Lawsagna

My interview for LawBound

I recently did an interview for Julia Hays of LawBound, "a blog for students and those in the workworld considering a career or education in the field of law."  It is about my "journey from Russia to the United States and from law to life coaching" and the lessons and experiences I gained in the process.   Click here to read the interview.

"Connecticut Lemon Law Gives Consumers a Choice" by Sergei Lemberg

Sergei Lemberg, a Connecticut lemon law attorney,  is sitting in the guest blogger’s chair today.

Connecticut was the first state in the nation to enact a lemon law that gives consumers recourse when they’ve discovered they’ve purchased a defective vehicle. That was over 25 years ago, but the law is still working hard to protect the people of Connecticut.  There are generally two avenues for prosecuting lemon law claims: CT state-run lemon law arbitration program and the courts. Consumers may choose their venue.

Late last spring, we were surprised when, after we filed a routine lemon law complaint in court, Volkswagen responded with a motion to strike down our claim. The manufacturer held the view that Connecticut’s lemon law only allows consumers to take action through the state Attorney General’s arbitration program – not directly to court.

The court ruled that, when the legislature amended Connecticut lemon law and directed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection to launch an arbitration program, their intent was not to preclude people from their private right of action.

It goes without saying that we agreed with the judge’s ruling, but the affirmation reinforced that consumers can choose between the court system and the arbitration program when manufacturers won’t step up and buy back or replace defective vehicles.

"Year-End Review" with Michael Melcher

Author/lawyer/career coach Michael Melcher offered a "year-end review" exercise to the readers of Shifting Careers to help them set goals that would naturally support their development over the past year.  That post generated over 80 comments and a follow-up post.  Check it out.  

Blawg Review #142: Letter to New Lawyer

Blawg Review #142 is here, hosted by Susan Cartier Liebel at Build A Solo Practice, LLC.  It is designed as a “Letter to New Lawyer,” and it will make you think, dream, laugh, learn and soar!  Be sure to read it.

Career advice from Steve Pavlina

Steve Pavlina is writing a series of articles on career development that you may want to check out.  Below are just a few excerpts, but please take time to read the articles in full, they will make you think.

From How to Create a Fulfilling Career:

When you succeed in creating a fulfilling career, it will be uniquely you.  Your career will absolutely ooze with your own creative self-expression.  It may take the external form of a job, a business, a web site, volunteer work, or some other entity, but it will never be generic because you are not a generic person.  The right career will be so ridiculously you that if you thought about replacing yourself with someone else, it just wouldn’t make sense.

From Do You Have a Deeply Fulfilling Career?

A fulfilling career is an effective outlet for your creative self-expression that satisfies the following criteria:

1. You are sustainably meeting your needs and increasing your ability to meet those needs with greater ease and abundance.
2. You are working from your strengths and further developing those strengths into major talents.
3. You are doing work you enjoy, and the overall enjoyment you derive from your work is increasing.
4. You are making a meaningful positive contribution to others, and that contribution is increasing over time.

From Career Planning:

Just because you can do something and get paid well for it doesn’t mean you should.

From Career and Commitment:

For most people, myself included, enjoying a good career is one of the most important goals in life.  But very rarely do people just fall into the career of their dreams.  It takes a combination of proactive thought and action.  While the steps to get there may require a lot of effort, they’re rarely unknowable or shrouded in mystery.  It’s usually just a matter of putting in the time and persisting.  If it takes years, it takes years, but delay won’t get you there any sooner.

From Exploring Career Choices:

Exploring is an integral part of any fulfilling career, not merely something you do before making the choice.  No career choice is final.

From 2 Mental Blocks to Making Money:

The notion that you generate income by trading value is a simple concept, but it’s amazing how many people still don’t get it.

From Discover Your Strengths:

I suggest you take at least one assessment test to gain clarity about your in-born strengths.  Working from your strengths will help you (1) be far more productive, (2) get better results, (3) contribute more value, (4) attract higher compensation, (5) enjoy your work, and (6) experience greater fulfillment.

From The Challenge of Choosing the Right Career:

Once you recognize your mistake, cut your losses and get out as soon as possible.  A wrong decision doesn’t become a right decision by pretending.  Forgive yourself and move on.

From Career Apathy:

A bad career choice can serve up some major emotional consequences.  First comes discontent and dissatisfaction.  Next comes frustration and overwhelm.  Then comes depression and learned helplessness.  And finally you get numbness and apathy.

From You Are Self-Employed:

Even if you seemingly work for someone else, you still work primarily for yourself.  You have your own company with one employee — you — and you’re in the business of selling your employee’s labor for profit.

Blogging at the age of 95

When Maria Amelia Lopez of Spain turned 95, she received an unusual birthday present from her grandson – a blog.  The introduction to her blog reads:

My friends in Internet, today I am 95 years old. My name is Amelia and I was born in Muxía (A Coruña - Spain) on December the 23rd of 1911. Today it's my birthday and my grandson, who is very stingy, gave me a blog. 

Maria Amelia Lopez is a true inspiration for life-long learners everywhere.  Her blog now has 60,000 regular readers from all over the world.  She found a way to connect to younger generations.  People tell her their life stories and ask for advice.  She writes in Spanish, so refresh your language skills. 

And here is the link to The New York Times article about her, "Spain's Blogging Gran A Hit With Surfers."

Career: blended, blurred, swirled – but nothing on the rocks, please

What metaphor for life and career do you like?  I prefer “work life blending” over “work/life balance.”  I can’t easily separate my work life from my personal life, and I like them blended, at least for now.  My office is in my home, and my toddler’s playground is in my office.  I find “Happy Baby Colors” next to Bryan Garner’s “The Elements of Legal Style.”  Yesterday, I couldn’t figure out why nothing happened when I typed only to discover that my keyboard was disconnected.  And then there is that very tempting button on my modem, which is my gateway to the internet and phone, the lights change if you push it…it’s pretty cool, I understand.  It can be challenging at times, but it is rewarding nonetheless.  And I know for sure, it will eventually evolve into some other arrangement, and I am OK with that too.  Nothing is permanent except change, as the saying goes. 

More and more people embrace such blurred careers, as I was happy to find out form The New York Times Blog “Shifting Careers” written by Marci Alboher, a former lawyer and the author of “One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success.”  She writes in her post “Blurring by Choice and Passion”:

I am not yet convinced that loosening boundaries is the answer for everyone. But if you chronically blur the lines between work and life, it is wise to find work you love — or at least enjoy enough to welcome it following you home occasionally.

With that thought, off I go as my life competes for my attention by unceremoniously turning the swivel chair away from the computer.

Three kinds of empathy

If you are in the serving profession, you have probably wondered more than once how much you should be involved in your clients’ stories.  It can be challenging to find that perfect place where you can be caring and compassionate without jeopardizing the effectiveness of your service and your own emotional balance.  In his blog, Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships, reports on his conversation with Paul Ekman, an expert in understanding facial expressions and emotions, about three kinds of empathy:  cognitive, emotional and compassionate. 

According to Paul Ekman’s classification, “cognitive empathy” is “simply knowing how the other person feels and what they might be thinking. Sometimes called perspective-taking, this kind of empathy can help in, say, a negotiation or in motivating people.”

“Emotional empathy” is described as a state “when you feel physically along with the other person, as though their emotions were contagious.” 

Finally, with “compassionate empathy,” “we not only understand a person’s predicament and feel with them, but are spontaneously moved to help, if needed.”

Paul Ekman believes that the three kinds of empathy are learnable, like other emotional intelligence skills. 

You can read Daniel Goleman’s post about the benefits and downsides of each kind of empathy here.

A slice of "Lawsagna" with a "Cup of Chai"

I am brewing my own learning concoction as a guest blogger at Cup of Chai.  Inspired by the unique design of My Cuppa, a color-matching guide mug that allows you to mix milk with your coffee just the way you like it by matching the color guide on the inside of the mug, I wonder what kinds of ingredients I would choose for a learning potion.  You take a sip and turn into the best learner you can be.  Do you want to know the recipe?  Follow me all the way to Switzerland.

Law School Loan Repayment Assistance Programs

Ann Levine of LawSchoolExpert blog compiled a great list of law school Loan Repayment Assistance Programs.  Check it out here.

A learning whirlpool

When was the last time you experienced a learning whirlpool?  Learning whirlpools happen when the tides of curiosity and synchronicity meet to produce a rapid stream of ideas that spin and jolt you to the core.  Learning whirlpools are energizing and refreshing for the mind.  Here comes one now...

Begin with a question, or “5.75 Questions You’ve Been Avoiding”.  Feel the pull of your curiosity:  “I had an ‘itch’ I had no choice but to scratch.”  (Danny Meyer, the author of “Setting the Table” interviewed by Rosa Say).  Let go of the familiar ground and lead the change: “transform an idea into a plan into an action.”   Embrace synchronicity.  Feel the rush of thoughts, take a deep breath and submerge into silence, watch a new story unfold in your mind’s eye. Be yourself and notice what makes you happy.  Write your story "with all your senses."    

**This was my attempt to respond to Liz’s "Think and Link" challenge inspired by Joanna Young.  That was fun.  My head is still spinning with all the things I learned.   

I Won a "Thinking Blogger" Award. Who is next?

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast awarded  me the “Thinking Blogger” title, tagging Lawsagna as one of the five blogs that made him think.   Thank you, Scott!  Now it’s my turn to participate in the “5 Blogs That Make Me Think” meme. 

The participation rules are simple:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

I write about learning, and there is no learning without thinking.  My RSS reader has over 160 feeds that guarantee that I will never run out of things to think about.  It’s a challenge to limit myself to just five blogs.  Let’s just say that the five blogs below give me the most homework right now:

1. Joyful Jubilant Learning is a community of bloggers with a passion for Lifelong Learning.  The content is created by a group of contributors, who are all wonderful, inspirational and thinking writers.  They ensure that my learning stays on track. 
2. Stephanie West Allen of Idealawg keeps my brain purposefully activated.  I bet an fMRI picture of my brain as I read her posts would be pretty.  I am fascinated by her discussion of neuroscience in terms that I can understand.  I keep thinking about all the implications that new neuroscience discoveries can have for learning.   
3. Informal Learning Blog by Jay Cross keeps me pondering how we really learn.  His book “Informal Learning” found its permanent corner spot on my desk.
4. Susan Cartier Liebel of Build A Solo Practice, LLC offers her wisdom and inspiration for aspiring solos.  Being a solo entrepreneur, I find her advice and her own example very thought-provoking.  I like her passionate and direct style. 
5. I discovered The Bamboo Project by Michele Martin not long ago and it quickly became one of my favorite places to come and think about collaborative learning.

Thinking about going to law school? Check with LawSchoolExpert

I’ve recently had the pleasure to discover LawSchoolExpert blog when its author Ann Levine shared her comment and tips for the bar exam preparation here at Lawsagna.  Ann is a law school admissions consultant.  Her blog has great advice for those of you who are considering law school.  And what’s even more exciting is that she is offering a free 1-hour webinar to readers of The Frugal Law Student on the law school application process entitled  "I've taken the LSAT; Now What?"  You can choose to participate on August 4 (9 a.m. PST/Noon EST) or August 8 (5 p.m. PST/8 p.m. EST).  Read her post and the instructions at The Frugal Law Student on how you can take this $150 webinar free of charge.

Want Happy News?

Positive Psychology News Daily can be your source of happy reading:

"Positive Psychology News Daily provides the latest news about happiness, the 'science of happiness,' and Positive Psychology.  Our goal is to be your fun, collaborative place for a research-based daily boost of happiness."

For example, the article "Using Your Strengths in the Job Search" by Senia Maymin encourages you to explore the relationship between your strengths and your job.   

"To what extent would you personally agree with this statement:  ‘At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?’   When Gallup asked this question, it found that only 20 percent of those surveyed said they strongly agreed with this phrase. Are you in that 20 percent, or is it maybe time for you to re-craft your job to match what you do best?"

She proceeds to discuss a job search trap that many job candidates fall into.  They often build their job interviews around the skills they demonstrated at their previous jobs.  But this strategy is going to get you more of the same type of work.  If you want a job that uses a different set of strengths, you need to know how to incorporate what excites you into your job search process.  The article has some suggestions for you. 

While we are on the subject of happiness, check out the happiness carnival at Think Happy Thoughts.

Susan Cartier Liebel of Build A Solo Practice, LLC answers my question

Susan Cartier Liebel is an attorney, national coach and consultant who shares her wisdom and advice on how to create and grow a solo practice in her blog Build A Solo Practice, LLC.   Here’s what I asked Susan:

“I saw your category of "You Ask...I Answer" posts and thought I'd ask a question on behalf of my readers.  Summer time is when many students try to get practical experience by interning at a firm, government or non-profit.  If students know they would like to go solo after graduation, what would you recommend they do during their summers to prepare for their solo practice?”

Susan was kind enough to craft a great answer with good questions to make you think about your overall law school experience as it relates to your goal of becoming a solo, as well as practical advice on what you should be doing with your time outside law school:

“If you know you are going to become a solo practitioner upon passing the bar then everything you do, from your course selection to your extracurricular activities to your summer internships should be geared towards two things, networking/building professional relationships and gaining 'practical' experience that mirrors the life of a solo practitioner.”

Read the rest of her post here as she shares her three-step approach to your solo success.

Thank you so much, Susan!

Stephanie West Allen and Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz give us Brain on Purpose

Stephanie West Allen of Idealawg and Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz have teamed up to launch a new exciting blog – Brain on Purpose.  It explores the implications of neuroscience for the field of conflict resolution.  It’s a must read for anybody who deals with conflicts as part of their professional life.  And who doesn’t?  The recent post "There's a great future in [neuroplasticity]. Think about it. Will you think about it?" makes you ponder how much control you have in shaping your own brain.  Our brains develop new connections with every choice we make.  If you let others make those choices for you, you may end up with a brain shaped by your clients, co-workers, relatives, friends, even strangers in a grocery store.  It makes me wonder about the challenges the legal profession faces when it comes to the brain neuroplasticity.  How do you stay compassionate and empathetic without letting your clients’ problems get to you?  Can you use combative trial tactics without harming your own brain and the brains of others who come in contact with you?  Do you feel more responsibility now that you know that your actions may affect somebody else’s brain?  When does the adversarial turn into adversity? 

Want to know what happens to your brain in law school?  Read “Law Students: Create A Well-rounded Life” by Stephanie West Allen and Jeffrey M. Schwartz in The Complete Lawyer.

Tips to develop intercultural competency

What are the chances that in your practice, you will represent a transnational corporation, take an assignment at a foreign office of the U.S. law firm, advise international clients on the U.S. law, outsource legal work to lawyers in India, help American retirees to settle down in Mexico, or devise an estate plan for foreign nationals with assets in the U.S.?  You may think that you have a local practice, but in today’s economy, more and more of your business and individual clients choose to trot the globe.  Are you ready to travel with them?  If you need help, the following resources can be your guide across cultures:

Pamela Slim of Escape from Cubicle Nation gives advice on "How not to be a cultural knucklehead in a global business world." 

Lynn Gaertner-Johnston of Business Writing addresses pitfalls of cross-cultural communication in her post “Do You Like My Dressing?” 

Janet Moore offers great advice to lawyers across borders at her International Lawyer Coach Blog.  If you are considering a study abroad program, read the post “Study Abroad Opportunities for Law Students,”  which has a list of helpful websites.  The blog also has useful information for foreign lawyers in the U.S. 

I always look forward to Anne Fox and Dr. Laurent Borgmann’s podcast ‘absolutely intercultural!’ which deals with intercultural issues in creative and engaging ways. 

How to be a versatile communicator

Here’s one more skill that law students will probably have to master on their own:  how to present information in a visual way.  It turns out that lawyers differ from the general public in the way they learn and communicate.  According to the Attorney Communication Style Study conduced by Animators at Law, attorneys are 10% more likely to be auditory learners, 4% more likely to be kinesthetic learners and 14% less likely to be visual learners than the general public.  61% of the general public learns visually, 53% of practicing attorneys are either auditory or kinesthetic learners.  (Thanks to Idealawg for pointing me to this research).

What do these results mean to law students and lawyers?  On one hand, if you happen to be a visual learner (that’s still 46.9% of practicing attorneys), you may be at disadvantage in law school, which emphasizes verbal and auditory skills, but you have an advantage when you communicate with your clients or jurors.  On the other hand, non-visual learners need to adapt to the preferred visual style of their audience.  (Here’s a link to my previous post on how to communicate “on TAP”:  topic, audience, purpose.) 

How do you communicate visually?

You can use charts, graphs, pictures, slides or draw on a whiteboard.  Check out a Periodic Table of Visualization Methods for ideas on how to visualize information.   Another good resource to engage you spatial intelligence is the information aesthetics blog. 

Pay attention and “mirror” the language patterns of visual learners.  They may say phrases, such as “I see…,” “Imagine that…,” “Look at it this way.”  If you are an auditory learner, you are likely to use phrases, such as “I hear…,” “That sounds good.”  Kinesthetic learners may say:  “I feel that…”, “Can you grasp this concept?”   

Interestingly, when people interpret metaphors, they make connections across senses in the cross-modal areas of the brain where information from touch, hearing and vision comes together to form abstractions.  Jaron Lanier explores the relationship between images and sounds in "Jaron’s World:  The Meaning of Metaphor" for Discover.    

Finally, if you need an excuse to play video-games or simulations once in a while, now you have it:  you are developing you spatial skills to be a more versatile communicator.  Here’s a long list of free online flash games.

Tips and tools for your job search and career development

Are you looking for a summer internship or a job?  Do you contemplate a career transition?  If so, here is a round-up of some tips and tools that can help you in the process. 

Each of you has had a variety of experiences in you life that have helped you to develop certain skills that are valuable to your potential employer.  But when time comes to prepare your resume or answer questions at a job interview, you may not remember this valuable information.   This inventory list will ensure you give yourself credit for all the wonderful things you have accomplished in life.   It has two parts:  Part I discusses “Sources of Evidence That You May Possess Skills, Experiences, and Attributes of Interest to Employers” and Part II lists “Skills, Experiences, and Attributes You Have That Might Be of Interest to Employers.”   It’s a good check list to go through and make sure you are not forgetting anything important.  And you may be surprised at how much you already know.  Also, if you need to add some action to your resume, check out Bloom’s Taxonomy Verbs. 

Do you need help with job interviews?  Lifehack discusses a new tool – InterviewTrue -  which allows you to practice your interviewing skills virtually. You can customize your interview by choosing from the database of 1000 questions from the leading companies.  You record yourself with your own webcam as a virtual interviewer asks you questions.  After the interviewing session is over, you receive a transcript of your interview.  You can watch the recording to evaluate your body language and analyze your responses in a transcript.  The InterviewTrue site has a demo and a free trial option. 

Here’s another interesting way to play out your interview scenario.  It comes from the area of the Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).  As you do the exercise, you visualize the desired behavior and build confidence. 

As you network for success, don’t make The Ten Biggest Networking Mistakes, described by Harvey Mackay.  Instead, focus on developing the Seven Habits of Successful Rainmakers, shared by Sara Holtz in The Complete Lawyer.    

If you aspire to build a solo practice, Build A Solo Practice blog by Susan Cartier Liebel will guide you in the right direction. 

Perhaps, you want personalized advice in exploring various career options.  If so, visit Life at the Bar blog by Julie Fleming-Brown, a professional and personal coach for lawyers.

Related posts:
5 questions to ask when you evaluate job options
Find out your networking quotient

Think before you think

Neuroscience tells us now that the human brain can change and new neurons can be created.  I've just finished listening to an interview with science writer Sharon Begley in which she talks about her new book, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain.  (Thanks to SharpBrains for featuring this interview.)  Brain neuroplasticity hints at exciting possibilities as neuroscientists discover the factors that affect the brain development.  One of these factors is exercise, which promotes the growth of neurons and the strength of their connection, according to the article "Buff and Brainy" by Christen Brownlee.  Meditation is another practice that builds awareness and attention, which appear to be a prerequisite for the shift in brain patterns.  Even lawyers are willing to dedicate some of their precious time to meditation.   

If you want to know how law practice can benefit from brain research, read Idealawg by Stephanie West Allen.  Stephanie and Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz co-authored the article "Brain Management: Law Firm Leadership on the Neuro Frontier" which appeared in the February, 2007 edition of Of Counsel: The Legal Practice and Management Report (Not available online, but Idealawg has the beginning of the article.) 

Another great resource for brain-based business advice is the Brain Based Business blog by Dr. Ellen Weber who teaches businesses how to capitalize on the brain power for maximum results.

Are you taking a good care of your brain? 

What's your opinion of legal writing?

Law students are getting serious about legal writing.  They don’t want to hide behind wordy legalisms.  They want to be understood.  And they offer good tips on how they plan to become effective writers. 

As part of Legal Andrew’s class action, The Frugal Law Student reveals his plan to analyze the works of great legal writers and edit old case opinions into plain English. 

Shelley’s Case has welcomed a writing muse – Laughter – while reading children’s books:  “I gasped. I panicked. I worried. I giggled. I laughed. I was enchanted by the innocent charm exuberating from these books.”  Is there a better way to learn how to tell great stories with simple words and uncluttered structure?

Mackenzie’s Weblog talks about how lawyers tend to perceive their writing abilities and how blogging can help improve writing skills.

The Top Law Student recommends a number of legal writing resources for law students.

Legal writing professors and consultants have also been looking for the fastest road to the writing nirvana.  Idealawg has a record of their search.  It started with the interview of Dr. George D. Gopen: WRITING FROM A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE and the comments by Wayne C. Schiess, the director of the legal-writing program at the University of Texas School of Law.  Their debate continued in the post Not on the same legal writing page: George Gopen of Duke responds to Wayne Schiess of University of Texas.   Take note of their suggestions and see which ones work best for you.  The beauty of a language is that it is common to many and yet as individual as the speakers, writers and readers themselves.

How about assessing your own knowledge of writing principles.  As you read the following quotations from famous people, can you tell which aspect of writing they address?

“That is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I shall not put.”

This is Sir Winston S. Churchill’s opinion of the old rule stating that you cannot end sentences with prepositions.  You can when you need to. 

“A not unblack dog was chasing a not unsmall rabbit across a not ungreen field.

George Orwell concocted this sentence as a cure for multiple negatives. (Politics and the English Language, 1946.)

“Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.”

This is George Orwell’s parody translation of the following verse from Ecclesiastes:

“I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

He did it to show the excessive use of abstract nouns and nominalizations (nouns that are derived from verbs with the help of the suffix -ion).

What's your opinion of legal writing?

Related posts:
The art of storytelling
Chasing metaphors
The mosaic of legal analysis
Get your pens ready:  it's time to scribble

Directory of Free E-Learning Tools

I’ve recently come across the Directory of Free E-Learning Tools created and constantly updated by Jane Hart, Learning & Performance Technologist.  It is a great resource for anybody who likes to use technology in training and learning.  As of this writing, it lists 581 free tools across various categories, such as Document tools, Web page, blogging & wiki tools, Interactive Content tools, Communication tools, Resource sharing tools, Course, Content & Community tools, Personal tools.  Each of these larger categories is subdivided into subcategories that are self-descriptive and easy to search.  They cover anything from personal productivity to presentations, note-taking, blogging, widgets and accessories for blogs and web pages.   The Directory also provides an alphabetical listing of tools.  Each tool has a brief description of its main functions and availability with the link to the product provider.  I like how this site is organized.  It is very informative and easy to navigate.  Plus, you can subscribe to the updates via news feeds.  Check it out. 

The art of storytelling

“The face of the water, in time, became a wonderful book – a book that was a dead language to the uneducated passenger, but which told its mind to me without reserve, delivering its most cherished secrets as clearly as if it uttered them with a voice.  And it was not a book to be read once and thrown aside, for it had a new story to tell every day.”
Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi

I don’t remember the occasion when one of my law school professors read us an excerpt from Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi, but it was the best narrative I heard in law school about learning.  At 24, Mark Twain realized his boyhood dream of becoming a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River.  The excerpt is his reflections on learning to read the river and the gains and losses involved in the process. 

Sometimes telling a story is the best way to communicate an idea.  Businesses use storytelling to convey their values, to deliver their message to customers, to initiate change.  Stories are also important to the practice of law.  Clients bring their emotional, sometimes disjointed stories to the lawyers’ offices.  Lawyers repackage them into restrained, logical and persuasive stories for the court.  They throw in some combativeness and flare for the jury.  All the while, they are pushing the story of conflict towards its resolution. 

Storytelling is an important skill for law students to learn.  Often times, this skill is disguised under the legal functions of 'writing a persuasive brief'' or 'preparing for an oral argument,' but in the essence, it is still an art of telling a good story and one of the oldest ways to communicate.  Many great people have written about storytelling much better that I ever would, so I am referring you to their narratives on the subject:

What makes a story great? Seth Godin’s blog has the answer in the article How to tell a great story. 

How to build a good story?  Check out enterRETAINment’s posts on the Story Structure.

Brain Based Business will tell you how Stories Boost the Business Brain.

TrackKnacks has advice on the use of stories for career advancement. 

Legal Sanity focuses on telling simple but powerful stories in law and beyond.

Want to discuss the wisdom of storytelling further?  Book your trip to London, UK to attend the July 2007 conference Once Upon a Legal Time: developing the skills of storytelling in law, as advised by the Legal Theory Blog.

What story are you telling today?

Find out your networking quotient

If you have ten minutes to spare and want to find out how savvy you are about networking, take a free 30-question quiz called Networking Quotient.  This assessment tool was developed by Thom Singer, who is the author of Some Assembly Required:  How to Make, Grow and Keep Your Business Relationships.  He also writes a business development and networking blog.

While it’s neat to see how you score compared to others in your demographic group, I think, you can learn more from the questions themselves because they indicate what you should be thinking about and doing.  Once you complete the quiz, you are given an option of retaking it.  You can click on that link to go back to the questions and use them to evaluate your own networking plan, if you have one.  If you don’t, it may be useful to ponder those questions a little longer and create one.   

Related posts:
How to find a mentor
5 questions to ask when you evaluate job options

Lessons from the crib

Ben Yoskovitz of Instigator Blog is running the group writing project “What did you learn this year?”  I thought his question was very appropriate for my learning blog, so here are my reflections on year 2006.    

2006 was a year of new beginnings and new learning opportunities for my family.  On December 13, 2005, we welcomed our baby girl into the world and began to learn about the joys and challenges of parenting (our two four-legged furry kids didn’t prepare us enough).  Five months later, we relocated to a different state, my husband started a new job, I left mine and embarked on the balancing act of caring for my daughter and working to launch my own business.  I picked up blogging along the way, which turned out to be a nice outlet for the frenzy of thoughts and ideas in my head.  My blog is about learning, and who is a faster and better learner than a baby? She has taught me a few things about this subject, and I am happy to share our lessons from the crib.

• "Practice" is the name of the game.  We’ve all heard:  “Practice makes perfect.”  Babies are wise, they somehow know it from the day they are born.  My daughter started with practicing her communication skills and making her intent loud and clear, a bit too loud for my ears.  With each new skill she learned, she exhibited the same effortless persistence, indicating that failure was not an option.  Such attitude encourages learning. George Leonard in his book Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment writes about the value of practice:  “Mastery is staying on the path.”  Next time you need to learn a new discipline or a set of skills, remember this and rest assured that you already possess everything you need to succeed.
• Learning is a laughing matter.  At which juncture on our way to adulthood did learning become serious and boring?  That’s certainly not the way my baby views it.  Learning is a fun and joyful activity for her.  She learns through play.  It turns out that positive emotions improve adult learning as well.   A good learning game that makes participants engaged and relaxed can accelerate learning.  It’s good to be a kid once in a while.
• There is more ways to learn than through words.  Babies learn through observation, touch, smell, taste, interaction.  My daughter loves music and dances every time she hears her favorite songs.  She is learning coordination and rhythm.  Adults also relate to information in multiple ways according to Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University who wrote the book Intelligence Reframed:  Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century.  Every day, I am reminded that multisensory learning is the best. 
• Curiosity drives learning.  I am amazed at how curious and observant my baby is.  I can read it in her face.  “Where did the noise come from?”  “What happens if I push this cup over the edge of the table?”  “What does this stuff taste like?”  I think adults are often too busy to be curious.  When was the last time you put “oblige my sense of curiosity” in your to-do list?  Maybe, we should give in to our curiosity more often even if it means that an hour disappears in pursuit of a random thought.   William Wirt once said; “Seize the moment of excited curiosity on any subject to solve your doubts; for if you let it pass, the desire may never return, and you may remain in ignorance.”
• “Do, or do not. There is no try,” said Jedi Master Yoda in Star Wars.  This lesson is about the mindset. Babies don’t try to do things, they do them.  Even when it appears to me that my daughter is trying to walk, in her mind, she is walking.  She is not thinking: “I am going to try to put that leg forward and see what happens.” She just does it.  What happens if we eliminate “try” from our vocabulary and just do things to our best ability?  Some good learning experience.
• Falls and bumps are just that:  falls and bumps.  They don’t mean we are failures.  They are not evidence of a faulty character.  They are part of life.  Just get up and keep going, like babies do.
• Learning needs support.  There are times when my baby wants me to hold her and comfort her.  She needs my support, and she knows I am there for her.  It gives her confidence and a sense of security.  While our adult education system encourages competition, I think, we can all benefit from cooperative and supportive environment when we learn.
• When you don’t quite understand something, smile.  My baby must think I am silly.  She rewards me with her smile more often than I deserve it.  Her smile is hard to resist.  I believe, a sincere smile is the first step to true understanding:  “I am not sure what you are saying, but I like you.”  Thanks to my baby, I smile more these days.

What have your kids taught you about learning?

Related posts:
8 ways to learn
Baby steps
Lessons learned

 

Forget the words?

People often believe that larger numbers are more authoritative and persuasive.  Yesterday, I came across an example where the opposite was true:  smaller numbers made the story more compelling.  It was a short webmovie form the Miniature Earth project that presented the world’s statistics by reducing the global population to a community of only 100 people. The information was delivered in a brain-friendly way.  We understand what a “million” is, but few of us have actually experienced a “million,” whereas most of us have been around a hundred people at some time.  We comprehend things better when we can connect them to something that we have experienced.  So, next time, you make a presentation to your client or prepare a closing statement for the jury, ask yourself: “How can I appeal to the experiences of my audience?”

Speaking of effective communication, do you know the feeling when you want to express an idea but the right word just escapes you?  Welcome to the OneLook dictionary search and its reverse dictionary feature.  It allows you to describe a concept in a few words, a sentence, or a question and get back a list of related terms.  For example, you type in “being tried twice for the same crime,” and the dictionary search engine creates a list with the first item being “double jeopardy.”  The first terms on the list are supposed to be the best matches.  Using this feature, you can generate a list of related concepts and even solve crossword puzzles by typing in some letters and wildcards.

Last but not least, I’d like to thank the Legal Writing Prof Blog for featuring Lawsagna in its yesterday’s post.  We’ll keep our quills sharpened, keyboards dusted and stay tuned to the latest news in the legal writing field.