We know how busy November and December can get. Why not minimize your holiday stress and order your cards now?

Ordering and mailing early makes sense from a business perspective, too. Whether you choose to mail them yourself, or have us mail your cards directly to the recipients (on a date you specify), the earlier you send you cards, the longer the recipients are likely to display them.

At The Billable Hour Card Store, we have a wide selection of humorous holiday greeting cards especially for lawyers. Here are just a few of our many designs:

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Although we've featured images above that are explicitly holiday-related, remember that any of our cards can be used as a holiday card with the right verse inside. Pick a card that relates to your practice area, add a message inside, and voilà—a holiday card you, your clients and your colleagues will all love. You can write your own or choose one from our list of suggested verses.

Not sure that a legal humor card is right for you? Don't worry: we've got you covered with a full selection of more traditional cards for Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, Kwanzaa and the Holiday Season. We'll feature some of these cards next month; in the meantime, you can check them out by visiting The Billable Hour Card Store and browsing under the "Especially For>Clients" category. Of course, we haven't forgotten Halloween (how could we, when it's Lisa's birthday?). Now through October 31, you'll get a free copy of Stump Your Lawyer with every order of $75 or more.

"So, Rick," I ventured, "you sound completely stressed out, and your brain seems to be going in six different ways at once. Why don’t you hit the reset button?"

Rick took a few seconds before speaking, and when he did his voice was incredulous, laced with frustration-bordering-on-anger. "And how would you recommend I do THAT?"

We all fall into periods of overwhelm, frustration, malaise, boredom, and so on. Sometimes it’s a few minutes, and other times the feelings can last for weeks. Hitting the reset button is a simple technique I recommend. Every person I’ve ever talked with has something that serves as the human equivalent of Ctrl-Alt-Delete. (Sorry, Mac users, you’ll have to translate that into Mac language or remember your PC days!) And most people have a variety of strategies that may work, depending on the situation. A few that clients and I have used:

• Going for a walk, a run, a bike ride, or other solitary exercise
• Playing music that pumps you up or soothes you
• Yoga
• Calling a friend or loved one for a short conversation
• Flipping through vacation photos
• Meditating, praying, or deep breathing
• Getting a cup of coffee, tea, or other beverage of your choice and savoring it
• Using smells (essential oils, for instance) to trigger relaxation
• Stretching
• Making a "gratitude list"

After Rick and I explored some ideas, he decided that he would take a quick walk around the block while listening to a favorite "power song" as soon as we hung up, and that he would make time to play ball with his son for a few minutes in the evening. He was skeptical but willing to give "the reset" a shot. And he discovered that it worked well enough that he now "hits reset" regularly, as soon as he starts feeling overwhelmed or otherwise on edge.

What might you do when you need to reset your system?

Julie Fleming Brown, 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.

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 one of the hundreds of images Stu offers. For more information on original artwork and custom prints, click here.

After years of waiting, someone has finally copied my work. They have used a nom de plume. Being copied even by a fictitious entity does not take away that warm fuzzy feeling of knowing that someone likes my work as much as I do, maybe more.

Recently, I wrote an article about a law firm being blessed by the Pope (see Reason No. 25 They are Blessed). It was accepted by a legal magazine for publication on-line. When I did not hear from them I found that they had taken lines, which we clearly both thought funny, from my article and used in their own piece as if they were their original work.

Moral Rights (or, as we the plagiarized call it, "Moral: I know my Rights") provides for a right to be named if your work is copied and to control the form of the work, but there are exceptions. Also, there is "reverse passing off," which covers plagiarism.

The Editor would not explain, apologize or print the article in full but did take down the offending web page. She offered a mention of my site in a "regular blog spot," a sort of "plagiarize one, get one free" offer.

It may be understandable that Editors do not readily apologize just as Captains often do not go down with their ships.

Like many potential litigants, I hoped that there might be a copyright lawyer out there, even a fictitious one, who would share my angst and take my case as a matter of principle (i.e., for free).

However, as a copyright lawyer myself, I realized that was just not going to happen. So, it is left to me to do what any red-blooded copyright lawyer would do: write an article and then advise myself as to the next step.

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.

©Dan Rosandich. All rights reserved.

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

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

Broadman, in association with the Warner Bros. animation art studio, is now offering custom-framed fine art lithographs of four hilarious Warner Bros. cartoon scenes with legal themes. In Court Order, Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam stand before a judge as they battle for the property rights to Bugs’s rabbit hole. In Law and Disorder, Lawyer Daffy Duck points accusingly at Elmer Fudd on the witness stand, while Judge Bugs wields his sledgehammer . . . uh, gavel . . . over Elmer’s head, before a jury comprised of Porky Pig, Pepe Le Pew, and other well-known Warner Bros. characters. In Legal Alien, Bugs is an immigration judge, peering down from the bench at Marvin the Martian and his dog, K-9. And in Acme on Trial, Wile E. Coyote pleads his case against ACME, with the Road Runner poking his head from behind the bench. You can view all of these images at http://www.broadmanfinearts.com/corporategifts/legal.html#grid (Internet Explorer required). Each lithograph is museum-quality framed and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity,

For corporate orders, the lithographs are $295 each (Law and Disorder, which is larger, is $395).

Plus, we’ve arranged for a special bonus exclusively for Timesheet subscribers: if you mention The Billable Hour Company when you place your order, you’ll get personalized plaques at no additional charge with any corporate gift order.

For more information, visit Broadman's website, or call Jessica Cheney at 805-230-1393 or email her at jessica@broadmanfinearts.com.

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©Suzan Charlton. All rights reserved.