Best Seminar I’ve taken in 29 Years.
A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of doing a Continuing Legal Education workshop based on my Fuel the Spark: 5 Guiding Values for Success in Law and Life book. (do you have your copy yet?…)
One of the evaluations had the following quote:
Best Seminar I’ve taken in 29 Years.
That makes me feel good. If you would like to have me give this presentation to your group, or at your law school just email me.
Notes that make your day…
I received this note as feedback from the article I wrote to introduce the November issue of the ABA Young Lawyer Magazine which is dedicated to Creativity. The article is titled “You’re Full of It!” As soon as the ABA puts the issue online, I’ll post the article. Until then, they have exclusive first publication rights. 
–
Mr. Houchin:
I just wanted to thank you for writing such a necessary article in the YLD Newsletter. What you wrote resonated with me on a host of levels, and it arrived in my office at EXACTLY the moment I needed to hear someone outside of my own mind remind me of all the creativity that I have been trying to find time to cultivate and enjoy. The practice of law can feel all consuming. Conflict is a daily part of the practice. Nonetheless, the antidote is exactly the cultivation of the creative.
Just a note to say, your words were very necessary and came at exactly that right moment.
Thank you,
Tanisha M. Bailey-Roka, Esq.
Thanks Tanisha.
Break from the Mold
Article after article, survey after survey, we keep reading about how most lawyers are stressed, overworked, and dissatisfied with their careers. Yet, in law school especially, we continue to receive the same career advice—join a law firm, follow ranks, work long hours, subscribe to the traditional way of doing things, and so on. Fuel the Spark is an introspective guide to helping lawyers break from the mold and find what works for them on a personal level to achieve a satisfying and rewarding career and life. It is a great guide to blending ethical values with one’s daily life and work to find personal satisfaction and I would highly recommend it to anyone concerned that they are not achieving their maximum potential.
Jackie Bedard
Sweet Note
So many years ago, when I told my dad I wanted to be a lawyer, he said there were too many lawyers in the world and not enough good ones. Kevin, I think you’re one of the good ones. There should be more lawyers like you. And I hope to be one of them after I graduate.
-Gina Murillo
Law Student – Chicago, IL
Fuel the Spark is IN STOCK and Shipping!
The book is now in-stock and shipping!
And, here’s a new testimonial:
@kevinhouchin’s Fuel the Spark is a must read for those thinking about law school (much more helpful than 1L was); wish I had read it before law school.
Rex Gradeless on Fuel the Spark
“You have painted some vivid pictures of things I have been experiencing recently. I can relate to each step of your book and I have personal stories to go along with almost every page! (guess I was paying 100% attention!).”
Rex Gradeless
3rd Year Law Student
Saint Louis University School of Law
http://www.twitter.com/rex7
Files to Publisher
I just submitted the final files to the publisher for the book. It should be available for purchase in March. If you would like to receive a review copy (meaning you’ll read it and post/submit a review) just let me know and I’ll email you a digital copy. Of course as the publish date draws closer, I’ll stop giving away digital review copies.
Dean Larry Dessem on Fuel the Spark
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Law school can seem overwhelming at times to all law students. With his focus on guiding values, Kevin Houchin offers great advice for law school—and for life.
R. Lawrence Dessem
Dean
University of Missouri
School of Law
Marty Reisig on Fuel the Spark
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Kevin, Having graduated law school in 1970, your book refocused me on that very mixed experience. Currently teaching advanced mediation, I try as hard as possible to think about the students—not my presentation. A few quick generalizations for law students stimulated by your book:
1) Don’t think you’re studying cases—you are studying people in tough situations. Always find the human connections. Listen for the underlying story/drama.
2) What is the impact or importance of what you are studying? Find it? Without a sense of importance focus is hard to find.
3) Learn that law is about working with people. The practice will be minimally about law and in large part about relationships, perspectives and emotions. Don’t let rational thinking be the only definition of thinking like a lawyer. You will be a counselor for most of your clients. Their feeling and your understanding them will make them your customers and often friends for life.
4) Get out of the class and get involved. Learn why this stuff matters and how it can help. We are a service profession, start serving. Clinical programs allow students to feel and be useful—as Kevin writes say yes and participate. My students are challenged and find satisfaction from their participation in mediations. Nothing can be better then realizing that you can use your new skills, combined with your decency and common sense to help people during tough situations.
5) For yourself within your school take advantage of moot court and other challenges—you will learn to stand on your feet—find greater depth in your analysis and gain confidence. Also law school can feel cold until you are involved with your classmates—you need friends. Help others and they will help you. This was true when I was in school and it is true today in practice. I am always open to assisting other lawyers and I have found them always open to assisting me.
Kevin for me it was working for the appellate defenders while in law school and participating in Moot Court which allowed me to tolerate and then thrive. I went on to have a trial and now a mediation career, both have been extraordinarily rewarding.
Your concepts of “showing up” and “stewardship” are right on the money.
Marty Reisig
www.reisigmediation.com
Adjunct Professor
University of Detroit Mercy School of Law
Maureen K. McCarthy on Fuel the Spark
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Hi Kevin ~
I finished reading your book last night and I’m so glad you’ve written it! It’s a much needed look at a more holistic picture of law school and what draws people to the law and what can potentially feed or drain them.
You’re absolutely right that people are often drawn to law school because they want to change or fix something in the world. It’s the call to action. Oftentimes that “change” thinking can take us out of being in the moment, because we are working toward what we believe will be a better future. It can stop us from seeing the perfection of now. Your book offers a path to balance future desires with the awareness of the present moment. This is crucial to practicing wholistic law and to living a more integrated life overall.
Your book emphasizes the organic or functional relation between the parts and the whole, instead of the tunnel vision that many people experience in law or medicine. I applaud your passion for getting these concepts out to this population at an early stage in their relationship with the law. Your perspective is essential to shifting the day-to-day experience that we have with the law, in order to create a world that works for all.
Thanks so much, Kevin, for sharing it with me.
With grace and love,
Maureen K. McCarthy
Engaging the Soul @ Work
maureen@engagingthesoulatwork.com
828.693.0802 (Home Office#)
Note: 847.951.7030 (US mobile#)
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Flat Rock, NC 28731 USA
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The best presenters don’t structure their presentations by thinking, What’s the next point I should make? Instead, they decide, What’s the next question I want them to wrestle with?
— , Fast Company Magazine
About Kevin
Kevin E. Houchin is an attorney, artist, teacher, author, and principal of
Houchin & Associates, P.C. , a copyright, trademark, arts & entertainment,
business development, and branding firm located in Fort Collins, Colorado.
To schedule Kevin for keynote speeches, workshops, or seminars, call 970-493-1070
or email
kevin.houchin@houchinlaw.com.
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