My Desert Lawyers

The Happy Lawyer: Making a Good Life in the Law

Description

You get good grades in college, pay a small fortune to put yourself through law school, study hard to pass the bar exam, and finally land a high-paying job in a prestigious firm. You're happy, right? Not really. Oh, it beats laying asphalt, but after all your hard work, you expected more from your job. What gives?

The Happy Lawyer examines the causes of dissatisfaction among lawyers, and then charts possible paths to happier and more fulfilling careers in law. Eschewing a one-size-fits-all approach, it shows how maximizing our chances for achieving happiness depends on understanding our own personality types, values, strengths, and interests.

Covering everything from brain chemistry and the science of happiness to the workings of the modern law firm, Nancy Levit and Doug Linder provide invaluable insights for both aspiring and working lawyers. For law students, they offer surprising suggestions for selecting a law school that maximizes your long-term happiness prospects. For those about to embark on a legal career, they tell you what happiness research says about which potential jobs hold the most promise. For working lawyers, they offer a handy toolbox--a set of easily understandable steps--that can boost career happiness. Finally, for firm managers, they offer a range of approaches for remaking a firm into a more satisfying workplace.

Read this book and you will know whether you are more likely to be a happy lawyer at age 30 or age 60, why you can tell a lot about a firm from looking at its walls and windows, whether a 10 percent raise or a new office with a view does more for your happiness, and whether the happiness prospects are better in large or small firms.

No book can guarantee a happier career, but for lawyers of all ages and stripes, The Happy Lawyer may give you your best shot.

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-09-07
Summary: "A Law School Essential"

Levit & Linder masterfully craft a manual for happiness in a legal career. This book is a must read for law students or anyone considering law school. This book is also highly applicable to seasoned lawyers looking to get more enjoyment out of their work.

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Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-08-16
Summary: "better for law students than practicing lawyers"

As a practicing lawyer, I found this book interesting but a little disconnected. I could never quite tell who the target audience was. The beginning of the book is full of statistical information and information about brain chemistry -- the effects of dopamine, seratonin and oxytocin on happiness,nothing specific to the legal field. Then, the book shifts focus and is directed at law students or prospective law students -- how to choose a law school, the importance of peer groups and faculty, how grads from fourth tier schools are often happier than grads from top schools. Then, parts of the book seem to be directed at practicing lawyers and law firm management.

Although the authors criticize law schools' bias toward large firm placement, the authors, too, seem to focus disproportionately on life in the larger law firms, while encouraging lawyers to follow their passions and choose wisely.

Overall, this is a quick, interesting read, full of data and statistics. I think it would be more useful for a law student or prospective law student than a practicing lawyer.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-08-12
Summary: "Great Read"

This is a must read for not only lawyers, but anyone who works with lawyers or law students. Some extremely helpful and interesting insights. Kudos to Professors Levit and Linder!

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-08-12
Summary: "Happiness is important!"

The Happy Lawyer is a great and quick read that is as helpful as a "Dutch Uncle" to those thinking about law as a career, in law school or thereafter. It helps to make concrete what many of us feel about the importance of looking for happiness. I am sure my talks with students about their careers will be foreever changed for the better because I read this book. And, in comparison to much of the happiness literature, this is very good on the social science about happiness.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-08-09
Summary: "Happy Lawyer"

I was a happy lawyer. However, I stumbled onto many of the tips and advice found in this well-researched and revealing book. How nice it would have been to have it available as I was preparing for a career or in the early days as a young lawyer. Unfortunately, many new lawyers are not as lucky as I. This book will eliminate the stumbling for those in law school and many more in the spring of their careers.

A great read and essential for those thinkng about a career in law or those who find themselves disenchanted in their present circumstance.