James Dolan

October 19, 2009 | Texas Lawyer

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was condemned to roll a heavy rock uphill to a point almost reaching the light of the living world, only to witness its descent after each day's labor, the ultimate expression of the absurd. As the echoes of Sisyphus, we all possess a rock, says psychotherapist James Dolan.

By James Dolan

5 minute read

July 09, 2007 | Texas Lawyer

Marketing is nothing more than creating business relationships with people whom the lawyer then asks to pay him to handle their legal problems.

By James Dolan

5 minute read

April 21, 2010 | Law.com

It wouldn't be a surprise if lawyers are hesitant to ask for a raise in these uncertain economic times. But if you feel you're past due for more money, psychotherapist James Dolan discusses how to overcome your fear and present a persuasive argument for why you deserve it.

By James Dolan

6 minute read

January 25, 2010 | Texas Lawyer

Lawyers who represent clients and their firms well eventually may be rewarded for their efforts with the prestige of a leadership position, says professional coach and psychotherapist James Dolan. But natural leaders are few and far between, he says. They tend to be the class clown in grade school, the cool outsider in high school or the rock musician in college. They either led or got into trouble because natural leaders know no other way of dwelling within a hierarchy than to lead.

By James Dolan

5 minute read

July 29, 2008 | Law.com

Professional coach/psychotherapist James Dolan sees it quite often: lawyers who say they're going to do what they want with their life when they retire. Dolan calls it Preparing to Live Syndrome, and it causes suffering, depression, anxiety and may require medication. The sufferer sees life as an endless chain of meaningless experiences that lack passion but that he must tolerate, because those experiences lead to some future point when all will come together. Dolan explains what actions lawyers can take.

By James Dolan

6 minute read

May 03, 2010 | Texas Lawyer

Of the many concerns facing the new associate, or even the experienced partner, one of the most complex and mystifying is that of work-life balance, says James Dolan. It is an issue about which many firms appear to be concerned. They present workshops and make printed material available; mentors nod their heads in that direction; and human resources departments employ professional development specialists to work on the issue. Ultimately, however, it appears that the legal world leaves each attorney to his own devices to crack the code of work-life balance.

By James Dolan

5 minute read

April 25, 2011 | Texas Lawyer

The unarrestable criminal is a person whose intentions are as unilateral, self-interested and destructive as any robber, but whose crimes are not defined in statutes, writes James Dolan, M.A. The UC in a law firm assumes others are resources to be exploited instead of centers of feeling, thought and intentions of their own. Instead of securing what he wants for himself in a straightforward manner, he waits to take what others have. When evaluated by intention and motive, the UC is indistinguishable from the person who violates statutes. Who is the UC in a firm?

By James Dolan, M.A.

5 minute read

May 12, 2010 | Law.com

Work-life balance is a fantasy, if lawyers somehow imagine it as the perfect equilibrium of the personal and the professional, notes professional coach and psychotherapist James Dolan. He says a better target is to do the best one can while maintaining a strong sense of self-preservation.

By James Dolan

5 minute read

August 09, 2010 | Texas Lawyer

Compartmentalizing is a key part of thinking like a lawyer, says James Dolan, a professional coach and psychotherapist. In that abstracting process, lawyers break down real-world problems into their constituent parts, then examine each compartment's relationship to the others. Depending on the task at hand, lawyers argue that the compartments are either sealed off from or connected to one another, he says.

By James Dolan

6 minute read

October 23, 2009 | Law.com

For having deceived Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld, Sisyphus was condemned to roll a heavy rock uphill, only to witness its descent after each day's labor -- the ultimate expression of the absurd. For lawyers, writes psychotherapist and professional coach James Dolan, it is all too easy to develop a sense of futility and the absurd in a world of seemingly arbitrary judges, unethical opponents, and dishonest parties and partners. Is the solution for frustrated lawyers to stop rolling their rock?

By James Dolan

5 minute read