Editor's Column

Making a New Bar Year’s Resolution
By:  Joel T. Towner

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was that the quality of one’s professional career is not measured by the big moments that dominate memories and lawyers’ war stories.  It is measured by the small day-to-day decisions in a practice that reflect the values we embody.  Are we being as responsive to clients as we can be?  Are we being as diligent in our work as we can be? 

Every young lawyer I have spoken with about professional development has wrestled with whether their choices are consistently the most professional they can make.  Personally, I would be worried if a young lawyer did not wrestle with these issues.  Growing pains, if you will, are natural in any environment.

Even though we make these decisions every day, it takes dedicated time to reflect on the decisions we make to determine whether we are living up the ideals of our profession.  Like many young attorneys I know, my firm reviews my year in December.  We discuss what I have done well and what I can improve on from the past year.  The time from January to May that follows has been, in my experience, routinely busy.  There are countless opportunities to grow as a lawyer, to improve from the prior year. 

As we wrap up that period, close one bar year and prepare for the next, now is an ideal time to make a new bar year’s resolution.  What have you improved on in your practice the last five months?  On what do you need to commit to improvement?  Dedicate some time (does not have to be a lot) to reflect on what you can improve in your practice. 

Enjoy this month’s edition of TYLA eNews, and start your 2017-2018 bar year off re-focused.