Happy New Year Everyone!
I hope that 2016 is your most productive, fulfilling and memorable (for all the right reasons) year yet. For me, 2016 starts one of the most exciting times of my life. Having recently turned 51, in all candor, it is likely more of my life is in my rearview mirror than lies on the path ahead of me – and I want to make the very most of everyday (country music songs are replete with this theme). To me, that simply means strive to be healthy, treasure my family, fellowship with my friends, open my mind wider, seek to learn daily, teach even more, and professionally do what I love: advocate. After a nearly two-year hiatus, there is no doubt that professionally l love the art of advocacy, communication, litigation, criminal law and military justice. With that said, I look forward to what running the Law Office of Will M. Helixon holds – and the journey back into the courtroom defending soldiers.
The WMH Blog:
Associated with the launch of the Law Office of Will M. Helixon, I am excited to announce the launch of the WMH Blog. While the blog is part of the law practice, it is much more – a way for me to share with friends, colleagues, acquaintances and potential clients. With the WMH Blog, I am combining military justice topics with my other interests.
The WMH Blog will have three distinct, yet related areas: Military Justice & Criminal Law; Healthy Lifestyle, Fitness, and Travel: and “Will’s Personal Journal.” While the majority of the WMH Blog will be dedicated to Military Justice and Criminal Law, the other sections are applicable to running an effective, profitable practice by increasing efficiency and productivity. Each are explained below:
- Military Justice & Criminal Law:
There are a few good blogs and websites out there that address military justice, and even more dedicated to criminal law. The goal of the WMH Blog is to provide an additional dimension – by offering practice tips, advocacy “take-aways” and trial suggestions to each post. So in addition to addressing recent decisions, high profile cases, proposed changes to the UCMJ or MCM and recent trends, WMH Blog and its authors will give their personal thoughts about the topic and discuss how to incorporate lessons from the subject of the post into our practice. WMH Blog hopes to generate an informative and educational discussion on developing and improving a military justice and criminal law practice. We hope to provide practice tips with each post, rather than just repeating information already in the blogosphere.
- Healthy Lifestyle, Fitness and Travel:
There are countless blogs about health, nutrition and exercise, and almost as many about travel – WMH Blog hopes to use this section to motivate not only its authors, but also encourage others to take care of themselves along the way. For me, the first sacrifice I make when “push comes to shove” professionally is my health. When I have an impending deadline, I sacrifice exercise. When I am traveling, I neglect nutrition with poor eating habits. When I gain weight (and those who know me know I had a tendency to yo-yo around evaluations), I get discouraged, and re-double my work efforts and while exercising even less. This is cyclical, and in the long run interferes with my effectiveness as an advocate. WMH Blog hopes to generate discussion about how to keep the work/fitness/nutrition/travel/family balance, by and for dedicated military justice and criminal law practitioners.
Since 2008, I have been on the road more than 100 nights a year, every year. The most I traveled in a single year was over 220 nights. WMH Blog hopes to use this section of the blog to also generate discussions on how to incorporate positive, enriching, and fun activities while traveling for business. When not working, it is too easy to just find oneself at a hotel bar, or an overpriced restaurant, or eating pizza in front of the television while “on the road.” WMH Blog also hopes to generate travel advice from other “road warriors” and generate discussions on healthy, productive business travel. I have personally found that extensive business travel combined with tight deadlines and less than optimal lifestyle choices has interfered not only with my health, but also with my overall productivity and professional satisfaction. WMH Blog hopes to use this section for “road warriors” to vent, share and discuss how to make business travel a more positive experience.
- Will’s Personal Journal:
This section is about humility and accountability. All of my opinions have been formed and cast through the lens of my personal experiences. Sometimes, upon reflection about my life, I make excuses for my shortcomings and even sometimes “feel sorry for myself” for a variety of reasons – I hope to take some of my life experiences, reflect upon them, and recast them – drawing a positive lesson from each. I also want to share my successes and failure as I try to improve my lifestyle, be a better husband and father, become a healthy business traveler and broaden my mind and opinions. I will use this deliberate introspective to become a better advocate, lawyer and teacher. The journal will force my personal accountability and help keep me grounded, keep me honest to myself and efforts, and enable me to learn from the past that I have often compartmentalized and ignored. I hope that sharing these lessons, faults and strengths will encourage others to engage in personal growth and self-reflection – often the first step to opening one’s mind to other points of view and continued lifelong learning. Sharing the lessons I have learned as applied to trial advocacy will hopefully generate discussion and dialogue on the topics addressed therein.
WMH Blog Publication:
I know it is difficult to create and maintain a meaningful blog that is useful, entertaining and worthy of a reader’s valuable time. I expect to monitor the WMH Blog daily and respond to appropriate threads. WMH Blog plans to publish new material 1-2 times a week, aiming for Tuesday and Friday for generating new material. The authors will limit the new blog materials to between 500 – 1,500 words, acknowledging that most practitioners are busy, and won’t have the time to wade through a mini-thesis on our topic “du jour.” As a guide, this introduction is 1,251 words. I hope the WMH Blog generates wide interest, and will invite guest bloggers, from time to time, to offer original content. I want WMH Blog to become a place for the open, non-judgmental, discussion of ideas, practice tips and professional interaction.
Conclusion:
The primary focus of the WMH Blog is military justice and criminal law – and will receive the majority attention from its authors. However, the other sections definitely overlap with military justice, criminal law and a robust practice. Practice tips on military justice are to improve one’s overall legal practice, whether government or private, whether trial counsel or defense counsel. Likewise, minimizing the negative effects of frequent business travel and maximizing the benefits from regular exercise and good nutrition should improve the productivity of one’s practice. My personal journal will give reader’s insight into my opinions, and hopefully provide greater value to my advice, tips and opinions (or provide an appropriate discount!).
I invite you to join the conversation. Sign-up for the WMH Blog newsletter today.
My best.
Will M. Helixon
Will,
Even though we have never met, I think I would have enjoyed serving with you. I look forward to reading your writing and using your practice tips. Good luck with the daily grind of running your own law firm. You will soon be living the dream, and I hope its the one where you are flying.