Solo and Small Firm
The Practitioner VOLUME 29, ISSUE 1, SPRING 2023
Content
- EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE & EDITORIAL BOARD
- Letter From the Chair
- MCLE SELF-STUDY ARTICLE "I'M FINE. IT'S FINE. EVERYTHING IS FINE."
- McLe Self-study Article the Heart of the Matter: How the Heart and Brain Cooperate For Both Good and Bad
- Preventing Work-related Neck and Back Pain
- Table of Contents
- The Care and Feeding of Lawyers: Advice For Self-care
- The Importance of Emotional Wellness and Self Knowledge As Asolopreneur
- Work/Life Balance
- Letter From the Editor
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Dolan Williams* Editor-in-Chief
It is with the deepest gratitude that I introduce myself as The Practitioner’s new Editor-in-Chief, Dolan Williams. I have been honored to be a part of the Solo & Small Firm Section’s Executive Committee, serving under the leadership of the current Chair, Robert Klein, and the former Chair, Somita Basu. I am extraordinarily fortunate to be in the company of competent and caring leadership and look forward to serving all of you to the best of my ability. I would also like to extend a sincere thanks to everyone on the editorial team (Robert Klein, Somita Basu, Margaret Tritch Buonocore, Joshua Bonnici, and Shannon Mullin) for their support in collecting and writing articles, coordinating communication, and helping get this edition published.
As many of you know, lawyers tend to be the most overworked and over-stressed of all professionals. The nature of our job puts us sometimes in direct conflict with: our peers for a variety of reasons; our clients over money, pace, or quality of our work; and with ourselves if we do not meet our own expectations. Then there’s the stress associated with running a law practice, pursuing continuing education, and dealing with any other personal matters in our lives. For this issue, the editorial team selected self-care as the theme. Even as our practices and our lives evolve, our need for self-care will never cease. To serve the community and stay competent, we must keep our body and minds as sharp as we can.
For this edition, you will find articles from authors who have experienced their own issues with burnout, and the tools the authors have employed for their own self-care. I believe you will find the articles to be informative and the action items to be accessible to everyone. As solo and small firm attorneys, we are independent from the politics of larger law firms, but we are also devoid of some of the resources, thus we must remind ourselves that we need to make efforts to care for our bodies and minds. We are our own support team and resource provider, and this issue is meant to help you do so.