Despite the handsome incomes they often command, lawyers are far from the happiest of professionals. Seven in ten attorneys in one poll said they would choose other careers if they had to do it over again and, in another poll, fewer than half said they would encourage young people to become lawyers. Indeed, no poll has ever put the law in the top tier of satisfying professions. The economic uncertainty of recent years has only made law students and lawyers think harder than ever before about what they can hope to get out of careers in law.
This book not only sheds light on why so many lawyers find so little to like about their jobs, but also explores what they can do about the problem. Drawing on recent psychological research on happiness, Nancy Levit and Douglas Linder highlight various factors that contribute to professional stress and frustration--from pressure to increase the number of billable hours to discontents that occur when the job's demands fail to mesh with a lawyer's personal values or aspirations. They offer an array of coping tools, both large and small, that will help attorneys find more balance in their lives; they also suggest ways that law firms can be more flexible to accommodate their employees' needs, thus boosting morale and, in the process, producing higher-quality work. The authors also show how law students can better define their goals to ensure a satisfying career.
Having interviewed more than two hundred lawyers across the country, Levit and Linder enliven their account with engrossing--and sometimes surprising--career stories from both happy and unhappy lawyers. From these stories they develop sensible solutions for lawyers and the legal profession as a whole. Attorneys and law students with doubts or questions about their career choices will find a wealth of reassurance and good advice in this book.

Practical Advocacy in the Crown Court follows the life of a case in the Crown Court chronologically, providing guidance and insights at each step. It guides the reader from first conference through legal arguments and witness handling to sentencing hearings, with references to procedure, codes of conduct, and key cases. With an emphasis on practical advice, each chapter follows a similar format incorporating dos and don'ts, mock situations, and sections on good practice. Key topics covered include: -Making and opposing bail applications -Effective communication with lay clients -Appeals against conviction and sentence in the Crown Court -Evidential submissions -Witness handling of complainants, vulnerable witnesses, police officers and experts -Making effective jury speeches -Sentencing, mitigation and advocacy in cases involving the Mental Health Act This is the only specialist guide written for Crown Court advocates, by Crown Court advocates. It provides learned advice on common situations such as hearsay applications, hostile witnesses, making speeches or mitigating in cases where it may feel like there is little to say. It also provides insight on good communication with clients as well as court room advocacy, and dealing with lay clients, solicitors and police officers in conference. In addition, it covers written advocacy in detail, including persuasive skeleton arguments and using jury bundles effectively. Depending on the experience of the reader, this book helps the: -new advocate by giving them insight into situations that arise frequently, with a proper understanding of their role, as well as advice on how to adapt their style to the witness or the Judge -progressing advocate to develop skills with advice garnered from counsel of many years' experience, such as sections dealing with witness handling and evidential submissions in more complex cases, including rape and serious sexual offences work, proceeds of crime applications, case conferences with the CPS and presenting documents to juries in larger cases -experienced and busy advocate by looking at situations of greater complexity, such as the purpose of jury advocacy, and it will also act as a refresher for the more established advocate with writer's block in a tricky case