In a post I wrote for my friends at Attorney at Work back in December dealing with the issue of productivity, I explained that “work is like fitness — it’s best done in short bursts of intensity, followed by periods of rest and recovery. So start the day with a sprint.”

It’s easy to get into the office and start ticking off the easy stuff. It can be satisfying to immediately dig into email and begin volleying correspondence back and forth with clients, colleagues and adversaries. It’s busywork, and busy feels productive.

The problem, of course, is that the moment you get through your inbox, a new batch of messages is waiting for you. Before you know it, 6 p.m. rolls around and the brief, presentation or transaction that you need to get done for the next day hasn’t even been started.

“All professions are a conspiracy against the laity,” said George Bernard Shaw. In the legal profession, the best evidence of a conspiracy is the often impenetrable density and complexity of the law. It’s almost impossible for laypersons to understand the law and its processes. Lawyers perpetuate the conspiracy through their use of jargon and legalese.

There’s been a great deal of discussion, writing and study related to the costs of using legalese. But it does not seem there’s been much progress in convincing lawyers to communicate in a simpler, more accessible way.

This week, Attorney at Work published my take on why lawyers should – more than ever before – resolve to simplify their written communication style this year.

I’m not advocating we dumb-down the profession. I’m just saying that sometimes, when appropriate, we dial it back a bit. Clients won’t think less of lawyers if they communicate in plain English. Most clients will appreciate it. Judges, too. And it all starts with simplifying the primary means through which lawyers communicate: the written word.

Check out the post on Attorney at Work’s website by clicking here.

We’re winding down for the holidays here, but at the same time gearing up for a big, exciting 2017. I want to thank you, as one of Simply Stated’s loyal readers, for investing a bit of your time and attention to my blog this year. I hope you enjoyed reading the content as much I enjoyed producing it.

I’m really excited for what’s on tap next year. I will be sending out much more information about our upcoming initiatives at Harrington Communications in the months to come, but here’s a quick preview:

• I will be launching an online course addressing the topic of personal branding for lawyers in February.
• My new book, geared to first and second year lawyers and featuring insights from some of the country’s top lawyers and consultants, will be coming out next summer.
• I’m now booking engagements to speak at law firm retreats and training workshops about topics like personal branding, building a niche practice, productivity, and social media/content marketing. If you’d like to discuss, please email me at jay@hcommunications.biz.

The seed of the idea for this post came from my own reflections about the early days of my legal career. November 1 holds significance for me because it’s about the time that I started “getting it” as a first year lawyer. After reflecting upon my own experience, my thoughts drifted to the many first years toiling away for the last two months at law firms across the country. I hope they are starting to get it, too.

The fortunate few are able to hit the ground running in their legal careers. Often these are people with prior work experience, who are a bit older, more mature, and who previously learned how to navigate a corporate bureaucracy. For the rest of us, though, the first few months of practicing law is a harrowing time, fraught with stress and anxiety.

The are many reasons for this. Most new lawyers have never held a “real” job. They’re getting bombarded with emails, phone calls and work assignments for the first time. They’re trying to learn the work culture. They’re starting to deal with adversaries. Everything they are doing is new, and they’re fearful of the consequences of screwing up. They’re steeped in a cauldron of uncertainty.

My first day as a new associate at a large law firm in Chicago was on September 17, 2001. I was joining the firm’s Corporate Restructuring group which, given the prior week’s terrorist attacks and the resulting uncertainty about the economy, was suddenly thrust into a storm of activity. I had a sense going in that things were going to be rough, but the reality far exceeded even the high-end of my expectations.

Monday through Friday for the next several months all involved late nights, often past midnight. I typically worked a full day on either Saturday or Sunday, sometimes both.

Eventually, things settled down a bit, but I still found myself working late into the night. It was still rare if I got home before 9 p.m. Looking back, I didn’t need to work this schedule. I realize now that I simply never figured out how to structure my day. It’s like I became addicted to the busyness and adrenaline. When I did have a window of time that was not consumed by an urgent demand, I didn’t know what to do with myself.

I don’t think my situation was unique. Few young lawyers are thoughtful about how to plan their days in such a way to avoid the exhaustion and burnout that affect so many.

It’s often said that there is no loyalty among law firm clients anymore and, therefore, that law firms should should expect increasing churn among their fickle buyers. This assumption is often framed as an inevitability.

But is that truly the case? Is there nothing that firms can do stem the tide of clients coming and going?

There’s no doubt that today’s law firm client has access to more information and is more discerning than ever before. But for savvy, creative law firms, this presents an opportunity to capitalize on this turbulent, transitional marketplace. By focusing on the brand experience that they provide to their clients, law firms can effectively distinguish and differentiate themselves from competitors.

Ever struggle with distraction and procrastination? Yeah, I know, rhetorical question. Of course you do. We all do.

Care to indulge me with five minutes of your time? I promise it will be more enlightening than reading about the sordid details of Kim Kardashian’s Paris robbery drama.

As a lawyer, it’s axiomatic that your time is your most valuable asset – one that is non-renewable. You can’t afford to get sucked into rabbit holes of distraction. This is a post about the tricky balance that we all must strike between consumption and creation. There’s room for the former, but time and energy must overwhelmingly be focused on the latter.