Transforming Practices: Finding Joy and Satisfaction in the Legal Life

by Steven Keeva

Book Overview

Spirituality and law practice may seem like an oxymoron, but a quiet quest to find deeper meaning in life and work as a lawyer and to cure the ailments of today's cutthroat law firm environment is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809225085
• ISBN13: 9780809225088
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Staying in the practice, and enjoying it!

Transforming Practices truly is a gift to lawyers, like me, who have been practicing for many years and want to continue practicing law in a satisfying and meaningful way. This book has been one of my best investments, and I keep it on my desk at work. Reading, or in my case rereading, Steven Keeva's inspirational words provides a much needed boost in spirit, and a new way of looking at the legal life, even on a difficult day! My colleagues who have read this book wholeheartedly agree!

This book can change your life!

As a career counselor who often works with disillusioned and unhappy attorneys, I really appreciated Steve Keeva's book for its understanding of the inherent difficulties in practicing law and its wise and compassionate solution. For unhappy lawyers who still want to practice law, but also want to enjoy it more, Keeva's book is an important reminder that, while we may not be able to transform a whole profession, each and every one of us has the power to transform ourselves. It takes just as much courage for lawyers to stand up for themselves as it does to stand up for their clients. I thank Steve Keeva for writing this book and can only hope that his readers heed his message and heal themselves.

Truly outstanding!

If you are a lawyer who feels overwhelmed, unfulfilled or just plain angry with your practice (or love someone who is) this book is your compass to happiness. Steven Keeva has found a variety of lawyers who love their work and he carefully analyzes why. He will guide you, step-by-step, back to satisfaction, or show you where it is if you have never been there. Better yet, buy this book for an aspiring lawyer at the beginning of the journey...it is the best gift you could offer.

Keep your work (not just in law) from killing your spirit.

There was a joke a few years back about a Russian banker. The devil appeared and told him he could have control over one of the largest banks in the country. All he would have to do was sign over his, his wife's, and their children's souls for all eternity. The banker hesitated, thought for a moment and finally looked at the impatient demon "I don't get it," he said quizzically "what's the catch?" Too many Americans think of lawyers as (sorry!) soulmates to this mythical banker and too many lawyers act and live in ways that justify this belief. Part of this comes with the territory: we ask lawyers to do unpleasant things for us, be greedy and unreasonable for us in business and matrimonial disputes, help us hide from the consequences of our actions in criminal cases, and sometimes stretch the envelope in getting us what we feel we are owed in any number of types of claims. We judge lawyers by how well they do these things and then (depending which side of the dispute we were on) salve our consciences or get even by disdaining them for doing what we want them to do. Lawyers, like many other people, fall easily into their ascribed roles. Many of them revel in how unscrupulous they are, how cleverly they helped miscreants escape, etc. And, of course, many of these personality traits have appeared in people running legal organizations: greed, amorality, lack of connection with the human consequences of their actions. Is this only in law? I don't think so. Steven Keeva's book brings light into this dark and shadowy place. He shows some lawyers who are opting out of this world of mindless, soulless predation and are finding ways to allow their work to nurture, rather than prey upon, their souls. His book is a treasury of insights, stories, and techniques, designed to keep the best people (the ones who want to know what they are doing and who care about what it means) in law and to connect the best of what all people in law have to offer with the work that lawyers do. Along the way, he offers insights into how lawyers can transform themselves and their practices in ways that will benefit themselves and their clients and some glimpses into the larger movement in American life that is seeking to bring meaning and satisfaction into our lives at work (the anti-Dilbert movement). If every lawyer in America read this book carefully, perhaps the high rate of job dissatisfaction in this profession would change. Certainly the legal world would be a better place. There is much to read and ponder here for workers in all fields in which human lives and values are at stake. Here is a way to build a bridge back from alienation to meaning and joy. I hope people read it and find the courage to act on its wonderful message. I guess it means something that I've written this much and said nothing about the book's writing and organization. That's what reading it was like. The technical sides of the book were so unobtrusively excellent

A "must read" book for any frustrated lawyer!!

Steve Keeva's new book is godsend to any frustrated lawyer who can't now recall why he or she ever became a lawyer! This is not simply another "feel good" book, although you will feel good when you are done reading it. This book offers concrete strategies for improving your practice of law and having more fun in your life. I highly recommend it!