Healthy Lifestyle – Do You Enjoy One?

by Marguerite (Meg) E Shaw

Do you regularly take time for yourself? Real time to do the things in life you enjoy doing, other than work? Until last fall, I was like the majority in our profession in that I usually came in last place on my own priority list. My work was more important. I worked long hours and often weekends. My family was more important. When I was not working, I spent my time trying to meet my family’s needs. I came in last.

Last October I experienced a herniated disc in my back which resulted in unexpected hospitalization and surgery. It is amazing how your outlook changes when you are flat on your back in pain. I suddenly found myself moving to the top of my list of priorities. But as my health improved over the last couple of months, I found myself slipping back into the 10 hour work days.

Most of my colleagues work long hours. It is far too easy in our profession to immerse yourself in your work. We deal with people who need our help on complex issues. As solicitors, we are perfectionists. As litigators, we are competitive. In our firms we are under pressure to make the required billable hours or billing goal. We have our billable work, our pro bono work, our professional volunteer work, and our community volunteer work. And those of us in smaller firms have our unpaid office administration.

In our profession, we are losing too many young lawyers because our professional culture expects the all-consuming commitment to our work related activities.

Jatrine Bentsi-Enchill, J.D. CPCC states in her article found in Practice Link, “It’s well documented that one of the main reasons lawyers consider leaving the profession is the desire to spend more time on personal and family needs.”

Are lawyers capable of making changes in our professional culture to encourage young practitioners to have a healthy lifestyle balanced between work and family and personal needs? I think we are.

As Cheryl M. Stephens states in her article, Work/Life Balance? Let’s Get Flexible First, “Recruitment and retention of valued staff require that the law firm provide and improve work-lifestyle benefits and services, leave benefits, supportive work environments, and alternative work arrangements and schedules. Law firms must now accept alternatives to the 60-hour work week, rigid schedules and location constraints.”

Collectively, we need to take steps to retain our young lawyers, and individually, we need to recognize that to take care of our families, practice, and clients, we must first learn to take care of ourselves.

This article was published in the February 2006 issue of BarTalk. © 2006 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.