ENJOYING THE PRACTICE OF LIFE AS A LAWYER
by Chris Osborn, Chairman, Lawyer Support Committee
"We were meant to live for so much more.
Have we lost ourselves? Somewhere we live inside."
— "Meant to Live" by Switchfoot
In lieu of the usual "Atticus Answers" column, the Lawyer Support Committee wanted to take a few moments this month to introduce you to our Committee, and specifically to its new theme for the year 2007: "Enjoying the Practice of Life as a Lawyer."
Most of us are used to thinking about the "practice of law" as a concept unto itself. However, there are two common pitfalls for many of us who have chosen this noble profession as a career. The first is that we may begin to see the practice of law as life itself. The aphorism about the law being a "jealous mistress" is not without foundation in reality. The magnitude and intensity of the disputes that we help people fight or resolve, the deals that we put together, the life issues that we often hold in our hands can at times be overwhelming. That fact, combined with the economic aspect of practice (in private practice, at least, where performance is often measured in terms of hours billed and dollars earned), means that our demanding profession can easily consume the vast majority of both our waking hours and the finite capacity that we have for mental and emotional engagement with the world. Often, the practice of law becomes our entire "life" not by any conscious decision that we have made at such a broad conceptual level, but as the result of numerous smaller and seemingly inconsequential decisions that we have made almost instinctively along the way.
On the other end of the spectrum, it may be that some of us are capable of compartmentalizing our careers, and taking great care to not let our identity be defined solely by our chosen profession. We live robust lives outside the law, with ample time reserved for family, hobbies, or civic and charitable involvement. However, in doing so, we may forget that being a lawyer is an integral part of our very being; that is, "who we are" is in fact partially a function of "what we do." Most of us were drawn to the law because we had a penchant for analytical reasoning, precision of communication, and perhaps a passion to help people using those skills. The fact that we practice law does say something about who we are and how we are wired. What we spend all day doing does affect how we think and feel and act in the rest of our lives. (In married life, for one example, "thinking like a lawyer" is an innate or learned skill set that may not always be an asset in certain relational contexts!) Being a lawyer presents both obstacles and opportunities in life that are unique to our profession; we have both challenges and resources not necessarily characteristic of folks in other professions.
Thus, for each of us, life is more than the practice of law, and yet we are indeed lawyers as we go through it. While this may seem a statement of the obvious, in practical application, the maintenance of an appropriate balance and regard for these considerations is difficult.
With this tension in mind, the Lawyer Support Committee has adopted its theme for 2007: "Enjoying the Practice of Life as a Lawyer." This theme stresses that what we are to be about is living life to the fullest--as neighbors, family members, citizens, lovers, parishioners, sports fans, and countless other roles that we play—knowing that in doing so, our calling as attorneys will have a profound impact on how we do it.
We also mean to suggest that life is something to be "practiced," in that none of us has it perfectly down. We are all, to some degree or another, still learning how to navigate through disappointment and hope in the many forms they may take. If we are still making an effort to enjoy life, then we most likely are still triumphing and failing, advancing and running for cover, engaging and "checking out," stumbling and getting back up again. (For me, at least, many of those things often happen in the same day!) Like any athlete in training, we need to "practice" life: to be intentional and mindful about what we are doing, how we do it, and how we are affecting the people with whom we do it. We need to take stock of where we are, what condition we are in, and have a plan for how to do the tasks that lie before us.
Although the Lawyer Support Committee may often be thought of as a committee of last resort—i.e., the folks who get called in when a lawyer is facing a substance abuse or mental health crisis—in fact, it exists to encourage the efforts of members of the Bar to live fulfilled, rewarding lives. Part of how we "practice life," to be sure, is bearing our fellow lawyers’ burdens in a time of crisis. But, as a Committee, we would be even happier if there were fewer crises to help folks through. We believe that some (though certainly not all) of the crises that we all find ourselves in might be avoidable, or at least mitigable, if we remember our connections to one another and have meaningful conversations about the pitfalls of life and law. The members of our Bar have much to offer one another in the way of guidance, support, and encouragement in how to practice life as lawyers.
Accordingly, in 2007 the LSC hopes to be actively engaged in helping Bar members encourage each other towards greater fulfillment, peace, and healthy confidence in their practices and their lives. One way that we hope to promote the pursuit of well-balanced fulfillment in the practice of law is through celebration and story. We hope to cooperate with the Bar members and committees that have already begun finding ways to celebrate those who have made law a high calling and found fulfillment in doing so. We also hope to facilitate opportunities for the Bar to hear from fellow lawyers those who have not been able to navigate though life in as balanced a fashion as they’d have liked, so that we might benefit from the wisdom they have gained through experience, as well. And we are currently planning a CLE seminar (to satisfy that pesky substance abuse/mental health requirement!) in February that will use movie clips to facilitate a discussion of dealing with stress in practice.
In undertaking these efforts, we are truly only standing on the shoulders of giants such as U.S. Magistrate Judge Carl Horn III, Lawyers Assistance Program Director Don Carroll in their efforts encourage fulfillment and balance among the members of the Bar. LawyerLife: Finding a Life and Higher Calling in the Practice of Law and Don Carroll’s recent book, A Lawyers’ Guide to Healing, should be required reading for any new lawyer.
But there is only so much that we can know about the law from studying books. To learn the law, we have had to practice it. The same can be said of life, and thus, we hope to encourage active and purposeful consideration of and conversations about the things that matter in all of our lives--and how we as lawyers can meet the challenges we face with the unique resources at our disposal.
The LSC would love to have you join with us in these efforts—either formally by joining our committee (we really need more lawyers from all areas of practice!) or informally by thinking about our theme and encouraging discussion about work/life balance among your colleagues. You do not have to be in crisis or "recovery" of any sort to be part of what we are about. You simply need to be willing to consider whether there is "so much more" available from your practice of life as a lawyer. As the new chair of the LSC, I welcome your comments, feedback, and most of all your willingness to suit up for practice.
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