IAALS Releases Data-Driven Guides on Educating and Hiring the ‘Best Lawyers’
The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) is looking to disrupt the status quo with two new guides that target legal education and employment.
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Reimagining Law: How Lawyers & Law Students Can Prioritize Well-Being
In this episode of Reimagining Law, we talk to David Jaffe, Associate Dean for Student Affairs at American University Washington College of Law, and Janet Stearns, Dean of Students and Lecturer at University of Miami School of Law. David and Janet discuss how lawyers and law students can prioritize well-being in 2021, identifying mental health […]
Will COVID-19 Spur Gender Diversity in Law?
According to my social media feed, lawyers have had two types of responses to the work from home edicts of the past year. There are those who love remote work and say they’ll never go back to an office and then there are the parents of school-aged children. While the legal profession has spent years spinning initiatives—and its wheels—to address the lack of gender diversity in law, […]
Law Firms Downsize Office Space Amid COVID-19
Before COVID-19 rocked our workplaces, law firms were making strides in reducing office space. When considering what millennials want from their employers, skyscrapers with marbled interiors and stately furnishings may not have the same allure as they once did. In contrast, younger lawyers seek working environments dedicated to collaboration and efficiency. Law firms have noticed […]
ABA Profile of the Legal Profession: Diversity and Well-Being
To read the 2021 report, click here. While the number of lawyers nationally has grown faster than the U.S. population, this growth hasn’t been spread evenly across races and ethnicities, according to the American Bar Association’s 2020 Profile of the Legal Profession. The ABA Profile of the Legal Profession is a compilation of the latest […]
4 Ethical Questions For Operating a Virtual Law Office
As the situation surrounding COVID-19 evolves, and thereafter as we start to settle on the new normal of the legal profession, hosting a full or partial practice out of a virtual law office is an apparent reality. In the past, operating a virtual law office (also known as a VLO) meant less overhead, more flexibility, […]
Painful or Purposeful? Flipping the Narrative on CLE for Lawyers
In December 2019, the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) released its annual Report on Diversity in U.S. Law Firms. Across the board, progress for women and people of color is, to quote the report commentary, “at a rate so slow as to almost seem imperceptible at times.” Additionally, a recent report from the American […]
ABA TECHREPORT: Lawyers Fail to Secure Client Data in the Cloud
Law firms may not be walking the walk on cybersecurity, according to the American Bar Association’s (ABA) TECHREPORT 2019. The report found that, while almost 60% of law firms use cloud computing applications to store client data, only 35% take standard precautionary measures to secure these data. The annual ABA TECHREPORT examines how attorneys use technology […]
A Healthy Legal Profession Starts with Law Student Well-Being
Law student well-being is just another way for millennials to get out of work. Is it just me or is that statement a bit harsh? Yet, I’ve recently heard it a handful of times from lawyers. Go ahead, label me as “soft” or a “tree hugger”; but I’m an attorney and I believe the notion […]
New IAALS Effort Aims to Build a Better Bar Exam
In the U.S., the bar exam has determined the fate of eager would-be lawyers since 1738. The exam is aimed at sorting out those who have the skills to practice law from those who don’t. However, state regulators haven’t agreed on a definition of the minimum competence needed to practice law. This begs the question, […]
LAP Forms Illinois Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being
For years, the legal profession has struggled with mental health and substance abuse issues. Year after year, lawyers top the lists of professions with the worst quality of life when considering their overall well-being. In the wake of studies like the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation survey and exposés like the infamous New York Times article released last July, the legal […]
We Are Our Colleague’s Keeper
Helping Lawyers Overcome Substance Abuse We are a self-regulated profession. That means that we have a duty to protect the public, including from impaired lawyers. We also have an obligation to help our colleagues who may be suffering from alcohol or substance abuse. Too often I instead hear stories of lawyers covering for, or enabling, […]