Many law firms operate to a December 31 financial year end, and for those firms the turn of the year often heralds the review season. A familiar feature of the performance review process is the lawyers' self-evaluation form.

The obvious question is where do you start, but it's one that some lawyers don't ask. Admittedly there is a strong temptation to just jump in. You know what you did last year, you may have a sense of what you plan to do next year, and this process seems like an inviting opportunity to tell leadership the various ways in which you were awesome.

So why not grab the form, survey the familiar questions and have at it? There's usually a section on results, which may look like a chance to describe in flourishing terms every victory, large, small or pyrrhic.