In the last three issues of The Complete Lawyer (see the LACBA issue here!) Stephanie West Allen, Diane Levin, Gini Nelson and I have been tuning up our conflict resolution violins.  In this issue's The Human Factor column, the four of us once again share our TCL space to talk (ever so briefly) about the ways in which conflict resolution techniques can help lawyers achieve that elusive goal of a blanced work-life.

Gini Nelson calls conflict avoidance (one of my favorite techniques in "real life") "deferred relationship maintenance,"  which nails this way of handling our personal lives on the head.  Read all about it here.

Diane Levin (here) addresses the problems none of us like to talk about -- dysfunctional workplaces, noting that

Our ability to connect with others, gain their trust, influence and motivate them is the social lubricant that makes businesses thrive. In fact, Dan Hull, an attorney I admire for his focus on client service, once wrote, "Treat each co-worker like he or she is your best client." He's right—nurture relationships for a healthier law firm.

Stephanie West Allen (here) our resident brain science afficianado (see Brains on Purpose) notes that

Our brain likes to be fuel efficient; by discerning patterns, it saves energy. It studies the situations at hand, whether they are protracted mediations, playful exchanges with a partner, or steely verbal duels with opposing counsel, to see if they resemble a situation it has seen in the past. We then base our judgments on that unconscious notion of past—but we are not always fully aware of the present. Yesterday's solutions do not always fit today’s problems.

If you read this blog on a regular basis, my contribution to this issue -- Let's Start Talking About What We Genuinely Value -- will sound pretty darn familiar; here's 'the problem" at its source -- click here for at least one solution.

According to the Global Rich List, AmLaw 100 associates are among the top .01% richest people in the world. Mid-level AmLaw partners are in the top .001% and beyond that the GRL stops counting. Though of course we do not.

If a comparison of our salaries with these galactic levels of compensation make us unhappy, it is unlikely that the following knowledge will make us happy—three billion people live on less than $2 and 1.3 billion on less than $1 per day. Why does this knowledge leave us untouched? Because we don’t compare ourselves to the rest of the world. We compare ourselves to the guy sitting in the office next to us.

So how did we—some of the smartest, richest, most creative, energetic and best educated people in the world—get so unhappy about money? I personally blame it on the American Lawyer even though, like drug dealers and the paparazzi, legal journalists wouldn’t be concentrating on profits per partner unless we were all so avid to know them.

Beginning with the next issue of The Complete Lawyer we'll be taking turns writing the column.  If you like what any of us have to say about ADR's value in your work and life, stay tuned!  There will be much, much more!

The rest of the issue is also well worth reading.  The focus is on EXIT STRATEGIES -- a topic not reserved for those contemplating retirement (though our interests are addressed here as well).  This is one profession where people start talking about exit stragies around the second week of the first year of law school.  So check it out!