This was the somewhat odd title ("when?" how about "if?") for a blogpost I did for The New York Times recently.
Read my trenchant advice here!
mybook
Buy The Creative Lawyer
Lawyers on The Creative Lawyer
- Andres V. Gil, Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell"The Creative Lawyer addresses the professional needs of a lawyer's most often ignored client: her/himself. With clear, direct prose and a dose of humor, The Creative Lawyer provides a practical roadmap for achieving professional satisfaction by lawyers regardless of seniority or career path. It should be in everyone's in-box."
- Gretchen Rubin, blogger, The Happiness Project; former editor-in-chief, Yale Law Journal“There is no book on the shelves to compare with The Creative Lawyer. Funny, well-researched, and provocative, it’s an invaluable guide to understanding yourself better––not just as a lawyer, but as a person. It’s full of useful exercises, relevant case histories, and powerful insights, delivered in unlawyer-like concise and entertaining prose.
should be required reading for anyone who has taken The bar exam – or, for that matter, anyone who is considering taking the LSAT.” - Joe Hodnicki, Associate Director for Library Operations, University of Cincinnati Law Library; editor of Law Librarian Blog"Michael F. Melcher's The Creative Lawyer should be handed out to every graduating class of law school students at their hooding ceremonies."
- Jeremy Blachman, author/blogger, Anonymous Lawyer"The Creative Lawyer is a terrific workbook to help lawyers -- or anyone -- start to figure out how to find fulfillment in their careers. I think law students especially will find value in it... I definitely wish I'd had it to read while in law school, in part just to know there are options out there, and lawyers who are balancing their lives and finding happiness in the profession."
- Richard I. Beattie, Chairman, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP“The Creative Lawyer is an invaluable resource for every lawyer looking for ways to gain satisfaction from the profession, as well as in his or her life.”
- Henry Robles, Television Writer“Thousands of lawyers and law students will be thanking their lucky stars that someone took the time to write such a helpful and insightful book. The Creative Lawyer empowers all lawyers to find true career satisfaction by providing them with the tools to take an unflinching look at themselves and take control of their own futures. A book full of applicable wisdom and practical exercises designed to conquer the problem keeping so many lawyers unhappily toiling in unfulfilling careers: lack of self-knowledge.”
- Deborah Epstein Henry, Founder & President, Flex-Time Lawyers LLC"The Creative Lawyer is a must-read. It combines practicality with ingenuity to help lawyers to live more fulfilled, productive and successful lives. It's invaluable guide for lawyers to take the concrete steps and develop the skills they need to live enriched lives and thrive as lawyers."
- Noah Feldman, Professor, Harvard Law School“Whether you are living the law or leaving it, you need wise counsel to make your career meaningful. One part Socrates, one part Deepak Chopra, and one part cheerleader, Michael Melcher is the ideal advisor for lawyers contemplating their options. The Creative Lawyer should be mandatory reading for anyone who has ever set foot in law school.”
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March 23, 2009
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What's the book about?
- The Creative Lawyer: A Practical Guide to Authentic Professional Satisfaction is a self-help and career-management book for lawyers of all levels of experience.
Authored by Michael Melcher, one of America’s leading career coaches who is himself an attorney, the book is a step-by-step method for imagining and realizing your path to personal and professional satisfaction. Brilliantly written, consistently practical, and filled with scores of illuminating exercises, The Creative Lawyer is the book that the profession has been waiting for.
From The Creative Lawyer
- “The process of creating a life that works for you does not unfold logically. It proceeds in fits and starts, involves unlearning as much as learning, and requires you to push forward amidst ambiguity. You have to act before you’re ready to act, consider that your true interests and preferences might surprise you, and defer evaluation until you have collected a lot of evidence. You have to get out into the world, seek out new experiences and connect with new people.
"I try to stick to these principles not because they’re always easy, but because I’ve learned they work.”
Your advice about trimming expenses is excellent, but professionals, including out-of-work lawyers, often start a job search thinking that "I have to replace my current income, dollar for dollar." It's only when they take the time to actually look at their fixed expenses, versus discretionary expenses, that they may realize that they don't actually have to find a job earning exactly what their previous position paid. For some of my clients, this is liberating because it may open new career paths for them, ones that may not offer the same financial rewards, but that feed other needs that have been shortchanged in their legal careers. For others, it gives them permission to evaluate what they did and did not like about their practice and how to change things in the future, since they are now at the point where they have to become entrepreneurial about their career.
Most people don't want to figure out their financial balance sheet and where the money goes, but actually doing the calculations allows them to better assess their options.
Posted by: Nancy Gibson, Career Consulting for Lawyers | April 06, 2009 at 11:22 AM