New ABA book shares how lawyers’ defining moments paved the path for success and leadership
The American Bar Association’s recently published book, “Defining Moments: Insights Into the Lawyer’s Soul” by Melanie Bragg, includes 42 inspiring essays told by accomplished lawyers whose success has been driven by their moments of truth. Bragg thoughtfully interviewed lawyers from all walks of life and different practice settings to discover the critical moments that motivated them to broaden their horizons and pursue a career in law.
This practical manual is organized into Bragg’s original leadership model “LEAD lines,” consisting of Legacy, Excellence, Authenticity and Determination. Bragg found that each lawyer has a success principle that he or she lives by. The essays included in the book are told by a diverse group of lawyers – past ABA presidents, judges, big firm lawyers, small firm lawyers and nonpracticing lawyers – but they all attribute their ultimate success to the defining moments that shifted their worlds. Readers can flip through the pages to learn invaluable life lessons, such as “Surround Yourself with Good People and Good Things Will Happen” and “Use Your Past to Shape Your Future.”
Bragg is a general civil practitioner with an emphasis on probate, family, small business and mediation/arbitration at Bragg Law PC in Houston. She is known as a fierce advocate in her representation of children, the elderly and the mentally disadvantaged. Bragg is the author of “Crosstown Park,” an Alex Stockton legal thriller. Her first book was “HIPAA for the General Practitioner” published by the ABA. She is a frequent motivational speaker with interactive workshops for a variety of audiences.
New ABA book shares a federal judge’s innermost thoughts while imposing sentences
Just published by the ABA “Crimes and Punishments: Entering the Mind of a Sentencing Judge” by Frederic Block, a long-time federal district court judge, allows readers a view of how a judge decides on an appropriate sentence and feels about putting a person in prison for an extended period of time.
Judge Block explores our criminal justice system’s important sentencing issues. He candidly shares his feelings and is reflective, often describing his concerns that his life experiences and subconscious thoughts could influence the sentences he determines.
Block also tells the stories of the trials of Peter Gotti (who succeeded his brother John as head of the Gambino crime family) and Pedro Espada Jr. (the former leader of the New York Senate), among others. He takes the reader through the crimes and sentencing proceedings and shares his thoughts about whether he made the right decisions.
In his preface, Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and a preeminent constitutional law scholar, calls the book “magnificent” and declares Block “a great storyteller.”
Block was appointed United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York in 1994. He received a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and an LLB degree from Cornell Law School. He has been described by Alan Ellis, a nationally recognized authority on sentencing and a past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, as a “legendary sentencing judge.” After 25 years on the bench, Block continues to maintain a full caseload. He also regularly sits by designation on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where he has authored over a dozen opinions. Judge Block recently authored the “reality-fiction” novel “Race to Judgment,” after having written his highly acclaimed memoir “Disrobed, An Inside Look at the Life and Work of a Federal Trial Judge.”
