Evaluation Season: How to Give and Receive Feedback Without the Armor emotional intelligence feedback leadership onboarding professional development Oct 15, 2026

It’s evaluation season. Annual reviews are being written, calibration meetings are on the calendar, and in the next few weeks a lot of lawyers will sit across from someone and hear how their year went.

What happens in the ten seconds after that moment shapes a career more than t...

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Fall Reset: Building the Habit You Meant to Build in January fear goals habits performance professional development well-being Sep 24, 2026

Somewhere back in January, you decided to build a habit. A morning routine, weekly business development, leaving at a reasonable hour. You started strong, life got loud, and by March it had dissolved into the pile of things you meant to do.

Instead of guilt, I want to offer a se...

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The First Ninety Days: What Nobody Tells You About Building a Reputation emotional intelligence leadership professional development reputation Sep 04, 2026

September is a second January in the legal profession. New associates arrive, students start law school, and experienced lawyers step into new roles, new teams, and new firms.

Before founding EsquireWell, I spent years in law school career development and law firm professional d...

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What New Associates Need That Orientation Doesn't Cover emotional intelligence leadership new associates onboarding professional development Aug 28, 2026

Every August and September, a new class of associates walks into law firms across the country carrying two things: a JD they worked years for, and almost no preparation for what the first year of practice actually demands.

Orientation will handle the logistics, covering things l...

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The Case for Well-Being as a Professional Competency in Legal Practice leadership performance professional development well-being May 05, 2026

In 2017, the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being published a report that made a statement most of the profession wasn't ready to hear: "To be a good lawyer, one has to be a healthy lawyer."

The report went further. It argued that well-being is an indispensable part of a law...

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