The Red Velvet Lawyer

So long ASL.   It's Been Very Good  to Know You! Letting go of place also involves letting go of the law school I have called home for 13 years. It involves letting go of my faculty colleagues at the Appalachian School of Law, many of whom are also in the midst of a transition to a new job and locale.  It means letting go of students with whom I've built relationships.  It means saying good-bye to a certain type of teaching to a certain population of students -  mostly first generation college or grad school students from the central Appalachian region.  It involves giving up a large office I've loved on the "library side" of the award-winning building that houses the law school. It means saying best wishes to staff members who have always been helpful, hopeful, effective, dedicated, and cheerful. It means leaving a community where service was at the core of operations for many ...

              Always There   Intention, as Wayne Dyer explains the term , is an infinite field of energy and potential that animates life and is the source for all life.  Its explanation ties to what we know about quantum physics.  Many folks would just call it God. Dyer further explains: We are connected to this field of energy.  The more in harmony you are with this field of intention, the more you are able to do all that the field of intention can do: heal, attract, and find. People in harmony with this field are especially concerned with cleansing the link to it which may be compromised  by the numbing effects brought about by all the concerns of living at ordinary levels of consciousness.  Dyer quotes Nobel-prize winning scientist Max Planck , whose work explored the nature of atoms: "As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear-headed science, to the study of matter ....

Alignment with Source and Spirit  Yesterday , I started a series of posts focused on the inspirational phrases I've collected over the last three years.  Today, I want to share the phrases about "energy."   For these purposes, I think of "energy" in very broad terms.  It covers the energy used to take divine inspiration, through thinking about the idea, to voicing and discussing it, to generating even more passion about it, and then to exerting your own will to bring the idea into being. It also covers the energy required to connect with others to manifest the idea in tangible form and action.  That energy, in turn, connects with the broader energy of the environment in which you live. It also connects to the energy of the earth, the planetary system, deep space, and ultimately to the source of everything we experience in the material world.     Yes, I know I had you there for a w...

May the Force Be with You I'm in a very reflective stage right now.  Perhaps the transition to spring reminds me of the path of growth I have walked the last three years.  As part of that process, I wrote phrases that inspired me on index cards.  First, I tacked the cards to my bedroom wall so I could see them throughout the day.  Later, I tucked them into an envelope.  This week-end, I read through them and decided to share them with you over the next several posts. Prayers to the Universe This post takes the broadest view as seen through my collection of phrases.  It talks in terms of the universe, the energetic field, or the force field, but many people would choose instead to talk about God.  I've included the source of the phrase, if I captured it on the card. The force field constantly pushes for wholeness. The universe is limitless, abundant, and strangely accommodating. Absolutely anything is possible! Trust the fi...

In for a Penny, In for a Pound In March 2013, I posted my first post on this blog.  After several months of business coaching with Christine Kane and exposure to the concept of "content marketing," I wanted to explore the platform and its uses. I wanted to run an experiment.  How long would it take the Google bots to find me?  I'd been told it would take a year of daily blogging.  So, I committed to that publication schedule.  In 2013, I made 182 posts over a ten month period.  Not exactly every day, but just about 20 posts a month or 4.5 posts a week.  In the process, I regained the voice I had had as a columnist for the magazine published for members of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL).  The coverage is eclectic, but then I promised broader coverage in my description of the blog:  "Discussing new ways to meet the needs of law firm clients, mediation parties, negotiators, and law students." Two years ...

Making Higher Aspirations a Part of Your Life In December, I shared a goal setting strategy focused on picking one (or three) words for the year. Yesterday, I ran across this collection of other goal setting strategies .

Tracking Gains, Setting Weekly Goals, and Holding Yourself Accountable Yesterday, I described my productive use of three snow days and the " satisfaction of completion ."  Today, I want to describe a tool my business coach, Christine Kane , advised me to use in her UpLevel Your Life on-line coaching program. She calls the tool the "Sunday Summit" because she encourages you to use it once a week to plan your intention for the week.  I have used it every week for three years. The 2-page tool consists of eight questions.  The questions on page one help you focus on gains made the last week and create accountability for missed goals.  The questions are: 1.  What have I accomplished this week? 2.  Is there anything I wanted to accomplish but did not? 3.  What a-ha's or awakenings have I had this week? 4.  What challenges am I experiencing? 5.  If I were coaching myself, what would I tell myself about those challenges? The...

The Satisfaction of Completion This last week, the Dean declared three snow days.  I feel like a kid when that happens.  Yes, I did play in the snow a bit.  But, mostly, I enjoyed what my business coach, Christine Kane , calls the "satisfaction of completion." On Sunday and Monday, I completed my tax returns for 2013 and 2014, and I plan to use the refunds to pay off most of my debt.  Ka-ching! On Thursday, I began writing the minutes for the Admissions Committee on which I serve. Last night, I completed the first drafts.   Those two big projects had been hanging over my head for a long time.  I'm glad they are behind me because their completion frees up so much energy that I can now focus on new projects, including a couple of law review articles I want to finish this week.  P.S. The photo features a nearby view.  Thanks to alumni, Darryle Ronning, for sharing it on Facebook. 

Still a Good Option If You Can Get  a Bargain on Legal Education For the full story, see  here .

How is Your Own Stuff Affecting the Negotiation? Bill Ury has published a new book : Getting to Yes with Yourself and Other Worthy Opponents .  I've not read it yet.  But, as the big storm of 2015 began dropping snowflakes on Grundy, I watched an hour-long video featuring Ury at a Google-sponsored event during which he describes the book, tells several stories as examples, and engages the audience in a discussion and a role-play. First,  I do love the "getting" series of books.  I've read them all.  I have assigned Getting to Yes to all my students over the last thirteen years of my teaching career.  In another week, my current students will start reading it.  I use Getting Disputes Resolved in my Arbitration seminar, partly because it refers to a labor dispute in a coal mine located not far from the Appalachian School of Law.  I also use it because it was one of the first books written on dispute resolution s...

Teaching Students to Serve Future Clients This week, I've been designing my class that will be a part of ASL's Introduction to Natural Resources Law course.  We are offering the course as a one-week intensive before regular classes start in January. Through it, we hope to encourage students to earn our Natural Resources Law certificate .   My day-long class will focus on shale gas production in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays located in mostly Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and New York.  The class will include an overview, presentations by a couple of guest speakers, and then a simulated negotiation of a mineral lease.  I am expecting it to provide good coverage of the topic and a fairly interesting way to spend an 8-hour day of class. I am trying to frame perspectives from the industry, the environmental protection community, and health officials.   My slide show is almost done.  I've really enjoyed the required research and my...

Happy Holidays  to my  Friends, Colleagues, and Students Hope you are enjoying the day with your families. P.S.  This modern interpretation of the three wise men comes from the photos I took in Dubai earlier this month.  I snapped it in the lobby of the Burj Al Arab, a six-star hotel on the Gulf that overlooks the man-made Palm and World Islands. 

Happier for Having Kept It For over three years, I have kept a gratitude journal at the suggestion of my entrepreneurial business coach, Christine Kane . Several researchers have found profound affect on emotional, psychological, and physical well-being associated with being grateful for all the wonderful things that come into our lives -- big and small. It enhances our social networks, personal relationships, and our careers. It enhances happiness overall.  I've noticed it helps me shift from being self-oriented to other-orientated,   The Harvard Medical School's Health Publications blog defines gratitude and then suggests ways we can cultivate it.  Note that the author suggests keeping a gratitude journal. Gratitude is a way for people to appreciate what they have instead of always reaching for something new in the hopes it will make them happier, or thinking they can't feel satisfied until every physical and material need is met. Gratitude helps people r...

Successful Growth Requires that You "Outlearn" Your Peers I've spent the last few days catching up on blog posts, my favorite shows on Hulu, and the New York Times, all of which I missed while spending a week in Dubai on vacation. One blog post really stuck with me as I was working on my goals for next yea r. In a post called, In 2015, Be the Best at Getting Better , author Dharmesh Shah talked about the simple commitment of being the best at getting better.  He explains: [C]ommitting to a one-time goal like learning to code or dropping 10 pounds can get lost amid the rush, assigned a lower priority, or just become uninteresting after a time.  A commitment to becoming the best at getting better requires only a fundamental admission that you’re not perfect and a desire to outlearn your peers on a daily basis. I love that!  I can handle that sort of personal and organizational commitment for 2015.  I can apply it to all my goals -- whether well-being, ma...