Thank you. I appreciate your honesty

I hope you agree with me that neither of us would be doing the other, any favors by engaging in business together until there is a good fit. But my primary intent in all of my work is still to liberate lawyers in small law firms. So I want to offer you some suggestions that may help you in your search for whatever brought you to my website in the first place. . .

The first suggestion is a piece of advice: If a lawyer (or anyone else, for that matter) does not acquire the skills necessary for the achievement of his or her goals, then s/he cannot avoid suffering the consequences, even if s/he is in no way morally deficient. Don’t judge yourself too harshly if you have reached this page. Perverse as it may seem, even a casual examination of the typical law school experience compounded by the inward-facing culture of our industry, reveals many self-sabotaging messages; Chief amongst them is the not-so-subtle message we hear that lawyers who want financial success as a key ingredient for building a stable and happy life are somehow morally, ethically or professionally deficient. That if we spend a career working hard for others, we are good. But if we help others by working hard for ourselves, we are bad!?!?

Don’t believe that for a second! You are a lawyer. You worked hard to acquire the skills to solve important problems in people’s lives. You deserve not only to be financially rewarded for the value you deliver, but also esteemed by your peers and the community at-large for the contributions you make in the lives of the clients you choose to help. In other words, you DESERVE the freedom to take steps in your life and with your career to make yourself happy. And when you agree with me, I hope you will come back to my site and let me share with you some of the skills, systems, and procedures you can use to build a law practice that will work for you, instead of the other way around.

If you scored yourself:

Between 6-7

• I suggest you read Gordon Gekko’s speech about the virtues of Greed from the 1987 movie “Wall Street” to put your relationship to your money in proper perspective.
• The Declaration of Independence is a must-read too, for an historical perspective on the tendencies of governing bodies (big law firms and the legal community at-large) to impose their will upon individuals and disregard or forget their rightful place as artificial instruments created by men (and women) to bolster and support our happiness. Somehow in the legal industry, this relationship has become turned inside-out in recent years.

Between 4-5

• In addition to the above, I further suggest you read Unstoppable by Cynthia Kersey, for help figuring-out what it is you really want to be doing with your career.
• Visit and spend some time kicking around Arnie Herz’ LegalSanity blog.

Between 1-3

In all seriousness if you really don’t believe you SHOULD be happy. In other words, it’s not a question of whether you think it is possible, but rather you don’t even think you should, then I respectfully suggest you consider seeking the services of a qualified mental health counselor and pick up a copy of “I’m OK, You’re OK” by Thomas Harris.

No! I Really Do Think I Deserve To Be Happy.
I just clicked here out of curiosity!

Get me back to where I left off