Other people upset you. One day you realize that the real problem is that some people will not surrender to your charm offensive and behave in the way that you think they should, even if it is for their own good.

You have tried standing up for yourself but, win or lose, you just don’t enjoy it as much as people toeing your line voluntarily.

The answer is to stand up for someone else. Fighting other people’s battles is far easier. For example, the risk of losing money is quite bearable when it is not your money, as is the risk of physical harm. In fact, you will find yourself being quite aggressive and even brave on their account.

Being released from their own commitments, they may want to fight your battles. This is where your problem really begins, as you do not want these potential champions to mess it up. Therefore, fighting everybody’s battles is a mistake. You must pick and choose carefully, by assessing the fighting capabilities of potential champions, which can be divided into three categories: physical, verbal or just not speaking to people and causing an atmosphere. It is best to have some champions in each category.

Next you will need to carefully analyse your opponents. Some opponents think that by making other people unhappy it makes them feel better; maybe it does. But, to get maximum enjoyment they must stick to their own area of expertise in order to reduce the risk of losing. For instance, the opponent who creates atmospheres is supreme in many work and family situations but is understandably afraid of a person who will beat them up for doing it. They will even avoid anyone who might shout at them. Whereas, you are a good loser, opponents are generally bad losers and therefore, must spend a lot of time working out who to pick on.

But what happens if the person who you are fighting on someone else’s behalf makes it personal against you and you start to experience all the pain of fighting your own battles? In that case, you immediately hand it over. With the right champion you can even have them beaten up as an example to other opponents who want to step out of line. This works particularly well in the case of family members or work colleagues.

Once you have a stable of champions you will be tempted to revisit old scores. The older you get, the better the element of surprise. Resist it.

Paul Brennan is a legal cartoonist, author and speaker. He is the author of We Have the Time if You Have the Money: How to Promote Your Legal Practice, A Legal Guide to Dying: Baby Boomer Edition, The 10 Greatest Legal Mistakes in Business . . . and How to Avoid Them, and The Law is an Ass—Make Sure it Doesn’t Bite Yours, which are intended for a worldwide audience. He blogs at www.101reasonstokillallthelawyers.com. In his day job, he is the principal of Brennans Solicitors, a law firm located in Mooloolaba, a Queensland, Australia seaside town, where he practices in the areas of business law (including franchising), intellectual property, trusts and estates, immigration and real estate. For more information on booking Paul as a speaker, visit www.lawanddisorder.com.au.

10. Signed, Ceased, Desisted—Stevie Wonder

9. Losing My Jurisdiction—in R.E.M. (double points!)

8. U + Ur Learned Hand—Pink

7. Injunction Junction, What's Your Function?—Courthouse Rock

6. I Can't Get No (Cause of Action)—The Rolling Stones

5. I Wanna Be Subpoenaed—The Ramones

4. Estopped! In the Name of Love!—Diana Ross and the Supreme Court Justices

3. I Second That Motion—Smokey Robinson

2. Fight For Your Right (to Ex Parte)!—Beastie Boys

1. Hey, Jurisprudence—The Beatles

Huma Rashid is a Chicago law student interested in pursuing property law and thinks the Rule Against Perpetuity is fun. She has a background in American and British literature, can write motions for injunctions before having her morning coffee, and sleeps with a tall stack of Gilbert’s guides under her pillow. A strident proponent of integrating social media into a professional lifestyle, she maintains a personal law blog (http://black-acre.livejournal.com) and can also be found on Twitter (@huma_rashid).

To watch more hilarious law-related videos from around the web, join us at The Video Venue!

Click here to enlarge (large file; please be patient)

©Suzan Charlton. All rights reserved.

Like this cartoon? Send it to friends, clients or colleagues on greeting cards. To order, visit The Billable Hour Card Store.

Suzan Charlton is a professional cartoonist who is rumored to practice insurance coverage law as a hobby for a major Washington D.C. law firm. Her cartoons cover a wide range of law-related topics, from law school grades to law firm romance.

.

Available on 3 & Out

I wake up in the morning
put on my suit and go to work
I make my money in litigation honey
I make a lot
but I want more

Chorus:
Litigation explosion
documentary implosion
the floodgates, are open!
Litigation explosion
get that cash in motion
gonna rub that money on my body like lotion!

Some of you might say that ain’t right
takin’ people’s money
keepin’ ‘em up late at night
But I don’t care what you think
I’ll sue your ma your pops your aunt
take them for everything
and the kitchen sink

Chorus

Bridge:
I don’t care how a case ends as long as I’m the winner
Line the pockets of me and my clients, make the other side's wallets thinner.
And we can do it yea, we’ll burn it up! We can do it yea we’ll burn it up, in the

Chorus

Just one of the hilarious songs on

Like this cartoon? Send it to friends, clients or colleagues on greeting cards. To order, visit The Billable Hour Card Store.

To view Juris Comic, click here

In times like these, it's important to remember that you choose our attitude. You can either look at your bank account as being almost completely empty or almost completely not full. The choice is yours. Likewise, you choose whether to endure lean times or to become lean and mean as a result of them. This is true both figuratively and literally.

Let's face it. If you're like most of us, you spent the last few years being fat and happy; once again, both figuratively and literally. As a result, you probably no longer fit into, say, your wedding dress, tuxedo, or maybe even your first apartment. The good news is that your weight is about to drop just as fast as your credit score. The even better news is that it isn't going to take willpower or discipline to whip you into shape.

For example, you've probably been out to dinner with friends and thought, "I really should just have the salad." However, the fried calamari looked so good. And you'd heard such good things about the pork tenderloin and garlic mashed potatoes. And, of course, you had to wash down your meal with a bottle of wine. Finally, you topped off the outing with the tiramisu (just to balance out the saltiness of the calamari). And then 7,000 calories later, you could just kick yourself for not ordering the salad; well, assuming that you could lift one of your elephant-like legs off the floor.

Well, this kind of guilt and recrimination is a thing of the past. From now on, you will be able to stick to your diet. You won't have any other choice. The only item on the menu in your price range will be the salad—the house salad. And needless to say, wine and dessert will be out the question. Just think how much your friends will envy your resolve to have just a salad and a glass of tap water.

Of course, a healthy diet is only half of the weight loss picture. The other half is exercise and here is where being unemployed is worth your weight in gold. While in the past you might have achieved limited results with pilates or yoga, you're about to be enrolled in the ultimate workout program—poverty. After all, with those other plans, you go to the gym what—two or three times a week? That's for wimps! The poverty plan is an everyday all-day workout and trust me, you will feel the burn.

You'll feel it as you run for the bus each morning. You'll feel it as you lug your clothes to and from the laundromat. And you'll feel it in a hundred other ways as you are now forced to do the things that you used to pay people to do for you. Before long, you will be transformed from a soft and gelatinous mass of humanity into a lean and mean fighting machine (which will come in handy during your morning bus ride).

Just think, you will once again have the body of a 17-year old. Of course, you will also have the net worth of one, but you can really put a price on youth? My attorney says that you can't. However, what does he know? He got laid off yesterday too.

Sean Carter, Humorist at Law, is a syndicated columnist and popular speaker who presents Comedic Legal Education programs for law firms, in-house legal departments and bar associations across the country. Sean is also the author of If It Does Not Fit, Must You Acquit? Your Humorous Guide to the Law.