VERMONT BAR JOURNAL

Summer 2007 • VOL. 33, NO. 2

DEPARTMENTS:

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN: The Pursuit of Immortality

RUMINATIONS: The Peake Murder Trial

YANKEE JUSTICE: Frederick Mehlman

Book Review

FEATURES:

Seven Habits of Effective Lawyers, by Robert D. Rachlin, Esq.

Being an effective lawyer is a step to a higher end: success. Just what is success? Success, in the dictionary sense, is the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted.

The Practice of Law is a profession and a Business – And That’s a Good Thing, by Deborah T. Bucknam, Esq.

Last year, I had the honor of being sworn in as a member of the New Hampshire Bar. At the swearing-in ceremony, the state’s chief justice admonished new admittees to remember that the practice of law is a profession, not a business. The chief justice was echoing a traditional distaste for commerce that is well-known to the legal profession.

An Interview with Justice Denise Johnson, by Charity R. Clark, Esq.

On December 3, 1990, Denise Johnson made history by becoming the first woman to serve on the Vermont Supreme Court. In the nearly seventeen years since then, Justice Johnson has not only served with distinction, she has been a leader to many Vermont women attorneys who have come of age during her tenure.

Running Out of Space? Obligations and Suggestions Regarding Closed Client Files, by Wendy S. Collins, Esq.

As lawyers retire, consolidate offices, downsize, or just run out of room, I am often asked, “How much longer do I have to keep these files?” It would seem as though this would be a simple question to answer, but, as is often the case in ethics, it is not.

The Mindful Lawyer: Mindfulness Meditation and Law Practice, by J. Patton Hyman, Esq.

What is an article on meditation doing in a bar journal? Why are mainstream firms and law schools offering classes in meditation? What is mediatation anyway, and what could it possibly have to do with practicing law?

Cool Technology for Hot Lawyers, by Sharon D. Nelson and John W. Simek

Most lawyers, if not quite technophobes, have a limited knowledge of technology. Did the clock on your VCR flash a perpetual 12:00 because you couldn’t figure out how to reset it? Do you have a cell phone with five hundred functions, about five of which you know how to use? IF so, you are members of a very large club.