PDC Recommended Reading

Suggested Resources from PDC 

Updated: 11/18/2022

Color key:

Trusted Advisor

Board Member

From time to time we are asked to recommend resources for new PD professionals or those who would like more focused reading on a particular development-related topic.  We asked our Board members and our Trusted Advisors to identify a few seminal texts for our profession.  While this list is by no means exhaustive (and we are happy to cycle in additional resources), we hope it is a good starting point for your continued learning.

Coaching

• Coaching Questions - A Coach's Guide to Powerful Asking Skills (Tony Stoltzfus)
• Co-Active Coaching (Henry and Karen Kimsey-House)
• Let’s Coach All the Lawyers (Jessica Hernandez and Jessica Natkin)

Communications (Oral and Written)

• Thinking Like a Writer (Stephen Armstrong and Timothy Terrell)
• Difficult Conversations (Doug Stone and Sheila Heen)
• Gain the Edge: Negotiating to Get What You Want (Martin Latz)*
• Getting to Yes (Roger Fisher)
• Legal Writing in Plain English (Bryan Garner)
• Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading (Antonin Scalia) *free
• Point Made (Ross Guberman)*
• Point Taken (Ross Guberman)*
• Simply Said (Jay Sullivan)
• The Articulate Advocate (Brian K. Johnson)
• The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen (Dan Heath)
• The Psychology of Persuasion (Robert Cialdini)
• Women Don’t Ask (Linda Babcock)
• Working with Contracts (Charles Fox)

Design Thinking

• Creative Confidence - Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All (Tom Kelley and David Kelley)
• Erin Walczewski’s Design Thinking article in NALP Bulletin
• Six Thinking Hats (Edward De Bono)

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Bias

• White Fragility (Robin Diangelo)
• The Warmth of Other Suns (Isabel Wilkerson)
• A Knock at Midnight (Brittany Barnett)

Emotional Intelligence

• Emotional Intelligence 2.0 (Daniel Goleman)

Feedback/ Performance Evaluations

• Feedback - Radical Candor (Kim Scott)
• Thanks for the Feedback (Doug Stone and Sheila Heen)
• You Get What You Measure (Scott Westfahl)*

General Guidance for Associates

• A Life in the Law: Advice for Young Attorneys (William S. Duffey, Jr. and Richard A. Schneider)
• A Young Lawyer's Jungle Book (Thane Josef Messinger)
• A Streetwise Guide to Litigation (Kenneth Noland)
• An Associate’s First Year: A Guide to Thriving at a Law Firm (Jennifer Bluestein)
• Anatomy of a Trial: A Handbook for Young Lawyers (Paul Mark Sandler)
• Building Your Ladder: An Associates' Guide to Success (Marian Lee)
• Humor in the Salt Mines: A Master Lawyer's Guide to Associate Success (Asa Rountree)
• Introduction to Law Firm Practice (Michael Downey)
• Jagged Rocks of Wisdom: Professional Advice for the New Attorney (Morten Lund)
• Lawyers’ Professional Development: The Legal Employer’s Comprehensive Guide, 2nd Edition (Ida Abbott)
• Rantings of a Partner and Pushback from the Associate (Bart Greenwald)
• Stepping It Up:  A Guide for Mid-Level Law Firm Associates (Jennifer Bluestein)
• Swimming Lessons for Baby Sharks (Grover Cleveland)
• The Creative Lawyer: A Practical Guide (Michael Melcher)
• The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law (Mark Hermann)
• The Essential Associate (Jay Harrington)
• The Happy Lawyer: Making a Good Life in the Law (Nancy Levit)
• The Marble and the Sculptor: From Law School to Law Practice (Keith Robert Lee)
• The New Lawyer Survival Guide from Lemons to Lemonade (Richard Hermann)
• The Paperless Law Office: A Practical Guide to Digital (Benjamin Yale)
• The Partner Track: How to Go from Associate to Partner (Cliff Ennico)
• The Rules of Retail for First-Year Performers (Werten Bellamy, NALP Bulletin article)
• Tomorrow's Lawyers (Richard Susskind)
• What Law School Doesn't Teach You But You Really Need to Know (Kimm Alayne Walton)
• Your Billable Life: A Law Firm Survival Guide (Bruce Dravis)
• Virtual Law Practice (Stephanie Kimbro)
• 50 Lessons for Women Lawyers - From Women Lawyers: Career and Life Lessons From 50 Successful Women Lawyers (Nora Riva Bergman)

General Guidance for PD Professionals

• Developing Legal Talent: A Practical Guide (Gaye Mara and Nora Mara, eds.)
• Innovating Talent Management (Terri Mottershead, ed.)
• A Learning Dialogue for the Evolving Legal Workplace (Kristen Hulse)

Law Students

• Roadmap (Neil Hamilton)
• The Foundations for (Private) Practice: Building Professional Identity Through Law Firm Externships (Kristen Hulse)

Leadership/Teamwork/Workplace Dynamics

• Leadership for Lawyers (Rebecca Normand-Hochman & Heidi Gardner, eds.)
• Primal Leadership - learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence (Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee)
• That’s What (She) Said (Joann Lipman)
• The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups (Daniel Coyle)
• The Leadership Imperative:  A Collaborative Approach to Professional Development in the Global Age of More for Less (Scott Westfahl and David Wilkins)
• Women Lead the Way (Linda Tarr-Whelan)

Mentoring

• The Lawyer’s Guide to Mentoring (Ida Abbott)

Mindset

• All In (Josh Levs)
• Drive (Daniel Pink)
• Flow (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)
• Grit (Angela Duckworth)
• Grit, the Secret to Advancement (Milana Hogan)
• Lawyering from the Inside Out (Nathalie Martin)
• Mindset (Carol Dweck)
• Positive Professionals (Anne Brafford)*
• The Granularity of Growth (Patrick Viguerie)
• The Joychiever Journey (Tracy LaLonde)
• The Power of Habit (Charles Duhigg)
• www.Lawyerbrainblog.com  

Time Management

• Deep and Deliberate Delegation (Dave Stitt)
• Done 2.0 (Paul Burton)
• Indistractible (Nir Eyal)
• Quiet Spacing (Paul Burton)

PD Resources provided by PDC Board. For suggestions please contact info@pdclegal.org