Hello lovely listeners.  Today I have December's column for summer clerks, which holds truths applicable not only to summer clerks.  Unfortunately in the editing process the numbers of my numbered list got taken out, but I hope you will muscle through anyway.

I am loathe to say it is a Christmas miracle, but...it's a Christmas miracle!  The podcast returns!  Now with monthly episodes, hopefully increasing to a higher frequency next year.  It feels really good.  Thank you to the many of you who reached out to me during the hiatus - you are wonderful.

In this episode I spoke to Nichola, a senior legal and policy advisor for the Law Commission with a background in private practice in New Zealand and the UK.  We talked working in the UK vs working here, working in private firms vs public service, and big firms vs small, all of which came down to that beautiful notion of finding your fit.  Nichola is also a parent to two wee boys and we talked about how she has navigated family life and work life.  It was a joyful and utterly delightful discussion that goes quite nicely with the end of year wind down.  

Some of you may not be aware but I write a New Lawyer column for LawTalk every month.  They are a joy to write because I do not have to write in the style of a legal text book and sometimes they let me mention my dog.  It's great.  

Hello my lovely listeners.  Just a quick check in to say that instead of returning this week we will in fact be taking an indefinite hiatus while I give full attention to a health issue I am dealing with.  I do have some wonderful guests scheduled to record later in the year but just when we will be recording and releasing those episodes I do not know yet.  Stay subscribed to the podcast feed or to Facebook or Twitter and you will know when we start back up.

In the meantime, subject to that health issue, I am appearing on the Wellington Young Lawyer Committee panel on junior lawyer mental health and wellbeing on 16 August, so if you want a podcast-like fix and you are in Wellington, please come!  You can book here.

This episode was all about innovation in law, a topic I and my guest Chris get very excited about.  It includes a brainstorm on how to balance the need for innovation with good ol' lawyerly risk aversion.  In researching for this episode I came across a press release for a 2016 report on innovation in Australasia that includes the sentence, "The majority of Australasian law firms rate themselves as innovative but there is little evidence to support this claim...". However, it is not all bleak; below are some examples of lawyers already thinking differently and doing cool things to modernise how law is practised.  Again, I must emphasise my recommendation that all lawyers read the Marque Lawyers website in its wonderful entirety.  

In this episode I sat down with the lawyer self care guru herself, Julia Batchelor-Smith, to talk all things self care, balance and contentment (and nerd out about the Construction Contracts Act; apologies).  We covered some GREAT stuff, including non-linear careers, taking time out to do crazy always-wanted-to ventures, parenting and lawyering, microcredentialing (Katie learns a word), how to keep on top of stress, how to manage mistakes, financial literacy and the business of Spanx.

Hello again beautiful listeners.  This episode I went to Auckland to sit down with the Law Society's current president, Kathryn Beck, who is also a partner at employment firm SBM Legal.  We had a delicious wide-ranging conversation about her career as an employment lawyer, her longstanding involvement in different parts of the Law Society, her vision for the best future for law in New Zealand, her advice to new lawyers, her thoughts on mental health for lawyers, and her joy and love for the practice of law.  It is always wonderful to watch someone who loves what they do, do what they do, and now you all get to listen along to that too.  There is so much in this discussion, feel free to take it in bits if need be, with breaks for refreshment etc. 

This week's episode is almost a case study for episode 15.  I talked to Anna, a third year litigation solicitor at a mid-sized firm about how she found some moderation in her all-or-nothing personality type.  The answer seems to lie in the direction of self awareness and a great law firm culture, with a touch of mindfulness practice thrown in.  I particularly loved getting into what makes her workplace so supportive of sustainable success; it's a recipe for us all.  We also had lovely chats about how she came to work at that firm in only second year of law school, and her experiences as a young woman lawyer (there is even some comeuppance, listeners!).  I do hope you enjoy.

I am about to ask you a favour, in service of me and your fellow lawyer and prospective lawyer colleagues.  The benefit to me and them will be immense, and we are alllll grateful. 

The big news - following certain inquiries and interest, Symphony Law will soon be offering new lawyer coaching. This feels magnificent to me.  There is nothing I love more than interesting, juicy conversations with good people (hence the podcast), except reading the kinds of books that fuel those conversations.  If I can turn that attention on an individual lawyer to coach them to a more enjoyable, sustainable, successful and authentic career, then you better believe I am going to do that.

This episode is a bit different from others in that Mike is not himself a lawyer, but he treats lawyers in his practice as a clinical psychologist and basically wrote a book about us, so it counts. We discussed all or nothing personalities (of course), the antidote to the extreme versions of that personality, the consequences of letting your all or nothing nature rule your life, and what life looks and feels like when it's not quite so all or nothing.