On Life and Practice: the Parent of All Virtues

• Publication year: 2005
• Citation: Vol. 2005 No. 12

Vermont Bar Journal 2005.

December 2005b - #9. On Life and Practice: THE PARENT OF ALL VIRTUES

THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL

#164, December, 2005, Volume 31, No. 4

On Life and Practice: THE PARENT OF ALL VIRTUES

by Steven Keeva

If there is a quality or a trait that is common to all happy lawyers, I haven't found it yet. That's probably because, unlike Tolstoy's happy families, lawyers are not all alike, and they find meaning and pleasure in diverse ways that are tailored to their own needs and interests

But there is one way of relating to the world that, it seems to me, comes closer than any other to characterizing truly satisfied practitioners. It's a sense of gratitude - the virtue Cicero referred to as the parent of all virtues.

I think it makes a lot of sense. A good part of the well-documented malaise in the legal profession would probably be alleviated if practitioners felt more connected - to their clients, to a deeper sense of meaning in their work, to each other and to the world around them. Hourly billing and unending demands only make it that much harder to sustain family connections as well.

When we see the world through the lens of gratitude, hassles get easier to bear, and stress recedes. And that's not an idle claim. Research supports it.

In a study by psychologists Robert Emmons of the University of California at Davis and Michael McCullough of the University of Miami, three groups of subjects were asked to keep specific types of journals over time. One group was told simply to record daily events. One recorded only annoyances. And those in the third group made lists of things for which they were grateful.

Members of the last group reported more optimism, enthusiasm and alertness, as well as less depression and stress. They were also more likely to help others.

A number of lawyers I know are quite clear about the importance of gratitude in their lives. One, a trial lawyer, tells me he can't imagine a morning without his regular gratitude ritual, which he does in the shower. He brings to mind whatever evokes thankfulness, but always begins with the hot water pouring down on him, something he came to appreciate in a new way on a trip to Africa, where hot water was, in most cases, an unimaginable gift.

Gratitude is an attitude that grows over time and reveals a great deal about who we are as professionals and human beings and what matters most to us. And it's not always what we might...