From The CLE Chair

Bob Wildau

This debut issue of The Complete Lawyer™ is the culmination of a fortunate chain of events. In the fall of 2003 the Atlanta Bar CLE Board was looking for ways to distinguish its programs from the competition and to support the Bar's drive to increase membership. Broadening the range of our CLE programs beyond the familiar specialty areas seemed a good way to support our members in becoming more "complete lawyers."

And... nobody else was doing it!

Around the same time, we learned that Yellowwoods Consultants, a high-powered Atlanta consulting firm, had invested heavily in designing programs specifically for lawyers. The series sought to enhance the non-technical skills that in the business world have been shown to power the most successful and satisfying careers.

We sat in on a trial run of an early seminar and were intrigued by Yellowwoods' approach. When the start of the 2004-05 Bar year neared, we jumped at the chance to collaborate with them on an online magazine or "e-zine" which would introduce these and other new ideas about how lawyers can be more successful - and also more satisfied - in the practice of law.

We feel strongly about addressing the causes of chronic lawyer dissatisfaction, which include the lack of mutual commitment between lawyers and their firms, and the sense among many lawyers that they have no control over their own destinies.

The program launched with this e-zine is rooted in the idea that lawyers are people too good, too smart and too motivated just to accept the status quo. The Complete Lawyer™ won't have all the answers, but we hope to start a conversation by asking questions out loud that we know our readers have been asking themselves.

In this issue, we start by looking at how lawyers sharewhat they know - with the newly admitted young, and with others who many need to re-tool or re-orient their careers. Mentoring has gained new prominence with the announcement by the State Bar of Georgia of its mandatory Transition into Law Practice Program. The core of this initiative is to match every beginning lawyer with a mentor for the first year after admission to the Bar. Its goal is "to assist beginning lawyers ... in acquiring the practical skills, judgment and professional values necessary to practice law in a highly competent manner."

We plan to go much further, by tackling the fundamental question of how firms and lawyers foster each other's advancement. The goal of this effort is to establish the more productive relationships that produce success and satisfaction for both.

Robert Wildau, Chair Atlanta Bar CLE Board