Burnout: A Necessary Part of Lawyers’ Lives?
By Randall Christison
Talking to a lawyer-friend recently, one in practice for many years, I asked how he was. “Working harder; enjoying it less.” Far from flippant, he was deadly serious. Everything in his voice and body language suggested he was at the end of his rope. I asked what he does after he leaves his office each day: “home to my networked computer.” In essence he’s in the office many hours and telecommutes the rest. I asked about his résumé, down at the bottom, where we put hobbies and personal information, what did he have there? With a mirthless laugh he responded, “You mean those things I haven’t done in decades? That was a different lifetime.” Maybe more accurately, that “was when I had a life, before the law sucked it out of me.”