This book provides a critical psychosocial analysis of legal practice, documenting a mental health crisis among lawyers and judges and linking this crisis to a dysfunctional legal system they continue to control.Tracing studies of lawyers and judges over 40 years, this book demonstrates that decades of mental distress and social detachment in the legal profession have seriously damaged the legal system. Focusing largely on conditions in the United States but also drawing on studies...

In this book, 78 leading attorneys in California and New York describe how they evaluate, negotiate and resolve litigation cases. Selected for their demonstrated skill in predicting trial outcomes and knowing when cases should be settled or taken to trial, these attorneys identify the key factors in case evaluation and share successful strategies in pre-trial discovery, negotiation, mediation, and trials. Integrating law and psychology, the book shows how skilled attorneys mentally frame c...

In this groundbreaking book, Randall Kiser presents a multi-disciplinary, practice-based introduction to the major soft skills for lawyers: self-awareness, self-development, social proficiency, wisdom, leadership, and professionalism. The work serves as both a map and a vehicle for developing the skills essential to self-knowledge and fulfillment, organizational respect and accomplishment, client satisfaction and appreciation, and professional improvement and distinction. It identifies the...

Let us endeavor to see things as they are, and then enquire whether we ought to complain. Whether to see life as it is, will give us much consolation, I know not; but the consolation which is drawn from truth if any there be, is solid and durable: that which may be derived from errour, must be, like its original, fallacious and fugitive. Samuel Johnson, Letter to Bennet Langton (1758) Attorneys and clients make hundreds of decisions in every litigation case. From initially deciding which a...

Lawyers know that client counseling can be the most challenging part of legal practice. Clients question and often resist the complexities and uncertainties inherent in law and legal process. Honest advice from the lawyer can make a client doubt his or her allegiance and zeal. Client backlash may be directed at the lawyer who communicates bad news. Thus, the lawyer may feel torn between the obligation to clearly inform a client about weaknesses in legal positions and fear of damaging the c...

Tug of War is the first book of its kind. Written by a sitting family court judge in layman's language, it demystifies complex family law concepts and procedures, clearly explains how family court works, and gives parents essential alternatives to resolve their own custody battles and keep their kids out of the often damaging court system. Breakup rates in North America are skyrocketing. Recent statistics say 45% of marriages end in divorce, and at the centre are countless children, thrust...

The groundbreaking classic that explores how women can and should negotiate for parity in their workplaces, homes, and beyondWhen Linda Babcock wanted to know why male graduate students were teaching their own courses while female students were always assigned as assistants, her dean said: "More men ask. The women just don't ask." Drawing on psychology, sociology, economics, and organizational behavior as well as dozens of interviews with men and women in different...

Targets of workplace bullying are not powerless. Lawsuits are filed everyday against employers that tolerate or encourage workplace bullying. This book helps employees understand the problem and evaluate their options. It helps employers avoid the potentially catastrophic risk posed by workplace bullying, which is at the heart of many of types of common employment lawsuits. The author is a judge, attorney and the moderator of a popular legal blog on workplace bullying and abuse, When the A...

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...

A helpful guide for all those now mediating family disputes, as well as for those who hope to become family mediators.

Compliance has become key to our contemporary markets, societies, and modes of governance across a variety of public and private domains. While this has stimulated a rich body of empirical and practical expertise on compliance, thus far, there has been no comprehensive understanding of what compliance is or how it influences various fields and sectors. The academic knowledge of compliance has remained siloed along different disciplinary domains, regulatory and legal spheres, and mechanisms...

When people think of conflict, they often think of fights, wars, arguments, hot tempers, and hurtful consequences. Conflict Resolution for the Helping Professions provides helping professionals with the theory, strategies, and skills they need to deal with conflict in a manner that is respectful, collaborative, and constructive. This text illustrates how helping professionals can incorporate evidence-based models of conflict resolution to work more effectively and enjoyably with c...