Big revelation: I was never a model associate. Despite my present willingness to freely dispense advice on how to make your career all that it can be, I was pretty consumed as a young…
Read Article(I so wanted to accompany this post with a still photo from the scene in Training Day in which Denzel Washington, wielding a sawed-off shotgun, tells Ethan Hawke’s character, “You know I’m surgical with this bitch!”…
Read ArticleI asked several top Southern California mediators I know personally or by reputation to share their best “tip” for success at mediation. In exchange for their labors, I promised the prestige and notoriety of…
Read ArticleFrom Day One it is hammered into the head of every lawyer headed for trial: Ask Only Leading Questions. But is this truly gospel? McElhaney, quoting Mauet and others, doesn’t think so. Not only…
Read ArticleMuch earlier in my career as an “outhouse” lawyer (i.e., one who works at an outside law firm, servicing corporate clients), the prevalent view among my newbie colleagues was that being the member of…
Read ArticleWell, it wasn’t just one clerk, and she/they didn’t tell me, exactly. A friend with excellent connections at the USDC, Central District of California, Bankruptcy and Ninth Circuit courthouses polled clerks she knew about what…
Read ArticleI previously wrote about my experiences with a unique trial lawyer (and war hero) I had the pleasure of working with too briefly before he retired, Lee Horton. Lee gave me a copy of…
Read ArticleLegal blogging rock star and client service guru Dan Hull recently recommended an interesting book, Lawyering: A Realistic Approach to Legal Practice, by James C. Freund. Trusting Dan’s judgment, I promptly ordered up a…
Read ArticleIf anyone reading this blog has not read–and read often–Associate’s Mind, you must absolutely begin following it. Every post has some nugget of brilliance. Before I actually read the blog, I assumed from the…
Read ArticleVisiting with my brother over the Thanksgiving holiday, our talk turned to strategy in chess. I confessed that, after about the fourth or fifth move in any game, I’m invariably at a loss for…
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