Concord Law Grad to Sit for Mass Bar Exam

Concord Law School graduate Ross E Mitchell was granted the opportunity to sit for the Massachusetts bar exam. See story here: http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202426274302

November 24th - Exercise Caution Online

I read somewhere that November 24th is the peak day of the year for online attacked. Be sure your security software is up to date and be careful out there!

Dr. Shaun Jamison
www.guideonyourside.com

Who Needs a Coach?

An ABA journal article suggests that narcissistic leaders of law firms should get a coach. It's an interesting idea, but a bit of a stretch. Coaching is a collaborative process with a person who WANTS to improve their performance and life. Do you have to be perfect? Of course not, but you do have to be willing to question how you have been doing things up to now and willing to change.

So who needs a coach? Anyone that wants to go from good to great! Someone willing to learn how to reflect on their actions and goals. Someone willing to take chances and steps toward something better.

Dr. Shaun Jamison
www.guideonyourside.com

Did I actually Send that Email?

Ever regret sending an email? If you use Gmail, Google has a solution for you called Mail Goggles. You can program your email to challenge you with a math problem to see if your wits are about you. That will give you a little pause and time to cool off before dashing off that email! http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-in-labs-stop-sending-mail-you-later.html It defaults to being turned on late at night, but you can adjust the settings to meet your own regretful email sending habits.

Dr. Shaun Jamison is a business and life coach and law professor. He can be found online at www.guideonyourside.com

For Your Clients Considering Bankruptcy

In these tough times, people are considering their options and some may be in dire financial straights. For those considering bankruptcy, I will share a message from fellow MSBA member, consumer attorney Sam Glover. Mr. Glover can be found on the web at http://caveatemptorblog.com/ and consumerlawyer.mn.


A lot of people who are getting calls from debt collectors think their only option is bankruptcy. Bankruptcy may indeed be the best option, but it really depends on a few things.

First, if the creditors are debt buyers--that is, they bought the debt from someone else--the client may be able to beat those cases in court.

Second, if the consumer is being harassed by debt collectors, they probably have claims under the FDCPA. While winning an FDCPA case does not mean the consumer no longer owes the debt, debt collectors are often willing to satisfy the debt as part of settlement. Plus, the consumer may end up better off as a result of the lawsuit.

A bankruptcy is always more harmful than wiping out the debt by fighting the collection. When potential clients contact you and want a bankruptcy referral, take a moment to see if they might have other options.

Thank you Sam for sharing this useful information!

Dr. Shaun Jamison
www.guideonyourside.com

Legal Career Options in a Tough Economy

The Boston Globe ran an article on starting and improving your legal career in a tough economy. As they mention we can scale back expectations somewhat as far as salary or our hourly rates.

A couple of strategies that they did not mention are networking and professional development. If your billables are down, mixing with the right group of people to bring you direct business or referrals would be a great investment of time right now. Also, if you are normally too busy to cultivate long term relationships to aid your career and business, but have time now, take advantage of the opportunity.

Professional and personal development are other ways you could constructively use any time normally occupied by a higher pressure position or more clients. Position your yourself to rocket your career and business forward as the economy recovers. Personally, recharge yourself and reinforce those personal relationships. Get into shape if that is a goal.

Options for professional development may be as straightforward as reading a book and taking notes to see how it can aid you in your practice. Write an article for a trade or bar journal. Take a class. Keep a journal. Work with a coach to design your career and business and meet your goals.

However difficult the current environment may be, it presents many opportunities. Develop a strategy to make the most of it.

Dr. Shaun Jamison is a Business and Life Coach, Law Professor, and Speaker. He can be found on the web at www.guideonyourside.com.

Recovery Plan

Do you have a recovery plan? The floods and other recent disasters are reminders of the need to be prepared. Some quick tips inspired by a talk from Todd Scott of MLM:

1. Go paperless or at least have an electronic back up. Recovering damaged paper files can be expensive and sometimes impossible.

2. Store your electronic back up in another location.

3. Check out your insurance coverage for reconstructing important papers. This is usually sold at an additional cost.

4. Have a back up computer off site if possible with all of the necessary software and settings so you can be up and running right away and from another location (read - laptop).

5. Have your client's email (and other contact info) so you can reassure them that you are going to be able to serve them and protect the confidentiality of their files. Email is a quicker and cheaper way of contacting people and it could take a long time to call clients who have closed files.

6. Don't leave paper files out (this is important for confidentiality reasons anyway). They can blow away or be more easily damaged in a disaster than one in a file cabinet.

Shaun Jamison
www.guideonyourside.com

Holiday Gift for Lawyers

I keep seeing recommendations for the Reflective Counselor. I admit that I have not read the book yet, but it sounds like a great idea:

Sharpen Your Rhetoric!

Here's a great site with many famous real and movie speeches to emulate:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/

Shaun Jamison
www.guideonyourside.com

Stop Those Phone Books!

Here's a link to an organization that will notify the phone book companies that you do not want the books delivered anymore. Now, I do admit they are nice when the internet is done and I am using one as a riser to lift my computer monitor to the right height, but I'm not so sure that justifies the printing, delivery, and recycling costs of phone books.

Shaun Jamison
www.guideonyourside.com

Time or Priorities

"I'd love to do that, but I don't have time." Do you ever say this? Hear it? Live it? While we might not get every single item crossed off our "bucket list," I find it hard to believe that we should have to forgo what we would "love to do." What this is actually about it priorities. Sometimes we have to give up one good thing for another. The choosing is important. What DO we TRULY want from our lives? Are we picking our hopes and dreams, or what we think is practical and acceptable? Make a choice and go for it! Don't regret what you didn't do, celebrate what you are doing. You DO have time for what you CHOSE to do!

Dr. Shaun Jamison

Your Professional Image

Does your professional image match the message you want to get out to your clients and referrals sources? Does your "online" image match as well? Here's an interesting article on professional image and what you can do to maintain it.

Shaun

www.guideonyourside.com

Vote Today!

Not only is it a civic duty, but you get free food! Just show your "I voted" sticker. Contact the stores for details:

Ben & Jerry's has free ice cream 5-8pm http://www.benandjerrys.com/features/i_voted/

Starbucks has free coffee http://www.starbucks.com/

Have a happy election day!

Shaun

www.guideonyourside.com