SELECTED CONTENT / FEATURE ARTICLES
hOW LAW FIRMS CAN CREATE POSITIVE WORKPLACE CULTURE/US NEWS
When law firm leaders make changes to create a more positive, productive culture, those upgrades can improve employee sentiment and the company's bottom line.
Company culture is an issue every firm leader should be addressing as law firms are known to be unforgiving environments, and many attorneys buckle under the strain.
The good news is that firms that have taken steps to improve the workplace culture have learned lessons that can benefit the larger legal community….
What to Do If You're Suffering From Lawyer Burnout/US NEWS
When attorneys suffer from burnout, they may not know what to do.
On the contrary, they may look around at overworked colleagues and conclude that no one has time for well-being. That was the consensus of 4,450 Massachusetts attorneys surveyed for a 2023 study conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago with Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, a nonprofit promoting attorney well-being. Of the attorneys surveyed, 77% admitted having experience with burnout.
These don’t seem to be fleeting experiences, either. According to Bloomberg Law survey data, lawyers feel burned out about half of the time. And it becomes more serious….
Bureaucracy is failing Blue Water Vietnam veterans/MILITARY TIMES
In 1961, Ray Sarbacker decided to enlist in the military. A fresh-faced kid of 18, Sarbacker wanted to be a patriot like his dad. Sarbacker’s father was one of the WWII heroes who’d parachuted into France on D-Day. Sarbacker knew his father was traumatized by what he’d witnessed that day—so much so that he’d never discussed it. But young Sarbacker, determined to follow in his dad’s footsteps, joined the Navy….
Today, the 78-year-old Sarbacker (now my stepdad) is still a proud patriot but one with heart issues, diabetes and Stage 3 kidney disease—probably all related to his Agent Orange exposure. He’s hoping that, any day now, he’ll hear about his long-overdue disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs….
LOSING IS GOOD FOR YOU/NEW YORK TIMES
As children return to school this fall and sign up for a new year’s worth of extracurricular activities, parents should keep one question in mind. Whether your kid loves Little League or gymnastics, ask the program organizers this: “Which kids get awards?” If the answer is, “Everybody gets a trophy,” find another program….
Leaders are more powerful when they’re humble/WASHINGTON POST
Whither humility?
For years now, social critics (myself included) have decried a rising tide of American narcissism. We’ve warned against an overpraised, entitled, privileged culture. Get those participation trophies off my lawn! Yet, with the costs of narcissism well-known, some researchers are shifting their focus to narcissism’s antithesis–humility. These scientists want to discover if there are benefits to being humble….
HOW TRUMP’S WORST BEHAVIORS CAN INFECT US ALL/WASHINGTON POST
…When political leaders are uncivil on social media, it catalyzes aggression in supporters and opponents alike, according to work by University of Texas at San Antonio political psychology professor Bryan Gervais. Yet opponents know they’re angry. Supporters don’t perceive their aggression. They just think they’re cheering their guy. Aggression, bullying and incivility mutate into social super-viruses.
After experiencing incivility at work, 94 percent of us respond with incivility of our own….
THE BEST WAY TO BOUNCE BACK FROM ANY SETBACK/TIME
…That was the real problem. She hadn’t figured out how to come back from the first setback. And with every successive misstep, the next failure seemed more inevitable. Which made everything scarier and out of control. To succeed, Monica realized she would have to change her mental approach. Budding medical professional that she was, she decided she should diagnose the situation, just as if a patient had walked into a clinic with a problem.
This is a key shift—when you stop thinking about how you’re feeling about a situation and become more focused on why something has happened….
WHY CAN SOME KIDS HANDLE PRESSURE WHILE OTHERS FALL APART?/NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE
…Understanding their propensity to become stressed and how to deal with it can help children compete. Stress turns out to be far more complicated than we’ve assumed, and far more under our control than we imagine. Unlike long-term stress, short-term stress can actually help people perform, and viewing it that way changes its effect. Even for those genetically predisposed to anxiety, the antidote isn’t necessarily less competition — it’s more competition. It just needs to be the right kind….
Forget Trophies, Let Kids Know It’s O.K. to Lose/NEW YORK TIMES
If children always receive a trophy – regardless of effort or achievement – we’re teaching kids that losing is so terrible that we can never let it happen. This is a destructive message, because how we react to kids’ failure is just as crucial as celebrating their success. A recent study found if parents thought failure was debilitating, their kids adopted that perspective. If parents believed overcoming failure and mistakes made you stronger, then their children believed it, too.….
The Dangerous Cycle of Pentagon Sexual Assault and Harassment ‘Lowest Level’ Policy/LAWFARE
On March 10, the Department of Defense issued its newest report on the prevalence of sexual assault and sexual harassment at the nation’s military academies. The report revealed that perpetration of sexual assault and harassment are at an all-time high and that there’s been little meaningful progress in preventing or prosecuting sexual misconduct.
This should come as no surprise since Defense Department policy discourages the formal reporting of sexual harassment. It does so even though the department itself admits there’s a continuum of harm between sexual harassment and sexual assault—in other words, that the first leads to the second. Still other researchers have concluded that the department’s policy likely facilitates both crimes.
While the policy endangers all service members, nowhere is it more destructive than at the military academies. It hangs over cadets’ heads like Damocles’ sword—threatening to destroy those who report wrongdoing faster than those who perpetrate the crime. Of this, there is no doubt. Because they’ve told us it does.
Sexual assault prevention in the military needs these two fixes/CNN
For years, there had been little progress made when it came to the ongoing tragedy of military sexual assault. However, that all changed last year, following the brutal killing of Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen at Fort Hood by a fellow soldier. Since Guillen’s death, proposed reforms for how the US military prosecutes sex-related crimes have garnered widespread support. Even Pentagon leaders now advocate some change. While individual proposals can be debated, it’s laudable that everyone is serious about improving prosecution of military sexual assault. Unfortunately, though, there is little evidence that the same seriousness is applied when it comes to sexual assault prevention….
How Lawyers Can Navigate the Ethical Minefield of Legal Advertising/US News & WORLD REPORT
Attorney advertising is vital to law firm success and profitability, but marketing continues to pose legal ethics issues that must be addressed at every turn.
In the decades since the Supreme Court issued its 1977 opinion of Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, which legalized attorney advertising, states have become more lenient about lawyer marketing.
When it comes to the formal limitations on advertising, “All the restrictions are eroding,” says Thomas Spahn.
In the meantime, there is probably more variance between states on ethics rules for attorney advertising than there is on any other issue, according to Spahn.
the creativity crisis/newsweek
…Creativity has always been prized in American society, but it's never really been understood. While our creativity scores decline unchecked, the current national strategy for creativity consists of little more than praying for a Greek muse to drop by our houses. The problems we face now, and in the future, simply demand that we do more than just hope for inspiration to strike. Fortunately, the science can help: we know the steps to lead that elusive muse right to our doors….
FORGET BRAINSTORMING/newsweek
Brainstorming in a group became popular in 1953 with the publication of a business book, Applied Imagination. But it's been proven not to work since 1958... As for most commercially available creativity training, Mumford doesn't mince words: it's "garbage." Whether for adults or kids, the worst of these programs focus solely on imagination exercises, expression of feelings, or imagery. They pander to an easy, unchallenging notion that all you have to do is let your natural creativity out of its shell. However, there are some techniques that do boost the creative process…
even babies discriminate: a nurtureshock excerpt/NEWSWEEK
… Of all those Vittrup told to talk openly about interracial friendship, only six families managed to actually do so. And, for all six, their children dramatically improved their racial attitudes in a single week. Talking about race was clearly key. Reflecting later about the study, Vittrup said, "A lot of parents came to me afterwards and admitted they just didn't know what to say to their kids, and they didn't want the wrong thing coming out of the mouth of their kids."
We all want our children to be unintimidated by differences and have the social skills necessary for a diverse world. The question is, do we make it worse, or do we make it better, by calling attention to race?….
the power (and peril) of praising your kids/new york
…According to a survey conducted by Columbia University, 85 percent of American parents think it’s important to tell their kids that they’re smart. In and around the New York area, according to my own (admittedly nonscientific) poll, the number is more like 100 percent. Everyone does it, habitually. The constant praise is meant to be an angel on the shoulder, ensuring that children do not sell their talents short. But a growing body of research—and a new study from the trenches of the New York public-school system—strongly suggests it might be the other way around. Giving kids the label of “smart” does not prevent them from underperforming. It might actually be causing it….
What Do Preschools Have in Common with Bridges and Airports?/newsweek
If you are heading into Manhattan, off the George Washington Bridge, you can't miss the Bridge Apartments, a cluster of four 32-story apartment buildings built right over the interstate. The buildings' 4,000 residents seem like nothing compared to the 300,000 cars that go whizzing underneath the buildings each day.
Built in 1964, the Apartments were to be a shining (aluminum-sided) monument to efforts in easing New York's chronic housing shortage. But almost immediately, people worried that the exhaust from the traffic might be a health hazard to the residents….
WHY YOU SHOULD DATE PEOPLE WHO AREN’T YOUR ‘TYPE’/TIME
If there’s a “type” you look for in a prospective date–if you use some checklist of desired traits you want in a romantic relationship–University of Texas at Austin researcher Paul Eastwick has two words of advice for you: “Stop it.”