Work/Life Balance Initiatives in the Legal Profession
Work/life balance is about people having a measure of control over when, where and how they work. It is achieved when an individual’s right to a fulfilled life inside and outside paid work is accepted and respected as the norm, to the mutual benefit of the individual, business and society.

Sentenced to Life
The death penalty. Everyone has a different view. Some are in favor, some are against, and some beliefs depend on the circumstances involved. Not too long ago, some friends and I were discussing what method we would choose if subjected to the “ultimate penalty.” I chose firing squad. Most of my friends chose lethal injection. Seriously, it is highly unlikely that anyone in that group would ever be sentenced to death. By a jury that is. But any one of us could impose our own death sentence. Death by fat. Hmmm, let me think. Bullet to the heart, I’m a goner in mere seconds, or years of weight gain, heart disease, and other complications associated with obesity? Yep, I’m sticking to firing squad. Clearly the quicker and less painful option. Don’t want to pick? You don’t have to. You can impose your own life sentence by incorporating healthy eating and fitness into your daily routine.

Family Responsibility Discrimination: Recognizing Unlawful Discrimination against Family Caregivers
In May 2007, a California jury awarded over $2.3 million in damages in a pregnancy discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit where a female delivery driver was placed on involuntary and unpaid medical leave within an hour after she informed the employer she was pregnant and could not lift more than 20 pounds.1 The employer simply assumed she could not continue to do her job. This is just one example in an ever growing line of cases addressing a type of discrimination referred to as “family responsibility discrimination.” As courts are increasingly recognizing, sex discrimination is not just refusing to hire or promote women or paying women lower wages than men.

Mistakes We Make under Pressure
Stress is up everywhere in the USA. A national survey on the state of stress in America released by the American Psychological Association (APA), finds that money and work are the biggest stressors for almost three-quarters (74%) of Americans. That’s up from 59 percent for both last year. In June 2005, ABA Director Robert A. Stein reported that one out of every four lawyers suffers from the effects of stress. Between 20 to 25 percent of lawyers suffer from stress so severe it impairs their practice. Why are we all so stressed? Pressure.

What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate: Cross-Cultural Communication 101 for Lawyers
We shared our perspectives as attorney and court interpreter in writing this article. We started with the premise that communication between attorney and client is difficult from its inception, already primed for misunderstanding. The communication difficulty increases with every difference between the attorney and the client, running the gamut from differences of gender and language to culture. Attorneys who enter the attorney/client relationship knowing that these differences may impair client communications will be prepared to overcome the difficulties and build better relationships.