Ep. 18 - Seven Habits of Highly Successful Lawyers

Successful Barrister

In this episode, Marc Whitehead and Diana Berry discuss the seven habits of highly effective lawyers. Based on the book by Stephen Covey, these habits are tailored to setting your firm up for success. Habits are important because they build on each other, so establishing a good habit early on can help you be successful over time.

For detailed show notes, navigate using the time stamps below

[2:30] Today’s episode is about choices and how they can lead to good habits. The idea of the episode comes from a Successful Barrister Newsletter article called The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Lawyers.

[4:03] Why are habits so important? Habits are something that you can build on. Over the long run, habits lead to momentum and push you forward.

[7:44] The seven habits are be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek to understand then be understood, synergize, and sharpen the saw.

[8:43] Initially Marc struggled to be proactive. Over time, Marc learned what to cut and what to focus on to maximize his time.

[13:24] The second habit is to begin with the end in mind. For lawyers, this means beginning with your jury charge. Even better, envision the future of your firm and plan for it.

[18:43] Putting first things first is all about focus and focus management. This involves allocating people to best use their abilities. It is about determining what you should and should not be doing.

[25:17] Thinking win-win is all about recognizing mutual benefits and creating situations where both parties can win. Unnecessary win-lose situations may benefit you in the short term, but they can damage long term relationships.

[29:39] The fifth habit is to seek to understand before seeking to be understood. For Marc, this is about meeting people where they are at. This means that sometimes Marc deals with different people differently.

[35:12] Marc has reinterpreted synergy to refer to building an effective team. This could include people you have hired full-time, fractional hires, and outside vendors.

[40:00] The final habit is sharpening the saw. This has to do with improving your teams through training and development. It can also have health implications because being at your best can help you perform at your best.

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