Robert Ambrogi Blog
If you are at all like me, then you have not even started, let alone finished, your holiday shopping. Should there be a lawyer on your holiday list, I’m throwing you a lifeline with a round-up of blog posts and websites offering gift suggestions for lawyers.
The essential list is Reid Trautz’s annual Holiday Gift Guide for Lawyers. Reid is kind of like the Santa Claus of legal blogs — we don’t hear from him much during the summer months, but he never fails to come through around the holiday season. His best item has to be the Hovertrax, a personal transportation device that will make you the envy of the courthouse.
If you’d rather hear about gift ideas than read about them, listen to Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway offer their suggestions in The Digital Edge podcast, Tis the Season: Tech Toys for the Holidays 2014. Good for them for uncovering the Limited Edition Code Black Aerial Drone with an SD camera for $69. Just be sure to check with the FAA before you use it.
There are lots of other lists offering gift suggestions for lawyers. Among them:
- 12 Awesomely Funny Gifts for Lawyers (with Issues!) Vol. 2. Awesomely funny may be an overstatement, but North Carolina attorney Brian Focht has some clever ideas, most notably an office chair that reclines when it is nap time.
ABA Journal’s Pinterest page of Gifts for Lawyers. Editors at the ABA Journal have pulled together this collection of gifts, including the perfect gift for a lawyer who is expecting — the “attorney work product” baby bib.- Affinity Tech Gift Guide — Holidays 2014. The folks at Affinity actually went out and polled their partners, consultants and staff for suggestions. They came up with the Clip-On Rear View Mirror for PC Monitors, a must-have for cubicle workers everywhere.
- The 2014 ATL Holiday Gift Guide. This being Above the Law’s gift guide, it of course includes ATL editor David Lat’s new novel, Supreme Ambitions. I haven’t read it yet, but given that it’s from the always entertaining Lat, it is a safe bet for the lawyer on your list.
- What Should You Get the Lawyer in Your Life For Christmas? True to their name, The Legal Geeks focus on geeky gifts (well, except for the Gustaf’s Jelly Babies).
15 Gifts Under $30 for Legal Productivity Geeks. Tim Baran also goes for the geek. I like his suggestion of the Done is Better than Perfect t-shirt.- Legal Loop: 2014 Holiday Gift Guide for the Tech-Savvy Lawyer. Among recommendations from Nicole Black is must-have for certain unnamed members of my household who are always losing their keys: the Tile, which lets you track keys and other such items from your smartphone.
- The Ultimate Holiday Guide: 65 Last-Minute, Lawyerly Gift Ideas. Findlaw’s Greedy Associates blog seems anything but greedy with its list of 65 ideas for lawyers, co-workers, secretaries and “people every attorney should give a present to.”
- The America Bar Association Gift Guide. Who knew the ABA had a gift catalog all its own? And there’s even a coloring book.
- 10 Perfect Holiday Gifts for Lawyers. This one is from Inside Counsel, and its first pick, appropriately, is the board game Lawsuit!
Friday 5: Holiday Gifts for Lawyers. The Washington State Bar Association has some ideas. They managed to come up with a Christmas tree customized for lawyers, complete with a Lady of Justice tree-topper.- Holiday Gift Ideas for Law Students. If it is a law student you are shopping for, check out this list from the J. Michael Goodson Law Library at Duke. Everyone will love the Notorious R.B.G. t-shirt.
If none of these lists have items that pique your interest, check out one of these stores that specialize in gifts for lawyers:
The Billable Hour. Home of timepieces with the dial divided into tenths of an hour, for the billing-challenged among you.- For Counsel. Lots of stuff in this complete catalog of gifts for lawyers.
- Etsy Lawyer Gifts. Here you’ll find some unique items, not available elsewhere.
- Cafe Press Lawyer Gifts. Plenty of mugs for the coffee shop lawyer on your list.
- Gifts for Lawyers on Amazon.com. Do you know an indecisive lawyer. Go for the Legal Lawyer Decision Maker Office Desk Paperweight.
- FindGift.com Lawyer Gift Ideas. More traditional stuff here — such as gavels and scales of justice — as well as the Law School Survival Kit Flask.
Having told you about all these, I leave you with some advice about lawyer gift giving. First up is the legal ethics issue. Yes, there is a legal ethics issue here. It involves the question of whether a lawyer may ethically accept a gift from a client. Turns out the answer is not as black-and-white as you might think. Findlaw’s Strategist blog explains: Should Lawyers Accept Holiday Gifts from Clients?
And what if that lawyer on your list is hoping for something … ummm … regulated. Like pot where it is legal or wine shipped across state borders. Avvo’s Naked Law blog has the guide for you: Drugs, guns, cash, oh my! How to keep nontraditional holiday gifts legal.