Feeling Stuck? What Stops You? Where Do You Go for Help?
Life is good. You have some wonderful clients and some challenging work to complete. You are feeling confident that you are providing excellent service to your firms clientelle and you are always learning new things and being challenged in your work. Then one day the mail arrives and you receive a letter from some attorney (out-of-state) who claims that you have taken advantage of a certain client’s assets and you are going to be sued. What stops you? What keeps you up at night? Are you able to read the letter, step back, think, recollect and then proceed to gather your resources and stand firm? Most professionals accept some level of risk in their profession. This risk can easily become an underlying source of daily stress and ultimately fatigue.
Part of managing this stress and ongoing risk is to…
read moreWhat is Work/Life Balance? Internal vs. External Challenges (Part 1)
When you work hard, study hard, and ideally land a career that is both challenging and fulfilling– most likely you will end up with the conundrum of trying to balance your work with your life outside-of-work. When I started to write this article I thought I could tackle the topic in one issue but I am sure I will need more space to do this subject justice. Our lives are full and exciting but at the same time complicated and stressful. The expectations for professionals and parents have changed dramatically…
read moreHow to Manage Your Law Firm More Efficiently by Creating Office Systems, Processes & Scripts
In order to set up the routines and schedules in your law firm, it is critical to have specific systems, policies and procedures in place. These policies need to be read and understood by all of the employees, reviewed often and updated and followed. Plan ahead now and begin by…
read morePersonal Best: Top Athletes and Singers Have Coaches. Should You?
Guest Post: Atul Gwande, M.D. by Atul Gawande, The New Yorker, October 3, 2011 No matter how well trained people are, few can sustain their best performance on their own. That’s where coaching comes in. I’ve been a surgeon for eight years. For the past couple of... read moreThe Legal & Non-Legal Aspects of End-of-Life Planning
Helping clients on a daily basis with their legal planning for the future includes both legal and non-legal aspects of planning. One non-legal aspect of planning involves your clients final arrangements. It is strongly recommended that the client document their final wishes and communicate this decision to their family ahead of time. There are many potentially stressful questions to be answered after a loved one passes away, such as:
read moreGood Samaritans Beware
Perhaps the most insidious statute in California is the one, which inhibits gifts to innocent individuals who in good faith assist friends and neighbors with their personal or financial affairs and then find that testamentary gifts to them are subject to being voided.
The law was designed to prevent drafting attorneys from including themselves in their client’s testamentary plans. When the law was limited to that purpose it was a good and necessary law.
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