This post is my somewhat belated contribution to #PracticeTuesday, and it’s probably most relevant to practitioners in criminal law, personal injury and family law.

One word: pencils.

A few weeks ago I tried with difficulty to conduct a conference with a client which his four year old son.  My office isn’t well stocked with things for children and so I tried to leave him entertain himself with a notepad and a ballpoint.  It wasn’t a success.  I didn’t blame the little tyke of course.  He was bored.  Sometimes being in a lawyer’s office bores me too. Some days, if I wasn’t being paid to be here, I’d arc up myself!

After that appointment, the first place I went was Officeworks to get a packet of good sturdy pencils and a sharpener.  When Mr Bloggs and his son came back to the office yesterday, I googled “lawyer colouring sheets”. This was not a success.  Most of the images were not really age appropriate.  Some were, well, kinda scary:

Instead, I drew on the other half of my life and googled “State Emergency Service colouring sheets”.  This was much better.  A few mazes and pictures of rescue vehicles kept the client’s munchkin happy for the hour or so of the conference.

If your practice regularly means your clients bring their kids to appointments, never underestimate the value of a $4.00 box of pencils.