The Red Velvet Lawyer

Another Gap  Created by  Retiring Baby Boomer Lawyers Over the last several years, several state and local bar associations have focused on under-served clients living in rural areas.  Twenty percent of the U.S. population resides in rural counties, but only two percent of law practices locate there.   The October 2014 issue of the ABA Journal re-visits the topic again, profiling a number of lawyers practicing in rural North Dakota and South Dakota.  The article, Too Many Lawyers? Not Here. In Rural America, Lawyers are Few and Far Between by Lorelei Laird, gives a general overview of the situation, identifies a number of resources, and suggests the adaptations to rural practice required of young lawyers. An associated podcast is here . Additional states -- including Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, Vermont, Montana, New Hampshire, and Maine -- have started various types of programs designed to encourage younger lawyers to practice in rur...

What Happens When  Baby Boomers Retire? In April 2013 , I wrote about the possible opportunities for new lawyers created by the increasing age of lawyers -- who will eventually retire.  Bill Henderson, of The Legal Whiteboard blog, provides a very interesting analysis of his data on this topic  here .  One of his findings: The big surprise here is that the proportion of young lawyers (under age 35) has been declining for several decades. And not by a little, but by a lot. During this period, the median age went from 39 in 1980, to 41 in 1991, to 45 in 2000, to 49 in 2005. Some of his conclusions: The analysis above suggests that the JD Advantage / JD Preferred employment market started to take shape several decades ago, long before these terms were put in place by the ABA and NALP. Yet, we really don't know about these careers. To construct a more useful, informative narrative, we'd have to systematically study the career paths...

Recent research again examined the mental health, happiness, and well-being of law students.   The news is not good, but we've known that for many years.  Research conducted in 2012, in Australia, examined whether a relationship might exists between emotional intelligence (EI) and better psychological health among law students.  Prior research had reported high rates of depression among law students.  "They experience a significant deterioration in their mental health status during law school  . . . . [that] may begin in the first year of study."   The research, using self-assessment tools of three types, indicated that students with higher EI were: Less likely to suffer psychiatric symptoms,  Less likely to use alcohol, More likely to be satisfied with life. The so-called " "Big Five"  personality factors of agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, and neuroticism had a stronger link to psychological heal...

I graduated from law school in 1982.  At that time, 7.6 percent of new law graduates became solo practitioners;  40.3 percent entered small law practices (2-10 lawyers);  about 11 percent entered firms 51 to 100 lawyers in size;   only 15. 6 percent of new law grads entered large firms of 101 plus lawyers, and more women did that than men; and  NALP, the Association of Legal Career Professionals, did not keep a separate category for firms with more than 500 lawyers. See trend report here .  According to an earlier trend report , in 1982, about 10 percent of new law grads entered business and industry. About 23,000 students graduated from law school in 1982. Fast forward to 2007, the year of record employment among lawyers, NALP reports that: 3 percent of new law grads became solo practitioners (a 4 percent drop); about 33 percent entered small law practices (2-10 lawyers) (a 13 percent drop);  about 6 percent entered f...

This past week, a number of news outlets and bloggers reported on a new economic analysis of the value of a law degree.  The authors make a persuasive, well-researched argument that a law degree confers measurable life-time advantages on law graduates compared to persons who get only a bachelor’s degree. The report:  Micahel Simkovic and Frank McIntyre, The Economic Value of a Law Degree (unpublished manuscript 2013) is found here .     Simkovic, an Associate Professor of Law at Seton Hall University School of Law, and McIntyre, an Associate Professor of Finance and Economic at Rutgers Business School answered the following questions:  Does a law degree typically increase the earnings of law graduates compared to what such individuals would likely have earned with only a bachelor’s degree? How does the law school earnings premium vary by gender and at different points in the distribution of outcomes? How much of the increase in earnings is...

As part of my summer concentration on books written by Seth Godin, I recently read his 2010 Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?  It ties to many of the themes I summarized in my post, “Leaning In” as a Woman Lawyer , found here .   Godin argues that with so many means of direct communication with so many different “tribes” in a hyper-competitive world, each one of us can make an indispensable contribution, as a linchpin, to a business, art, project, or something we care deeply about.  You have the choice of being indispensable.  Just make it. He defines linchpins as the “people who own their own means of production, who can make a difference, lead us, and connect us.”  “The linchpin is an individual who can walk into chaos and create order, someone who can invent, connect, create, and make things happen.  Every worthwhile institution has indispensable people who make differences like these.”   They are artists and givers of gifts.  T...

I've been discussing the "what" of mediation.  What kind of disputes are ripe for the process?  In my last posting found  here , I identified some very interesting disputes that a court or the parties have sent to mediation.               Hal Abramson, the author of Mediation Representation: Advocating in a Problem-Solving Process , suggests that certain types of disputes are especially amenable to mediation: ·         When the parties have conflicting views of the facts or law; ·         When a party needs to express strong emotions; ·         When a party craves the opportunity to be heard directly by the opposing party; ·         When clients or their lawyers can no longer effectively communicate with each other without the assistance of a skillful mediator; · ...

This morning, I spent several hours reviewing the law blogs (or blawgs) that look interesting to me and adding them to this website so I could track them more easily.  The good news is you can track them more easily, too, by reviewing the list on the right side of this page. That list will show the name of the blog, the title of the latest posting, and how recently the author posted. For this research project, I used the list of 100 top legal blogs assembled by the ABA found  here .  I focused on the following categories: Legal News/Analysis Trial Practice Business of Law Marketing a Law Practice Careers/Law School Courts, and Legal Technology I hope you find this resource helpful.

As a professional writer -- albeit of long-winded law review articles, exams, trade magazine articles, newsletters, FB updates, and now blog posts -- I pay attention when someone recommends a writing tool.  Today, while reading an article published in The New York Times , I learned about a software program called Scrivener . I want all lawyers, law review editors, and law students to know about this program.  Our profession tends to adopt new technology tools slowly, but we should run towards this one.  To order a copy, view tutorials, or try a free version for 30-days, see  http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php . The designer offers a 2.0 version for Macs and a 1.0 version for Windows. P.S.  I was not paid for this advertisement. ;-)

This week, ASL hosted a Solo Practice workshop for its students.  I spoke on marketing a law practice.  For a very long time, I have enjoyed marketing in the law or mediation context.  It gives me an opportunity to describe the joy I feel when I can serve a client competently, efficiently, and at an affordable cost.  It gives me the opportunity to describe the skills, training, experience, and values I can offer potential clients.  It gives me the chance to talk with the folks I'd like to help. It also gives me a platform for writing about substantive topics that interest me, while -- I hope -- showing I am thoughtful, ethical, and competent.  It also allows me to learn more about people, their concerns, their stressors, and their businesses.   Recently, I started an online business coaching program called, UpLevel Your Business , offered by Christine Kane.  Last summer, I took her personal coaching program and found it very helpful. ...