The Hire an Esquire 2018 Lawyer Gift Guide

Lawyers can be hard to shop for—especially those who spend many of their waking hours working. With this in mind we've focused on gifts that can make life a little better, healthier, and more fun for lawyers (or anyone) under the gun.

Here are our top 8 picks ranging from $11.99- $299 with the majority under $50. We've organized this guide by what the lawyer in your life needs most.

On the first day of Festivus help your favorite lawyer...

1. Get to sleep 

Blue Light Blocking Glasses - $14.99

Blue light is bad, mkay. Never fear, technology is once again solving (some) of the problems it’s caused. These glasses can help to prevent screen related ocular damage and sleep disruption—and will be especially appreciated to help your favorite lawyer get some much-needed sleep after finishing that brief at midnight.

2. Feel a little like Hemmingway

Slim Memobottle-$35

This BPA free and Certified B Corp bottle fits well against your laptop, tablets, and folders. It’s the water bottle equivalent of a Moleskine, so you can pretend like your drinking something much stronger.

3. Grab a moment of zen

Simple Habit Meditation App - Premium subscription, $11.99/ month

Of the many meditations apps on the market — this one is for lawyers and other Type As.

It helps with setting up a meditation habit and also offers 5 and 10 minute meditation quick wins like “talking to a difficult person,” “immediate anxiety relief” and “sharpen focus”, perfect just before stepping into court—or in that small window between getting chewed out by a partner and a big client call.

4. Focus

Monq Breathe Natural Clarity - $99 for a starter pack

Created by a former Orthopedic surgeon to make the benefits of aromatherapy simpler and more portable, MONQs latest (pending) release is a blend of oils to support the body’s ability to focus and achieve flow state. Also great for those who are trying to stop vaping, smoking, or just miss the mechanics of smoking . . .

5. Be visually inspired

MadMen Wall Art- $25

Lawyers love MadMen. This may be a vast over-generalization, but more than a few of us lawyers on the Hire an Esquire team got hooked on MadMen during our law firm days when last night’s episode was always the topic of conversation around the Keurig machine.

There are many words of wisdom from our favorite (and very flawed) fictional admen that lawyers can appreciate. And these mid-century modern graphics are also a refreshing and energizing change from all that Rothko-like artwork popping up in newly designed offices (are we the only ones that find Rothko depressing?).

6. Adopt healthier habits

Oura Ring Sleep & Activity Tracker- $299

Life (and smartphones) are stressful enough without a watch pushing emails and texts to your wrist.

We recommend this sleek piece of industrial design for the lawyer in your life whose central nervous system is already on high alert, and who wants some data and help with healthy habits.

Oura sits elegantly on fingers of all genders and unobtrusively tracks activity and sleep. We prefer this to other rings on the market for its deeper insights on sleep and activity and for the gentle inactivity alert it gives wearers when they’ve been sitting for too long.

7. Have their cake (and eat it too)

Halo Top Vanilla Bean Ice Cream- $58.05 for a pack of 8 (or/and)

Nui- Keto “Kookies” - $24.95 for 16 cookies

Halo Top’s healthier, low carb ice cream is free of artificial sweeteners and synthetic growth hormones. And, we especially love the story behind this ice cream—former attorneys who made the leap from BigLaw to build one of the fastest growing food brands with no venture funding.

If cookies are the preferred poison of the lawyer in your life, check out Nui’s ketogenic GMO free, healthy fat, naturally sweetened cookies with just 1g of sugar. While not lawyers, we also love the story behind these founders... and the Double Chocolate Cookies (which don’t last at Hire an Esquire’s offices).

8. Remember why they got into the game

Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLU, Human Rights First - Denomination of your choice

The facade of large tech companies as forces for social good is cracking as lawyers—and even BigLaw—get back some of their mojo as social justice warriors. If the lawyers in your life are remembering the social justice roots that initially drew them to law and/or are dusting off their pro bono shoes— a donation to a social justice cause may be the best gift. GuideStar and Charity Navigator can help with finding a social justice cause that is meaningful and provide insight into how your funds are used. Best to avoid that donation to “The Human Fund.”