Finally...a book that takes the mystery and fear out of dealing with lawyers, drawing on the observations of regular people and experts in human behavior.
Law school was never Anna Dorn's dream. It was a profession pushed on her by her parents, teachers, society... whatever. It's not the worst thing that can happen to a person; as Dorn says, law school was pretty "cushy" and mostly entailed wearing leggings every day to her classes at Berkeley and playing beer pong with her friends at night. The hardest part was imagining what it would be like to actually be a lawyer one day. But then she'd think of Glenn Close on Damages and Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde, and hoped for the best. After graduation, however, Dorn realized that there was nothing sexy about being a lawyer. Between the unflattering suits, sucking up to old men, and spending her days sequestered in a soul-sucking cubicle, Dorn quickly learned that being a lawyer wasn't everything Hollywood made it out to be. Oh, and she sucked at it. Not because she wasn't smart enough, but because she couldn't get herself to care enough to play by the rules. Bad Lawyer is more than just a memoir of Dorn's experiences as a less-than-stellar lawyer; it's about the less-than-stellar legal reality that exists for all of us in this country, hidden just out of sight. It's about prosecutors lying and filing inane briefs that lack any semblance of logic or reason; it's about defense attorneys sworn to secrecy-until the drinks come out and the stories start flying; and it's about judges who drink in their chambers, sexually harass the younger clerks, and shop on eBay instead of listening to homicide testimony. More than anything, this book aims to counteract the fetishization of the law as a universe based entirely on logic and reason. Exposing everything from law school to law in the media, and drawing on Dorn's personal experiences as well as her journalistic research, Bad Lawyer ultimately provides us with a fresh perspective on our justice system and the people in it, and gives young lawyers advice going forward into the 21st century.
If you have ever struggled with billing, found yourself at the end of a stressful, busy day, or week, with nothing on paper to show for it, you are going to learn to bill smarter, bill more efficiently and, more importantly, bill more ethically. You are going to reclaim your lost time. If you want to bill more--and we all do--this book is for you. If you are not capturing all of your billable tasks, you are losing time. If you are a law clerk, you are diminishing your likelihood for employment. If you are an associate, you are reducing your prospects for partnership. And, if you are a partner, you are not getting paid for all of the work you are performing. No matter what type of law you practice or the size of your firm, if you bill by the hour, these tips and techniques will help you learn to bill more efficiently, and spend less time documenting your time and reviewing your bills, leaving you more time to perform more billable tasks. You will also learn how to avoid block-billing, generic task entries, and task descriptions that do not meet client billing guidelines. With the second edition of The Billable Hour, you can bill more, easily and ethically, using time-tested manual timekeeping methods as well as timekeeping software new to the market. You just have to learn to document your time contemporaneously in a manner that meets client criteria. This guide will show you how. You are doing the work. I want to make sure you get paid for it.
"[The author] shares his insights, anecdotes, strategies, and practical tips learned from his 20+ years of experience as in-house counsel, general counsel, corporate secretary, and chief compliance officer. As author of the popular blog, 'Ten things you need to know as in-house counsel, ' Miller provides quick points that you can use in your everyday practice ... Whether you are new to an in-house department or a long-term veteran, the general counsel or just a basic contract lawyer, Ten Things You Need to Know as In-House Counsel provides you with guidance on: how to be a successful in-house counsel; being more productive every day; drafting documents and emails; how to negotiate; effectively managing outside counsel fees; trade secrets and protecting your company; dealing with the Board of Directors; preparing for when bad things happen; analyzing risk; and much more."--
This book is a guide to discovering joy, the simple pleasure of living each day. I am a psychotherapist, with an office in New York City. As I work with patients and listen to their stories, I search for themes that define the human condition. These themes have melded into a philosophy centered upon living with joy. No book can substitute for the process of psychotherapy. But I hope these ideas will introduce you to the work of self-discovery at the heart of that experience.
From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together
From the bestselling author of "Cops" comes a riveting and often shocking inside look at the criminal justice system, as told by those who know it best--the district attorneys who prosecute crime in America.