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Frequently Asked Questions about our One-to-One Workshops
Will firm and client information remain confidential?
Are one-to-one meetings confidential?
How are conflicts resolved?
How are meetings scheduled?
Do you schedule meetings outside Boston?
Do you work with lawyers at various levels of experience?
Can you work with an entire starting class?
Do you work with summer associates?
What types of documents should lawyers submit?
How long are One-on-One Meetings?
Where do you hold meetings?
Can you hold meetings long distance?
What written materials will our lawyers receive?
Will participants get written comments on their writing?
Will the comments be provided by Track Changes?
How can we be certain that your comments will gel with the suggestions we give our associates?
Will firm and client information remain confidential?
We are extremely careful to guard firm and client confidentiality. We provide each firm with a letter promising confidentiality and will sign your firm’s confidentiality agreement, if requested. Participating lawyers may also choose to redact client information from their papers.
Are one-to-one meetings confidential?
Meetings are completely confidential and we do not discuss the substance of our meetings with any person outside your firm ever. To encourage a candid exchange of ideas, we recommend that the substance of one-to-one workshop meetings remain confidential between participating lawyers, our editors and, if you choose, your professional development team. If you would like us to report back to your professional development team on the substance of meetings, we always let participating attorneys know that we will be doing so.
Our editors keep a list of clients whose documents they have reviewed and must decline to review any work as to which they have an actual or apparent conflict.
For Boston meetings, we schedule meetings on a weekly “as-needed” basis. We ask to receive papers early in the week and almost always turn them around in the week we receive them.
Do you schedule meetings outside Boston?
We are glad to coach lawyers outside the Boston area. We can travel to your office to meet with up to 6 to 8 of your associates in a one-day visit, provided we receive papers at least a week in advance. We can also "meet" with your associates by phone. For phone meetings, we send written comments to the lawyers and then "meet" with your lawyers by phone to review the comments in depth.
Do you work with lawyers at various levels of experience?
Yes. We work with lawyers at all levels of experience, from newly minted summer associates to junior partners.
Can you work with an entire starting class?
Yes. We have several classes of starting associates and work with members of these classes on an as-needed basis throughout the year.
Do you work with summer associates?
Yes. Our summer associate programs are among our most popular. We offer both one-to-one coaching sessions and group workshops for summer associates.
What types of documents should lawyers submit?
Your lawyers should submit a paper from their actual practice. Papers may be final or still “in progress” and should be long enough to give a snapshot of each lawyer’s skills.
How long are One-to-One Meetings?
Meetings generally last an hour.
We will come to your office. We ask that you arrange a conference room.
Can you hold meetings long distance?
Yes. After editing papers, we send our comments to participating attorneys then "meet" by phone to review the line-by-line edits and the Take-Away comments.
What written materials will our lawyers receive?
We encourage you to purchase our book for participating lawyers, since it explains our approach to writing in detail, with many examples to illustrate each point. All participating lawyers will receive a copy of the booklet, The Lawyer's Guide to Writing in a Nutshell, which summarizes the major rules for effective writing and explains standard brief and memorandum structure.
Table of Contents from Lawyer's Guide to Writing
Sample page from Lawyer's Guide to Writing
Table of Contents from Usage, Grammar and Punctuation Guide
Sample page from Usage, Grammar and Punctuation Guide
Will participants receive written comments on their writing?
Yes. Your lawyers will receive both the line-by-line edit and more general Take-Away comments.
Will the comments be provided by Track Changes?
Because our goal is to teach the writer, rather than simply fix the writing, we prefer not to provide comments in track changes, partly because track changes creates the far-too-easy option of “accepting all” changes. Learning requires doing so we expect each writer to read or process each edit. We also want our writers to take ownership of their writing and that means the decision about whether to accept our changes is up to each writer. Similarly, our Take-away comments are often geared towards the writer, rather than the paper, so it is up to each writer to process our suggestions.
How can we be certain that your comments will gel with the suggestions we give our associates?
We promote plain English and modern usage. Unless your senior lawyers are writing in an ancient tongue, our approach to writing should reinforce the good principles that you already encourage your lawyers to follow.