Wellness and the law is a topic I am deeply passionate about. Having myself had to overcome what I call ‘unhappiness’, I now spend a lot of my time exploring wellness, happiness and even joy in legal practice. Having researched the science of happiness and published my book ‘Happy Lawyer Happy Life’ I have come […]
Tech tools – there are so many of them at the moment and I certainly don’t consider myself to be a tech junkie but I am incredibly grateful for the time in which I live and the capacity through a mobile phone to run a business. When I started my law firm 10 years ago, […]
This week marks the beginning of the University year for many Law Students nationwide. Given the recent comments from our Prime Minister himself encouraging students NOT to embark upon the study of law unless they want to be ‘real lawyers’, I would expect there is an extra level of trepidation for those of you lining […]
Today, as I was working my way through a long complicated property settlement analysis an email appeared in my inbox with the title ‘Blog Time’. Now usually I advocate for doing only one thing at a time and not allowing those email notifications to distract you from the task at hand, but today I broke […]
CPD Points… For most of us lawyers, the acronym CPD, aka ‘Continuing Professional Development’ probably causes your eyes to glaze over with a deep sense of boredom. I don’t think it is any secret, a two day legal conference designed to ensure we all can ‘tick off’ those compulsory 10 points along with the 3 […]
Work life balance. Three important words we hear all the time and three words that I don’t think should ever be put together. For over 9 years now I have been running a business- one that I started myself to be the ‘master of my own destiny’ and of course to enable me to attain […]
These past few years I have spent many hours reading, learning and researching happiness. At first this was to better understand my own wellbeing but later all that work led to me writing the book ‘Happy Lawyer Happy Life’. Unhappiness in my profession is rife. The incidence of mental health problems within the legal profession is […]
It’s been a week of ups and downs for me, and so what better thing to do than write about it. Because sometimes telling yourself to pull your socks up, pick your chin up and keep moving works and other times it doesn’t work as well. I spend my days handing out advice to people […]
It was 1997 when I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. That was almost 20 years ago now. Just saying that makes me realise that was a really long time ago! In 1997 I was living in sunny Brisbane, in a share house in Annerley and studying to be an Interior Designer. Not a […]
Divorce is said to be the second most significant grief event that many of us will ever experience. It’s therefore no surprise that the stress experienced during divorce can at times feel overwhelming. Stress is a normal part of life and sometimes stress is actually a good thing. The right amount of ‘stress’ can give us […]
So last week I shared my new found ‘lack of celebration’ of being busy and the most beautiful things happened. A lot of you commented and shared your similar views- that ‘being busy’ seems to be ‘the norm’ and that perhaps by focusing on how busy we are we are in fact missing out on […]
I don’t know about you but it’s Christmas party season for me. This means lots of professional events and lots of fun and catch-ups, but it also tends to mean lots of conversations with people that I don’t know so well. And at each one of these events lately, the conversation seems to go like […]
As most of you know, I heavily advocate for families who are experiencing separation and divorce to do everything they can to stay away from the Family Court process. After 14 years working in the family law system, I have experienced firsthand the difficulties faced by families who find themselves before the Courts. The Court […]
This week I have been asked on a few occasions why I decided on “The Happy Family Lawyer”. It is a funny question as at the time I am not sure I was all that ‘Happy’ and I think I chose the word to remind myself every day of the importance of being just that- […]
What would you do with $100,000? Did you know that the financial outlay for your family to begin and finish a case before the Family Courts here in Australia, will be more than $100,000. This is almost a conservative estimate- I have no doubt that many families have spent many more thousands over the years […]
It seems not that long ago that I was three years into a five year law degree trying to work out how on earth I was ever going to actually be a ‘lawyer’. A ‘proper lawyer’- the sort that wears a fancy suit and shiny black shoes that would spend her days gazing out a big glass window, […]
It is a beautiful rainy Saturday here in Brisbane and I am tucked in my office writing a book pitch! Yep that damn book that seems to be filling my mind, all day, every day. None the less it has been a beautiful couple of hours as I trawl through the random collection of titles […]
Happiness is…. Well I think it is something different for each of us. For me it is the simplest of things. Taking my daughter each morning to the coffee shop where she clambers on a stool to climb up on a table and grab a sachet of sugar. She will say ‘just one’ as she […]
I had the privilege of meeting with a new client this afternoon. I have heard the first appointment between client and lawyer described as a bit like a ‘first date’- full of anticipation and nerves and with a mutual hope of a long lasting and successful relationship. Sometimes these appointments are easy and other times ‘hard’. Today, […]
