Top 10 Your Voice columns for 2024
Year in Review
Top 10 Your Voice columns of 2024
December 24, 2024, 9:00 am CST
Illustration by Lee Rawles/Shutterstock.
At the ABA Journal, we revel in our readers’ passion and engagement. Most legal professionals are wordsmiths, with much to share from their work and personal experiences.
Since 2018, we have featured their words in our Your Voice section, inviting guest columnists to spark conversations about issues relevant to the profession.
Check out the 10 most-read Your Voice columns from 2024 below or our full Your Voice archives for more evergreen advice and thought-provoking pieces of writing.
By Judge Kimberly McTorry
As a lawyer mom of four, I am all too familiar with the angst derived by a question as small as, “What are we going to eat tonight?” You have spent your entire day lawyering and solving other people’s problems, but somehow this is the one that topples the tower–not because it’s burdensome but because the question is a glaring reminder that at least one aspect of your life is a mess. I’m done with my work, but haven’t fed the kids. I went to the baseball tournament but missed the important gala. I had no personal experience with anyone who was struggling with mental health issues. Rod Kubat
Have you ever thought that? “I must be losing my mind because I can’t remember where I parked my car or set my iPhone, your name–although I recognize your face–an address, a birthday, a password, a set of numbers, what I was looking for, etc.” Many aging lawyers have–including me.
By Joachim B. Steinberg
From pretty much the moment that we start law school, we get advice on how to be better writers. The majority of the advice comes from lawyers or ex-lawyers. It’s okay to start. Samantha Divine Jallah
Dear sister (in-law), welcome to the profession of stress, anxiety and depression, negativity and danger, sickness and suicide. Welcome to our profession of stress, anxiety, depression, negativity, endangerment, sickness and suicide (also known as “SADNESS”). All of them divide us, dishearten us and discourage us in devastating ways. You can prepare and overcome them. Ever. He explained that we would not be able to carry calculators around with us as we grew older, so it was important to know how to solve problems using only a pencil and our brain. We were unlikely to walk around with calculators when we got older, he explained, and so we had to be able to work things out with only a pencil and our brain.
By Tracy Hresko Pearl
While my students have found professional success in a wide variety of settings–large law firms, small firms, nonprofits, government agencies, courts, etc.–I have been highly troubled by the number of students who have been subjected to hiring and employment practices at small firms that I would describe as unethical at best and deceptive and exploitative at worst.
By Neil Handwerker
Management consulting firms and Big Four accounting firms have a secret weapon. It’s not well-hidden. Anyone who bothers to take a look will find it. They’ve been doing it for decades–from business development to crisis management to marketing. I remember being on cloud 9 as I drove from work a few years ago. Two hours late, but excited to sneak in on my 1-year old as she played in her bath. I was working as a federal prosecutor, and some agents and I had finally cracked (through equal part persistence and luck) a cross-border money laundering case that had seemed to be hopeless until that morning.
By Xenia Tashlitsky
Ten years ago, I was a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed young attorney, fresh from a federal clerkship and eager to start my litigation career. One year later, a sleepless and burned-out basketcase was on her way out of the door, asking herself, “Did i make an awful mistake by going to law school?” Fast-forward almost a decade and I can answer this question with a resounding yes. ABAJournal.com accepts queries from unpaid contributors for original, thoughtful articles and commentary that are non-promotional. Details and submission guidelines can be found at “Your Submissions Your Voice.”
