You already practice law.
Are you ready to practice life?
Are you ready to practice life?
It’s too easy to let work define who we are. It’s our job to define how work is serving us. But what if we could define our work, and not the other way around?
The practice of law is built upon thousands of years of philosophy – from Aristotle to Atticus Finch – to show us why and how it’s so important to protect the most valued aspects of human nature. We can take what we do every day for our clients and use the same system for ourselves.
The fiduciary duties – your duty to your clients – are perfectly designed to do that.
My presentations teach you how to apply the hidden advice that the practice of law holds for your life. As a practicing attorney with a vision to transform the way lawyers see themselves and their work, I appreciate the chance to share experiences and what I’ve learned along the way.
Speaking Topics
Your Fiduciary Duties | Condition Precedent | Factumforming | The Caged Truth
You innately know as an attorney the foundation of any important relationship through the fiduciary duties you owe your clients. Let’s apply them to your relationship to yourself first and then extend it to work. Full and Frank Disclosure, Care and Loyalty are at the center of your relationship with your clients. If you fail any of the three duties, you run the risk of failing your clients. These three duties are also at the center of any important relationship. If it fails, at least one of the three duties has been breached. What does it look like to apply these fiduciary duties equally to yourself and your relationship to work, as you do to your clients?
We all learned in first year Contracts Class about the term “condition precedent”; where the first party of the contract does not have to perform, until the second party to the contract has done what they are supposed to do. It’s actually an easy term to carry over into your own life. We all have great reasons why we can’t make a change until another person “does something different”, we have a new job or the right time appears. The sooner you stop waiting for the problems at work to change so you can be what you want, the sooner you will be living a more fulfilling life.
While the term “terraforming” was coined in 1942, 20 years later Carl Sagan more deeply explored the idea of terraforming, or earth shaping Venus. It’s the idea that you can change an inhospitable environment to hospitable. Factumforming is the environment at work we create through our acts, deeds and thoughts. We explore what can be done to make the work environment about more than just producing good work. While we can’t control others, we can take tangible steps to create a work environment that is about us being what we truly want to be. We’ll walk through these steps together.
It’s not so much that you are living a lie when you keep the truth of who you are caged up inside. It’s that you are not living the life you are meant to live. You can even make the bars that cage the truth in out of the ones you love and care for. The journey of how I set myself free from the cage I built is a story of wanting only what I saw as the best way to live my best life. Let me share my story as the first step in helping you discover your freedom.
“I had the privilege of participating on a focus group for Jim Dwyer’s presentation Fiduciary 360. It was a wonderful presentation that allowed me the opportunity to apply the ethical standards I know so well as an attorney to my personal life. Now as I interact with those close to me, I think about how I care for them. Do I follow through with commitments? Am I diligent with promoting their needs? Do I listen? Really listen? In short, am I giving the people I love the same ethical respect I give my clients? I must say the answer is not always yes. But now, after Jim’s presentation, I am much more aware and I am striving for consistency. It is definitely a presentation worth participating in.”
Sonya Fischer Attorney in Portland, Oregon
If you want to know what they didn’t teach you in law school about The Practice of Law and Life – you’ve come to the right place.
Join the conversation today and receive my twice monthly posts + The Law-Life Project Presents: The Bottom Line, a 5-part self investigative series to help you align the practice of law with your practice of life. We can’t change the Practice of Law, but TOGETHER we can change how we engage and experience law and life.
Every artist has tools, from a hammer and chisel to the acetylene torch. The art of asking questions is one of the most powerful tools an attorney uses. Together we spark questions about how to create the practice of law and life we want.
Great strides in our lives are made of small steps. It is about the small and everyday steps you can seamlessly take in your daily practice of law that lead you to living your best life. Through probing questions and small successes, my goal is to bring a fresh and deeper perspective to the lawyer’s life.
