Coping with stress and creating a life beyond the practice of law

• Author: Stewart Edelstein
• Pages: 269-290

269

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

COPING WITH STRESS

AND CREATING A LIFE

BEYOND THE PRACTICE

OF LAW

While all the other chapters in th is book provide practical advice cru-

cial to your success as a t rial lawyer, this is one chapter you may want to

re-read periodically. Put that on your “to do” list. Why? Because unless

you know how to cope with the stress of your chosen profession, you

will not succeed. Applying t he practical advice in this chapter is the si ne

qua non for achieving every thing else in this book.

The law, Harvard Law School professor Joseph Story once said, “is a

jealous mistress, a nd requires a long and constant cour tship. It is not to

be won by trif ling favors, but by lavish homage.” If we substitute “lover”

for “mistress”—after all, about half of law firm associates are women—

these words ring as tr ue today as when Professor Story uttered them in

1829. Like a jealous lover, the practice of law can monopolize our time

and attention, drive us to dri nk or divorce, and create dissatisfaction in

all areas of our lives, u nles s we f ind wa ys to cope with the s tres s in herent

in what we do as trial lawyers.

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270 | H  S    T L 

A 1990 American Bar Assoc iation national sur vey of career satisfac-

tion and dissatisf action produced these troubling findi ngs: 71 percent of

all lawyers surveyed felt fatigued or worn out by the end of the work-

day; 17 per cent repo rted t hat the ir mar riages were un happy; a nd 13 per -

cent reported drink ing six or more alcoholic beverages a day. The study

notes that “these figures are even more disquieting when one considers

that self-reported drink ing and other types of abuse are t ypically under-

reported in sur vey responses.” American Bar Association, T S 

 L P, R N. 1, 17 (1990).

Among attorneys in pr ivate practice (not corporate counsel), 28 per-

cent of the men and 41 percent of the women in the 1990 study were

dissatisfied w ith their jobs.

In 2007, the ABA completed a 10-year study of impairments of law-

yers who had been sanctioned between 1998 and 2007. Their impairments

included depression and other psychiatric problems, abuse of drugs and

alcohol, and gambling problems. Throughout that 10-year period, about

35 percent of impaired lawyers who were sanctioned suffered from depres-

sion. The next highest percent was an average of 18 percent for alcoholism.

Consider this: Unrelenting low-level stress, unchecked, can cause

physical symptoms, including decreased immune system f unction,

increased cholesterol and triglycerides, high blood press ure, faster heart-

beat, increased blood glucose levels, digestive problems, loss of mental

sharpness, sleeping problems, chest pains, fatigue, headaches, and back

and neck pain. And the psychological sy mptoms? Anx iety, frustrat ion,

irritability, and depression. A litany

of woes. You don’t want to be like the

guy in th is cartoon, an xious about

whatever may come his way.

You don’t want to be on the wrong

side of these statistics, a nd you need

not be. This chapter discusses strate-

gies that should enable you to enjoy

the practice of law without becomi ng

its slave. Adopting even a few of these

strategies should help you handle the

stresses inherent in what we do. The

more of these you adopt, the better

you’ll be able to cope.

© Charles Bars otti/ The New Yorker Coll ection/Con de Nast

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