The Creative Lawyer: A Practical Guide to Authentic Professional Satisfaction [Paperback]

Michael Melcher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 2007

A high level of pay doesn't necessarily mean a high level of satisfaction. Written in a fun and inspirational way, this book will help lawyers find a way to happiness in their career and life. Starting with self examination, readers will be able to analyze their personal values and then create their own personal fulfillment plan. Create a step-by-step plan for life and career that will get you back on track with your personal definition of happiness with this important book.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Creative Lawyer is a smart, practical, and often inspirational guide for any lawyer seeking to build both a better business and a richer life." -- Daniel Pink, Author, A Whole New Mind, September 5, 2007

"A must-read. It combines practicality with ingenuity to lead lawyers to live more fulfilled, productive and successful lives. Packed with advice, the book is an invaluable guide for lawyers to take the concrete steps and develop the skills they need to live enriched lives and thrive as lawyers." -- Debbie Epstein Henry, Founder, Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, September 1, 2007

"There is no book on the shelves to compare with The Creative Lawyer. Funny, well-researched, and provocative, it's an invaluable guide to understanding yourself better -- not just as a lawyer, but as a person. It's full of useful exercises, relevant case histories, and powerful insights, delivered in unlawyer-like concise and entertaining prose. It's required reading for anyone who has taken the bar exam -- or, for that matter, anyone who is considering taking the LSAT. " -- Gretchen Rubin, Blogger, The Happiness Project, former editor-in-chief, Yale Law Journal, September 15, 2007

"Whether you are living the law or leaving it, you need wise counsel to make your career meaningful. One part Socrates, one part Deepak Chopra, and one part cheerleader, Michael Melcher is the ideal advisor for lawyers contemplating their options. The Creative Lawyer should be mandatory reading for anyone who has ever set foot in law school." -- Noah Feldman, Professor, Harvard Law School, September 7, 2007

About the Author

Michael Melcher is an attorney who is one of the country's leading career coaches. With a blend of humor, sensitivity and professional acumen, he has helped hundreds of individuals transform their careers into personal platforms that are professionally fulfilling and personally meaningful. A gifted speaker and workshop leader, he has addressed audiences on career development themes across the United States as well as in Europe and Asia.

Michael is a graduate of Harvard College, Stanford Law School, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He worked for several years as an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York, was previously a Foreign Service Officer in Calcutta and Taipei, ran an internet start-up in Silicon Valley, and is currently a partner at Next Step Partners, the leadership development and executive coaching firm.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: American Bar Association (September 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590318439
• ISBN-13: 978-1590318430
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #173,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #95 in Books > Law > One-L > Legal Profession

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Seminal Work on Finding Authentic Professional Success, February 9, 2009

By 

Linda A. Mercurio "Linda A. Mercurio" (Hagerstown, Maryland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Creative Lawyer: A Practical Guide to Authentic Professional Satisfaction (Paperback)

Michael Melcher's The Creative Lawyer is the seminal work on finding authentic professional satisfaction. While targeting lawyers, the book's message is equally applicable to all professionals trying to create and live authentic lives.

Using the right combination of a left brain/right brain approach, Michael encourages us to take responsibility for our careers--to become "stewards" of them, in a way that is "systematically creative." I love that! Lawyers typically have the "systematic" part down, but need support, guidance and inspiration--along with very practical advice--to nurture and develop the "creative" part, that part of us that can "bring into being," "give rise to" and/or "produce through effort." The Creative Lawyer is not about finding your "inner artist" (although I suppose it could be) but rather about creating a life that works for you through exploration, planning and effort. And that is key.

Too many career advice books leave one with a sense that all one need do to create an ideal life is dream, affirm, and let the universe do its job. Michael knows better. He knows to live an authentic life requires effort. With wit, authenticity, and a sense knowing, Michael leads/guides us to it.

He starts where we all must--with an exploration of values. Michael knows that by clearly articulating our values, we infuse our ultimate plan of action with a greater power and likelihood of success. In effect, our organization, effort, and skill become energized by our core values. Michael goes on to help us develop a vision, learn to know and manage ourselves, develop our networks, and our habits of experimentation. He also gently implores us to challenge and interrogate our attachment to some taboo subjects--money, status, stability, and recognition, and leaves us with a powerful message: "Creating a life that works does not unfold logically"--a message that may prove to be a major "ah hah" for lawyers accustomed to using logic and analysis to solve problems.

As a professional coach and organizational consultant, I rely on Michael's book and its many exercises (including the "master plan template") to inform my practice and coach my clients. It is a superb resource. And as a former law professor and lawyer, I would like to see Michael's book used as the foundation for a new law school course focused on life management skills. Law schools are uniquely poised to support and develop creative lawyers who could then enter the profession with a grounding and basis to achieve an authentic professional life. The use of The Creative Lawyer as part of the law school curriculum could go a long way in preparing lawyers for a more fulfilled life in the law.

I highly recommend this book to lawyers, law students, law school professor and administrators, as well as career coaches and human performance developers.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what the Juris Doctor ordered., August 26, 2008

By 

Priya Chaudhry (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Creative Lawyer: A Practical Guide to Authentic Professional Satisfaction (Paperback)

There is a moment in every lawyer's life when you realize that you've made it--but you have no idea what "it" is. Luckily, that's the moment Michael Melcher's book sweeps in and (with rapier wit and profoundly clever insights) shows you which way is up. A law degree allegedly opens doors, but the right doors do not always appear in a typical law career. Melcher sheds light on the different--and creative--paths to true career satisfaction. Too many lawyers feel that they must abandon the law because they only know of one way to be a lawyer. Melcher shatters that myth and in the process, delivers tangible, effective advice from which every unsatisfied lawyer can benefit. This book is a perfect gift for yourself, a law student, or unhappy lawyer. Everyone should read it.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a great guide to professional and personal satisfaction, January 8, 2008

By 

Linda Furness - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Creative Lawyer: A Practical Guide to Authentic Professional Satisfaction (Paperback)

This book is written for lawyers, but really is useful for anyone who wants to find greater satisfaction in his/her work and life. It is a good read, articulate, entertaining, and insightful, but most importantly - it actually works. It gives you perspectives, tools and exercises that will absolutely make a difference in how you think about what you want and where you are going - if you do them. Like any book of this kind - reading it is interesting, and will probably provide some insights, but to really get the full benefit, you need to actually do the exercises. So get yourself a career creation buddy, or a coach, or just get off the couch and do them - and get on with the life you want.