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I\u2019ve had almost a year now to reflect on not being a full-time practicing attorney and I have come to the conclusion that I really do like practicing law \u2014 just not all the time. I have also concluded that I do not like all the other stuff that comes along with working full-time in a small law firm.<\/p>\n
Office \u201cStuff\u201d: Pandemic Days<\/h2>\n
I work in a small law office, and during the pandemic, I was the one who went to the office every day. I didn\u2019t have a dog to walk, and being the essential person at the office seemed to me like a good reason to leave the house back when we were all terrified of doing so but also bored and getting a little tired of loved ones who we were now seeing all the time. At the office, I opened the mail and scanned it to its appropriate destinations. I took care of banking. I answered phones and did whatever else needed doing.<\/p>\n
Being a team player, I was happy to be the pandemic office person. I was also selfish in that back then, my files were mostly paper, and I didn\u2019t have room at home to store and secure them properly. So, answering phones and opening mail was a small price to pay for the freedom to work at my office. Until it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Boundary Issues<\/h2>\n
When things opened up again, I continued being one who was at the office every day as others trickled in and out. I still did much of what I did during the pandemic. It had become my habit and everyone else\u2019s expectation, so it just continued. Now, as I look back, I realize I don\u2019t like doing any of that stuff. And now that I am not full-time, I don\u2019t have to. In fact, I don\u2019t even know how to. My office moved several months ago, and while I do have a key, I don\u2019t know how the new phone system or copier or scanner works. And that is just how I like it.<\/p>\n
All I have to do is handle cases and, it turns out, I really enjoy that.<\/p>\n
Would I have continued to practice full-time if I had realized sooner that I don\u2019t like almost everything about an office except doing my actual work and, of course, my colleagues? I don\u2019t know. But I do recognize I am privileged to work the way I do now. I also realize that I could have been much better about setting boundaries long ago. <\/p>\n
Water under the bridge for me. But for younger lawyers, the opportunity is there to set appropriate boundaries much sooner than I did.<\/p>\n
A Mindset Shift<\/h2>\n
The reality is that I am probably working just as many hours per week on client matters as I did a year ago. I am still more than willing to hop in the car on a Saturday to meet with clients who prefer to talk in person rather than on Zoom<\/a>. I still talk to clients in the evening when that\u2019s the only time they are available. Much of my law practice is exactly the same as it was when I was practicing full-time.<\/p>\n What is vastly different is my mindset.<\/p>\n Now, I\u2019m doing it because I want to, not because I have to, and that shift in my thinking has made all the difference \u2026 to me. I am confident that it has not made any difference to my clients. So, win-win. At the same time, I\u2019ve taken more trips this year than I had in many years and have gone days without logging into the office even once. By the time football season is over, I will have been at six Packers games in Green Bay and one in Los Angeles. And, I am pleased to report that I felt much less of an urge to log in to my office in my travels than I felt when I was a full-time practicing lawyer.<\/p>\n I am also still volunteering to read with an elementary school kid.<\/a> This year I\u2019m working with a third grader I\u2019ll call Alina. I may ask for CLE ADR credits for my work with her because she is a canny negotiator and has gotten lots of stickers out of me in exchange for reading. When I was a full-time practicing lawyer, I would have spent my time with her looking at my watch (yes, I still wear one). I\u2019d be thinking about whatever I had going on in the afternoon or how quickly I would have to dash out of school to beat traffic.<\/p>\n Now, I think about how many stickers it is going to take for me to get her to read the next page in a story. (It\u2019s usually more than I think, but we are making great progress, and I have lots of stickers.) I think about what else we can do so that by the end of the school year, she is reading at grade level. I also think about why she keeps beating me at tic-tac-toe<\/a>, but maybe she is just better at that game than I am. (Or maybe it\u2019s because when we play, she has to read a sentence before she can put down her next X or O. She\u2019s a strong negotiator, but after all, I have spent almost 40 years negotiating, and she\u2019s an 8-year-old.)<\/p>\n Maybe I would still be a full-time practicing lawyer if I had changed my mindset years ago and set more boundaries. Maybe not. That\u2019s not the lesson I take from my year-end pondering.<\/p>\n What I have learned, however, is that looking inward was the key to my successful transition. Nearly one year later, I am a very happy, less-than-full-time practicing lawyer who couldn\u2019t make a copy at my office if my life depended on it.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s just fine by me.<\/p>\n Image \u00a9 iStockPhoto.com. <\/p>\nInward and Onward<\/h2>\n
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