All Work + No Play = Tired Lawyer

One of the most common complains of those who live with lawyers is the constant focus on work.  Whether the lawyer is "running ideas" by a spouse or some friends or the children are asking about "the one that got in trouble with the police," the lawyer can have little time to not be "lawyering."  In some ways, this is good:  Cherished family and trusted friends in the lawyer's "circle" are interested in how the lawyer spends her work time and the lawyer has a nearly constant stream of feedback.  In many, many ways though, this is not good:  Cherished family and trusted friends have now assumed a role of "support staff" and the lawyer seems never to have "down time."

When I was working as an investigator of child abuse and neglect for the Commonwealth, I brought every day home to my husband and relived it in excruciating detail.  Sometimes, it took five or six hours of "briefing" to get my eight hour day processed.  Thankfully, that lasted for only the first two and a half years of our marriage.  It's a wonder that Rob endured such a daily rant.  Having a master's degree in therapy probably helped him through.      

When I began law school in 2002, I was already a wife and a mother.  I had had other "life" experiences and titles to define me apart from "future attorney."  I had other roles to fill outside of the classroom.  This dichotomy served as a training ground for life after passing the bar. 


Never do I see myself as exclusively "lawyer."  For that matter, people who I meet in town -- if they even ask -- are surprised to learn of my profession.    

The ability to keep separate these two spheres is a benefit to not only my cherished family and trusted friends but also my clients.  The clients get more out of me because I am always enthusiastic about spending my lawyer time on them. 

Because I can compartmentalize -- and have done so since Day One of law school -- every one gets what each deserves, including me:  Focused attention, "down time," respectively.