Stress Management for New Lawyers, Or “You Can Do It!”
by Marianne McGregor Guelker
I write this article about stress management to new lawyers as a relatively new lawyer. However, the tips contained in this article may be helpful to all lawyers.
Remember who you are and stay true to your best qualities.
Remember the positive characteristics, which helped you to be admitted to and to complete law school. The law is a profession which prizes character, grit, intelligence and industry. You could not have completed law school without having these qualities. Remember that you possess these strengths and that you can rely upon them as you practice law.
Be careful with whom you do business.
Select both clients and business partners with care. The practice of law in Utah is competitive. There are many lawyers in Utah in comparison to the overall population and size of the economy. The number of lawyers in Utah is only expected to increase. The pressure of competition can lead a normally prudent lawyer to make poor decisions and to enter into attorney-client and business relationships which are poor choices. Trust your instincts. If you believe that a prospective client has unrealistic expectations about his or her case or that a prospective business partner does not share your zeal in avoiding bar complaints or malpractice lawsuits, politely decline to do business with him or her. If you would not advise your spouse, significant other or best friend to enter into a business relationship with a prospective client or business partner, then you should take your own advice and decline to enter into a business relationship with that person. In business relationships, as in life in general, an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.
There tend to be higher numbers of bar complaints in certain areas and kinds of practice. Govern yourself accordingly.
Some areas of law, such as family law, and types of practice, such as solo practices, generate more than their fair share of bar complaints. There are often logical explanations for this, such as that family law clients tend to be going through a very difficult time in their lives and may have unrealistic expectations about what their lawyers can achieve for them or how much it will cost the lawyers to do so, and such as that solo practitioners have no higher authority in their firms to appeal to when they encounter clients with whom they develop fee disputes. Family law and solo practice offer many benefits to practitioners as it can be very rewarding to help people through sad times or to have the freedom associated with running your own business. Having said this, if you find yourself practicing in an area of law or in a type of practice in which there tend to be higher numbers of bar complaints, be your own best lawyer and best friend and take as many precautions in your practice as you can. The Utah State Bar offers continuing legal education on law practice management which may be of interest to you.
Find and use mentors.
The learning curve for the practice of law is steeper than the learning curve in law school. Education takes a lifetime, and as learned as one is when one is graduated from law school and passes the bar, one is still at the very beginning of the professional continuum. A new lawyer has even more growth and development yet to experience as a practitioner than do lawyers in general. Find and use a mentor whom you can ask what you perceive to be stupid questions. Although you might think that as a new lawyer you are being overly cautious in following up on a so-called “stupid” question, your question may in fact be the key to the whole case and you might be the only person at your firm to have noticed the problem. New lawyers in solo and small firm practices are in particular need of mentoring. For these new lawyers, I suggest utilizing any support network to which you have access, including law school alumni associations as well as families and friends who are lawyers or who may know lawyers. All new lawyers, but particularly solo or small firm lawyers, are strongly encouraged to become involved in the Utah State Bar or in other bar organizations in order to meet more experienced lawyers who might become mentors. Finally, while it is nice to find a mentor who looks like you, if you are unable to find a lawyer of your gender, ethnicity, or other background, just as good legal advice can come from lawyers of all shapes, sizes, and colors, good mentoring advice can come from a variety of sources as well. In fact, if more lawyers made efforts to bridge the gap between different cultures when they chose whom to mentor and by whom to be mentored by, both mentors and mentees would increase consciousness of the value of diversity and learn to serve clients better.
Prioritize, do not bite off more than you can chew, learn to say no (nicely), and balance your lifestyle.
There is usually never a time when a lawyer could not be doing something for someone else, be it for a client, for the firm, for his or her family, or for an organization in which the lawyer is active outside work. You literally cannot do it all. As such, you must prioritize. This may involve saying no so that you do not bite off more than you can chew. Many of us would like to save the world. Be that as it may, as there are only so many hours in a day, we must chose to do the activities that are the most important or meaningful to us, to do the best that we can at them in the time in which we have to spend on them, and to feel good that we did as much as we did. If you do not learn to prioritize and to say no, you may find that you are unable to achieve the balance which you prefer between work, family, exercise, outside activities, and fun. Know also, that especially as a new lawyer, it takes time to achieve a balance between the law and everything else that you do. Until you strike that balance, try anything and everything that you can think of to help you do well both at work and in your personal life. Achieving a sense of wellness through a time management system which works for you is an ongoing, lifelong process.
Do what you love and take time out for you.
It is hoped that you enjoy the practice of law and that it is all that you hoped that it would be. There are many lawyers who love the practice of law and who thrive upon it. There are also many lawyers who find that although as a profession the law has many attributes to recommend it, it is a very high-pressured, competitive and effort intensive way to earn a living. Whether you find yourself in the former group or the latter, the practice of law as a new lawyer is likely to be stressful. For those of you who find yourself in the latter group, that is to say, the group which has found the practice of law to be quite stressful, I have the following to say. If you have given the practice of law the old college try and find that it is just not for you, it is well known that there are many law trained persons who work in every facet of the economy and who have found their legal education to have benefited them. If however, you feel that the practice of law is stressful but that you will continue to practice, try to incorporate into your life something that you love to do that is just for you. This is especially important for lawyers who do not exercise much control over their own schedules, such as practitioners of criminal law or people who have extensive family responsibilities, such as parents of young children or caregivers of relatives. Many people find great joy in nature. We are lucky in Utah to enjoy beautiful mountain scenery in which we can hike or relax. Take advantage of the greatest free stress reliever, nature.
Take Continuing Legal Education, participate in the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) and get involved in the community.
Often as lawyers, we think law, eat law, and sleep law. It seems paradoxical, but sometimes when we jump into a law related extracurricular activity with both feet, somehow we wind up feeling refreshed. CLE not only helps you brush up on the law but it is also an excellent opportunity to network. The YLD is one of the most active groups of the Utah State Bar and performs a lot of community service on behalf of the Bar. It is a very nice way to meet other new lawyers who may be going through some of the same issues as you are and who are thriving. All members of the Utah State Bar who are age thirty-six or younger or who have been admitted to practice in their first jurisdiction of bar admission for three years or less are automatically members of the YLD, free of charge. Lawyers who are interested in joining the board should contact YLD President Ms. Stephanie Pugsley at (801) 534-0800. Lawyers are also always needed by community organizations. Find an organization whose mission you support and become involved. While I enjoy working with and volunteering with other lawyers, it is also nice sometimes to spend time with people who do not know about [insert your own arcane legal concept here] and who are not particularly concerned about that fact.
If you have a problem, call Lawyers Helping Lawyers (LHL).
LHL is committed to render confidential assistance to any member of the Utah State Bar whose professional performance is or may be impaired because of mental illness, emotional distress, substance abuse, or any other disabling condition or circumstance. Contact LHL at (801) 579-0404.
Lastly, be proud of being a lawyer.
Contrary to popular media portrayals, the law is an honorable profession. It counts the true life Abraham Lincoln and the fictional Atticus Finch as its members. If you forget what is good about being a lawyer, volunteer at a pro bono clinic such as Tuesday Night Bar or judge a middle school or high school level Law Related Education mock trial in the spring. When you help that stranger with his or her legal problem or see that young person who is as polished as any real life lawyer arguing before the supreme court and who only desires to become a lawyer, you will remember why you went to law school and why it is good to be a lawyer.