Many states require lawyers to respond promptly to their clients. One Vermont lawyer allegedly ignored this rule when she avoided a client for almost three years — from 2009 to 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported.
And she isn't alone. The latest issue of the New Mexico Law Review features a guide for law students and lawyers whose productive juices are blocked. Written by David and Meehan Rasch, the first sentence of the paper goes: "I can only write when deadlines have passed, and I feel like there is a gun to my head." Intense.
The guide suggests that lawyers might be procrastination-prone because they have to write so much — and it's easy to get distracted from that difficult task. "Writing is a mentally demanding and complex activity that requires sustained effort and attention," the guide notes.
The New Mexico Law Review article isn't the publication to note that lawyers can be big procrastinators. Themes like this have popped up throughout legal self-help guides.
ABA Now recently noted that "lawyers can be great procrastinators." This can be a big problem.
“Inadequate planning, waiting too long to realize that you don’t want to handle a case or that there is no case really to handle, or [handling matters] that come to you at the 11th hour is going to be problematic in many instances," Paula Frederick, general counsel for the State Bar of Georgia reportedly said at a recent conference.
So, how does a lawyer avoid putting off unpleasant tasks? Head over to the Wall Street Journal to read about "tips for the legal procrastinator."
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