Lawyer Stories

What a difference a little time makes! I'm energized; I'm enthused; I'm actually back in the management game, and in a big way. Business is good.

Since I last posted? A long time. Since that time, I actually decided to participate once again in Firm management. My partners apparently agreed with my decision, because in some respects my level of participation requires their vote. I hope they do not regret their decision.

I remain frustrated with how cheap decisionmakers continue to be. Making money is OK, but it comes at a great cost if it means eschewing hardware and software that is designed to make practicing easier. I'm convinced that if given the chance, some people would do away with computers simply because pencils are cheaper. My next campaign platform will be to eliminate the Ludites.

will this keep going on? My funk, that is. I haven't gotten anything done at work for months now. I don't want to be there. I've had a bad year. Knowing, and being aware of, those two nuggets has put me in a perpetual apathy loop. It has caused me to, among other things, not post anything here for several months. I'm not posting now because of some sudden moment of self-realization. I have known for some time that my head is not in the right place. The question is, what do I do about it? Medication? A career change?

I've booked a vacation in a couple of weeks. It will probably end up being the same kind of vacation I've taken in the past--stay at a nice place, throw back some cold beers, and get an unwelcome torrent of phone calls from the office with questions ranging from the mundane to the urgent. 99% of the calls are unnecessary, of course; I believe my office mates and associates call out of a deep seated resentment over the fact that I, unlike them, will actually leave the office and take a vacation.

If it really was a vacation, that is. Back in the early days of practicing, I could be gone for a week and no one would really notice. I'd work myself to exhaustion for two weeks before so that I could leave for 7 days completely guilt free. If you're gone for only week, that is not long enough to create a huge problem for associates. They can get back to the office after vacation, and still usually have at least a week to respond to whatever came in during their absence. Not true anymore, at least not in my practice, and at least not with my experience level. I wish I could say I was bragging when I write that, but I'm not. That's weariness you're hearing.

Cheers to this young man. He did what I, on some base, crude, and evil level, would love to do to some people I have come across during my journey as a lawyer. Shooting a lawyer, ala Dick Cheney and poor Mr. Whittington, is just too obvious, too pedestrian, too expected. Removal of a body part, ala Hannibal Lecter, is far, far more shocking.

Now, if I could just find a can of fava beans and a nice bottle of Chianti . . .

Read this and then ask yourself: "Is this the best way to try not to think about something?"

Today I really wished I was a law school student again. My undergrad experience was good, but I really enjoyed law school alot more. I actually found most of my classmates friendlier; the faculty appeared much more interested in the students; and for the most part the courses were more interesting (except for one incredibly dull course about industry regulation). Some days I am so tired of phone calls from opposing counsel or local counsel or clients or witnesses or prospective clients or legal vendors or (worst of all) some of my very own partners. I miss not having to worry about billable hours. I miss not having to worry about committing malpractice. I know that I didn't have much money then, but I always seemed to get by. I vividly remember how I would sometimes treat myself to a bottle of wine or a six pack of good import beer -- things I now take completely for granted.

I wish I could go back.

The group's name was Landscape.