Friend, here's The Timesheet for April 2008

The most well-known law-related holiday is Law Day, which has been celebrated nationwide since 1958. The purpose of Law Day is to highlight the role of law in the foundation of the country and to recognize its importance for society.

Other "legal holidays" abound. Many states and localities celebrate a "Paralegal Day," although the dates vary from place to place. And, even though it's not confined to the legal industry, remember that Administrative Professionals Day is April 23.

You can find The Billable Hour Company Legal Holidays Calendar on our Resources page. You can also find a continuously updated list of upcoming legal holidays in the sidebar of each page of our website.

If you have a Google Calendar account, you can add dates from our calendar to your own. By this Friday (April 4), you'll be able to get a configurable Legal Holidays Calendar widget for your website (the widget displays upcoming holidays in list form). We're even going to develop a Billable Hour Company Legal Holidays Calendar Facebook App that you can install on your Facebook page.

Please help us make The Billable Hour Legal Holiday Calendar the most complete listing of holidays celebrating all types of legal professionals by e-mailing information about any local, state or federal holidays honoring lawyers, paralegals, court reporters, judges, clerks, law librarians, or anyone else in the field to us at info@TheBillableHour.com.

"Well . . . ," she cleared her throat. "I thought I'd do some networking, you know, and maybe speak at a CLE, and I've thought about writing some articles." I asked a few more questions and discovered that she had a vague plan, but only a vague plan, of what steps she'd need to take to build the practice and presence she'd need to be considered as a viable candidate for partner. "I won't even be considered for 4 years," she concluded. "It'll get clearer as I go."

Every single lawyer I know begins a representation by clarifying what the client wants. If it's a litigation matter, sometimes it's to win at all costs, sometimes it's to preserve a business relationship, sometimes it's to protect one asset or position even at the expense of another. The client's ultimate goal drives the strategy for the case.

And yet, I see so many lawyers who don't pause to develop a career strategy. The need to work hard and master the skills of practice is obvious, but knowing what skills should be acquired and how to go about acquiring them requires more study and strategy. Without an end in mind and a somewhat carefully planned approach to that end, it's easy to get off track. Just like it's possible to blow a client's legal budget winning a point that the client didn't really want or need to win, it's possible to spend a great deal of time and energy reaching a goal that doesn't lead to the ultimate goal.

What steps do you need to take so that you're advancing toward your ultimate goal? I'm talking about setting SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-based) goals along with a strategy for reaching them.

What are your SMART goals? What's your 1-year, 5-year, and 10-year game plan? You wouldn't represent a client without a clear definition of the win and a roadmap to get there, so why do anything less for yourself?

And the client who wanted to make partner? It's now a year from our initial conversation. Last year, she created a strategic plan to get her practice known (by publishing an article and speaking at a CLE program) and a plan to begin client development activities, including identifying and becoming involved in an industry group related to her practice. Her theme for this year is building her internal profile, and she's just been named to a significant firmwide committee. She's now in year 2 of her 4-year "path to partnership" plan. Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but whether she makes partner or chooses to move to another firm, her strategic planning will serve her well.

Julie Fleming Brown provides professional and personal coaching for lawyers on topics such as client and professional development, job searches, career transitions, and work/life balance. She is also certified to provide the DISC® assessment. Please visit http://www.LifeAtTheBar.com/ for more information and to arrange a complimentary coaching exploration session. To get your free Life at the Bar Survival Kit, go to http://www.lifeatthebar.com/MenuSignUp.htm

©Stu Rees. All rights reserved.

A perfect card for tax lawyers and CPAs!

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 "IRS Here First," or visit www.Stus.com for more information on licensing one of the hundreds of other images Stu offers. For more information on original artwork and custom prints, click here.

Meet Mike Samuels, a plaintiff's personal injury sole practitioner, who is, in his own estimation, not as good as some but better than most. He navigates his perilous universe with the aid of two guides. His office administrator/secretary, Alice, is a magical presence with the omniscient organization skills of Radar O'Reilly. Without her vigilant coaching, Mr. Samuels would never make a court appearance, speak with a client, or accept a new case. While Alice tends to Mike's career, his friend Dan touts the virtues of a carpe diem approach to life and love. Unfortunately, Mike analyzes almost every personal encounter to—and occasionally beyond—the brink of destruction.

The book opens with Mike whining (actually, he never really stops whining) about a potential new case. Evelyn Walker, working on a machine at a paper goods plant, is scalped. She comes to Mike seeking an aggressive out-of-town savior. The book is the story of his struggle to convince her that he is not that savior, and to convince himself that he is.

Here's the thing: I defended that very same case (in case you're interested the plaintiff's name was Jackson, and the case was in New York State Supreme Court, Ulster County). This is not the sort of case plaintiffs' attorneys whine about; this is the sort of case that plaintiffs' attorneys drool over. During voir dire in my case, the plaintiff's attorney opened with a simple sentence explaining what happened to his client, and all of the air got sucked out of the room by 250 potential jurors gasping simultaneously.

After they began to breathe again, in the Jackson voir dire the plaintiff's attorney asked the assembled array of 250 potential jurors if his firm had ever represented any of them or a close family member. One hundred and twenty five hands went up, and 125 potential jurors were excused for cause. I didn't much care for the admiring looks those who remained were now showing my adversary.

One interesting twist in Ms. Walker's case is that no local lawyer in her small upstate New York community will take it. It is defense counsel that usually bears the brunt of being the carpetbagger. Here Mr. Mednick manipulates the story so as to be able to encompass a wider range of experience, by presenting a narrative more common to defense attorneys through his plaintiffs' lawyer protagonist.

In purely literary terms (see disclaimer, supra), once Mr. Mednick took us to the end game of the trial, the resolution and conclusion of the novel seemed rushed and forced, almost as if a deadline had to be met. Reading this book as a trial lawyer, I enjoyed Mr. Mednick's attention to detail and his commentary on the inner life of a litigating attorney. Mr. Mednick's characters are immediately recognizable to practitioners in tort law, although we never get a complete portrait of anyone in the book. At best, they appear as more or less detailed sketches; at worst, as caricatures. The concluding chapters fell short of the bar (no pun intended) the novelist set for himself in the earlier chapters. Whether there exists a readership for An Almost Life beyond the community of lawyers I cannot say. But it is an accomplishment of which Mr. Mednick can be proud.

©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.

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We all know humour is good for us. Yet why are many people reluctant to use their sense of humour? Read on.

Humour is good for your health. It strengthens the immune system and has been described as "internal jogging."

Humour also is a super creativity booster. You laugh and you loosen up, allowing ideas to start flowing.

And let us not forget about how humour creates rapport. As legendary comedian Victor Borge once said, "A smile is the shortest distance between two persons."

And would you believe it's also good for your love lifw? A study noted that 70% of women in the U.S. listed a sense of humour as being the sexiest quality in a man. In Canada, the figure rose to 75%. [ed. note: no wonder so many of the funniest comedians are Canadian: they're more motivated!] Forget about those Extend commercials, guys.

These are only some of the benefits of humour.

And yet people are often wary about humour. Why the inhibitions?

The reason is because we grow up with mixed messages about humour and laughter. On one hand, we hear expressions such as, "we need humour in these times" and "laughter is the best medicine." On the other hand, if someone brings on the giggles, there is always the dull Samaritan who says, "get serious" or "don't be a child."

Did you know that, in fact, that children smile or laugh about 400 times per day? Do you know what the figure is for us mature grown ups? Not 300, not 200, not even 100. It's 15. Maybe we have lost something in growing up.

When they hear the word humour, many people will say something like, "Oh, I can't tell a joke." Often they are proud of this talent of not being able to tell joke. Perhaps in the past they tried once or twice and bombed. Result, hey I better get serious. Humour is for Jerry Seinfeld.

But humour is not about telling jokes. It is about seeing life with different lenses. And the good thing is that we are all blessed with these lenses. Humourist Stephen Leacock said: "Humour is the highest product of our civilization."

Many people think that humour may be bad for business. They fear they will not be taken seriously. Think again: did you know that many Fortune 500 businesses routinely hire consultants to bring some fun into the lives of their company's operations? Herb Kelleher (who, until recently, was the CEO of Southwest Airlines—the fifth largest in the U.S. and the only one to turn a profit for 24 consecutive years), credited a large part of the company's success to his irreverent management style, or "management by fooling around." He says, "We should take our jobs seriously but never ourselves." Kelleher believes that there is a direct relationship between having fun on the job and productivity. He himself sometime would come to work dressed like Elvis or the Easter Bunny. The employees are given a wide mandate to practice what he preaches. This includes flight attendants telling jokes over the loudspeaker and airline staff buying lunch for someone stranded at an airport. The company gets thousands of letters a year praising this philosophy.

And where do we find humour? What causes humour? One thing and one thing only: IMPERFECSHUN. Think about it. If the weather is bad and it bothers you, there is fodder for seeing the lighter side of the situation. If a situation is perfect, that too is humourous. Take the Brady Bunch, please. If we have enough tension or feelings about the situation a spark or electrical charge or whatever you want to call it opens our humour shades.

In short, there is potential for humour virtually everywhere. Just lighten up. At worst, for you guys, at least 75% of the women will think you're sexy.

Marcel Strigberger is a whimsical humourist trapped inside the body of a litigator. His humour articles have appeared in a variety of general interest, legal and medical publications in Canada, the United States, and internationally. Marcel also operates (with his son, Daniel) www.LegalHumour.com, which features many kinds of legal humour. He is a frequent speaker on the topic of humour who can provide entertaining talks on a broad range of legal subjects and issues from civility, to mediation, to trials and more.

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

©Suzan Charlton. All rights reserved.