The Free Lawyer

Are you ever afraid to assert yourself, particularly when you feel the other party has more power than you? Ever wonder how to effectively ask for what you truly want? Lucia Kanter St. Amour answers these questions and more today! Effective negotiation can be your everyday superpower in your profession, office, and home. Lucia is an incredible attorney, mediator, law professor, and best-selling author of For the Forces of Good: The Superpower of Everyday Negotiation. You will want to hear Lucia's insights about: -The importance of building genuine rapport -The need to set boundaries in our life -How to manage bullies in the workplace -The stress of hourly billing requirements -The keys of listening and asking questions -Building freedom in resolving our own problems by tapping into our autonomy and speaking up without fear of reprisal Lucia Kanter St. Amour is a VP for UN women USA, practicing attorney, and law professor turned everyday negotiation superhero. She’s the author of "For the Forces of Good: The Superpower of Everyday Negotiation" and is here to help you harness your everyday negotiation superpowers, so you can rock it in your job, get your kids to eat their peas, and be the most powerful person in the room!

"If you don’t design your life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." – Jim Rohn Are you happy with where you are? Are you making the kind of income that you want? Are you finding fulfillment and doing the area of practice you enjoy? Are you working with people you like and respect? Do you find joy in your life? Do you find enough time to be with your family and pursue hobbies that please you? Sometimes we get stuck in the grind and need to reflect on what we want. Now, in the New Year, we have the essential time to reflect and choose what we want our future to be. We have the power to create the future of our dreams. We deserve it. In this episode, I will explain some of the most important considerations to evaluate in determining our future and lay out a ten-step process for you to choose precisely who you want to be and how to create that future.

Do you ever feel that there is so much competition and it is hard to stand out from the crowd as an attorney? Scott Aaron, LinkedIn Coach and business expert for personal branding and business growth, joins The Free Lawyer today. He explains how we can best use LinkedIn to brand ourselves as professionals and grow our practices. Scott shares his expertise on these critical topics- -Why LinkedIn is the best professional social media platform for business growth -The Seven Advantages of LinkedIn -How to best utilize LinkedIn to show your expertise -The three best posts to do each week -How our journey creates our own unique experiences and skills -How to create meaningful content to show your zone of genius -Creating personal freedom by living life with intention and creating space to enjoy the journey Scott is truly a brilliant expert not only on LinkedIn but also on personal branding and business growth. You want to make sure to catch this episode! Internationally acclaimed and award-winning online marketer, 3x best-selling author, top podcaster, and speaker, Scott Aaron, is the go-to specialist when it comes to converting traffic, establishing connections, generating leads, creating sales, and building personal brands, all using LinkedIn.  Fully immersing himself in learning LinkedIn and social media strategies, Scott quickly gained traction as a leader in generating significant results for other entrepreneurs, online business owners, and business coaches. Scott is passionate about helping fellow entrepreneurs succeed while building their network organically and without complicated and costly marketing tactics. His program has helped thousands experience explosive growth following his proven system and strategies. People-focused and result-driven, Scott's strategic approach to teaching others how to create wealth online and organic traffic is the game changer when it comes to competing in a saturated digital world.

True personal freedom can only be created by mindfully living in the present. Last week, we reviewed the problems with living in the past (regret, resentment, shame) or the future (worry, stress, fear). Today in part 2, we present the ten unique gifts of being present: peace, joy, freedom, gratitude, acceptance, success, productivity, better relationships, and happiness. Who would not want all that?? But how do we get there? I give you ten practical steps for you to follow to begin creating the personal freedom you deserve by living in the present. Have a listen and start changing your life today!

Helen Pamely, a lawyer, psychotherapist, speaker, and career coach for lawyers from the UK, explains in this episode of The Free Lawyer how we can enhance our confidence, resilience, performance, and well-being. These are some key takeaways: -How to overcome exhaustion and burnout and achieve a healthy work-life balance -The importance of rewriting your narrative to realize you are enough just as you are -The power of affirmations -Finding balance by creating spaces in your day -Building freedom by living your life intelligently with boundaries Helen started her career at the Magic Circle law firm Linklaters. At just six years qualified, she was promoted to Partner in Dispute Resolution at the London City law firm Rosling King. With a passion for mental health and well-being, and a desire to understand how we can optimize these to reach our potential and perform at our best, a few years into her career, Helen retrained as a Psychotherapist and an Executive Coach. Helen now coaches lawyers to excel, thrive in their careers, and become the best and happiest versions of themselves.                                 

Do you ever find you are distracted, worrying about the future and how things will turn out? Do you worry about what other people might be thinking of you? Do you ever resent what people have done to you in the past? How often do you find yourself thinking about what happened yesterday or what might happen tomorrow? How does that make you feel? So often, we waste our precious energy thinking about what has happened in the past, what has been done to us, or even what we might have done wrong. Sometimes we may obsess about the future, imagining bad results and poor outcomes. One of the biggest challenges in creating personal fulfillment is living in the present and avoiding being stuck in the past or the future. Unfortunately, both of those create obstacles to our attaining personal freedom. This is a two-part episode about creating personal freedom by living in the present. Today, I discuss the problems of living in the past and, even worse, in the future; I will give you tools to escape the past and avoid the future. Next week I will describe ten gifts of being present in the moment and give you tangible tools to achieve that. Stay present and be free!!

Suzanne Shams joins us today to share her wisdom about how we as attorneys can find true happiness as attorneys. We chat about these important topics: -How to overcome physical and  mental health challenges -The importance of accepting ourselves and managing the temptation to always doubt ourselves -Stopping the energy leaks so we can be more productive -Finding fulfillment through service -Remembering we are not alone -The gift of self-compassion -Finding our true place in our profession that is in alignment with our values Suzanne has been an attorney, a professor and now is The Counsel's Coach. She helps stressed and exhausted attorneys become more productive happy and fulfilled. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or at suzanne.shams@gmail.com.

Have you ever had someone really hurt you in your life? Someone who treated you very badly, unjustifiably, for no good reason? And you feel, quite justifiably, resentful of how that person treated you? Who hasn’t been hurt by the actions or words of another? Those wounds can create a reservoir of anger and bitterness, sometimes even vengeance. The key to freeing you from that prison of bitterness is forgiveness. Today I explain what is forgiveness; what is not forgiveness, why we should forgive; hurdles to forgiveness; what are the gifts of forgiveness; and what are the steps to take in forgiving someone who has unjustifiably harmed you. It is time to create that freedom you deserve! Have a listen!

Elaine Godley joins The Free Lawyer today to share her expertise on how to build a life of health and well-being as a lawyer in today's challenging and stressful legal profession. Elaine is a Health and Wellbeing Mentor in the UK who supports lawyers in their journey to have a healthy and fulfilling life.  She shares her tools on these topics: -How to determine your profile so you can be in alignment with your true self -How to manage stress and burnout as a lawyer -The importance of self-awareness and mindfulness -How to improve your nutrition to fuel your wellbeing -How to find personal freedom in your profession Elaine has an extensive background in the legal industry, having been the CEO of several large law firms in the UK. Having overcome numerous personal and health struggles, she now helps transform professional service firms to increase profits and health; she coaches lawyers and other professionals individually to build their well-being and fulfillment. You can connect with Elaine on LinkedIn or by email at elaine@elainegodley.com. 

Lawyers often have a reputation of being smart, confident, in control, and intensely logical. But sometimes, we have the unfavorable reputation of being arrogant, insensitive, and poor listeners. One of the traits not focused on very much in the legal practice arena is compassion. Why is it so critical to be a compassionate lawyer? While it is so important to convey a professional image, we also should still be authentically human in our practice. Today I will talk about what compassion is, how it is different from sympathy and empathy, how to be a more compassionate lawyer, and why it is in our personal best interest and the best interest of our profession to strive for being a more compassionate counselor. You will love this episode!