On the nature of our work and the importanceof happiness
By Scott A. Berndtson
"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin--real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be got through first, time to be served, a debt to be paid.
Then life would begin
At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."
Swiss economist, Alfred D'Souza
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'If a million people believe a stupid thing...it's still stupid."
Taoist philosopher, Lao Tze
It was not too many years ago, as many of you might remember, that the theme for the ISBA was "Increasing the Quality of Life for Lawyers." This theme seems to come in and out of fashion in our profession like tie styles. Nevertheless, our ability to persevere in our own beings is inextricably connected to the concept. Christopher J. Cummings's article in our last newsletter, "A personal life--it's about time" inspired me to think about the concept in more depth. There is probably no one in the profession who really believes that he or she would have a better quality of life if only there was more work to do and less time to spend on relaxation and meaningful relationships. Yet, as a profession we fail miserably time and time again on this point. We have a high substance abuse rate, high depression rate and are generally considered jerks by much of the public. Add to this the often extremely stressful, high-stakes situations we embrace on a virtually daily basis and there is little question as to why the preceding afflictions seize us so regularly.
What can we do? There is hardly a self-help book on the market that doesn't offer us some detailed analysis on how to go about taking charge of the "important" issue in our lives that we fail to manage well. Happiness is rooted in attitudes and choices. Happiness is a mental art form expressed in physical ways. Generally, lawyers are lousy at being happy.
Lawyers are especially susceptible to depression, substance abuse and compulsive disorders. Stress is a documented killer. Getting the time you need for the activities to live a better life may just save your life. The obituaries are full of lawyers who were going to slow down soon--who were going to "take control" of their obsessive work habits and overstressed lives. So, as a recovering workaholic of sorts, I offer a few concrete, in your face, no-fancy-solution-necessary ways to get back on track with a better life for those of you who know you need one; and for those who might not yet relate enough, for whatever reason, to realize it is you.
When you are already very busy, don't take that new client. Look, there may be exceptions, there always are, but this is a great first step towards recovering a better life. The key is to learn to just say "no...thank you"--in a way that may have them return another day on that or some other matter when you have more availability because of your honest communication style and reputation for competence. Hey, if you lose the client altogether, too bad, get over it. You traded their case for your life. Good trade.
Be very honest with yourself. Every life is subject to a fatal date. Do not fear this. Embrace it. Time spent with a child, friend or other loved one has a value beyond the value of other commitments in our lives, even though these other commitments routinely get top billing. To act out freedom in living you must be free in your heart and soul. If you pretend to have this freedom the "time stealers," as I call them, will sense it and pounce on you. These who are the predominant takers in life need the predominant givers to take from. Don't be a giver when it is your happiness that you trade.
Look at your self and the simple truths about you without complicating matters unnecessarily. Look at others in this same way. Am I letting you steal my time? My life? Must I have the second home on the lake when the truth is I don't get to use it and the time I think I'll spend there with my loved ones is really spent working to pay for the place? What a tragedy! But one that is played out a thousand times a day by people we all know and probably by ourselves too. Spiritually free yourself by dumping the supposed assets. Put the money to better use. You are far better off investing the proceeds wisely, going down to the local waterway and throwing a line in the water to catch a PCB rich carp with your kids twice a week in the evenings for an hour or two than work away the years for the once-every-couple-years-trip to the cabin in the woods. Kids want the time, not the aesthetics. Feed your soul with the elixir of regular relationship-activities with loved ones. Let some other poor giver be the food for the taker.
What's the worst-case scenario? Some other poor giver gets your job? Let them have it. You are educated, articulate, competent, available and wanted. Don't let the uncertainty of being temporarily unemployed be the magic of the taker's spell over you. Chances are you'll bounce back fine. What the hell, you can always throw out a shingle, move to a smaller home in a more distant community, write a book, work construction, advise government agencies, become a consultant, whatever. The key here is to be smart. Plan your changes with professionals. Take your time. Just be sure you do it if it is the best real chance you have of living happily. The fatal day is inevitable.
Start keeping the golf clubs in the car. Make time for yourself. Instead of speeding to a meeting you are already unavoidably late for and stressing yourself out by arriving with apologies and regrets, call and cancel with apologies and regrets. These things happen. However, instead of turning around and heading for another pressing matter. stop at a local golf club and play nine holes. Alone. Just for the life of it. Look even if your fatal day is today, the world will go on. We simply are not that big of a deal in the big picture of things. But, in the little pictures of things we are enormous. The best stuff of life usually is the free little stuff requiring little or no money and little time.
Free up your loved ones along the way with cheerful and loving support. Support their living in ways you have not traditionally done. Be at the game. Know their friends names. Know their hopes and dreams. Feel their anxieties and comfort them with the strength that comes from your love for them. Hold them (even if you are not a hugging type.) Talk with them not at them. Model happiness so they can see it is possible for them as well.
Stop defining yourself by the size of your misery or rut. The limitations we impose on ourselves become true when we believe them. Even if the misery is our reality the one way we are always free is in choosing our reaction to the circumstance sin which we find ourselves. The same concepts which Nazi concentration camp survivor, Victor Frankl, articulated in his writings may very well apply for all of us feeling trapped by our circumstances. The search for meaning leads us to the fundamental realizations that the answers lay within us not in the stuff of the external world. Find the source of freedom in your attitude to your situation. No one can take that away from you; not your boss, your clients, nobody.
If we have a longstanding tradition of being desperate and dependent it may take a while to let go. The point is to begin letting go. Risk happiness. Risk time with the family. There are good people and good clients you don't yet have that will seek you out precisely because of the life decisions they see you making. They are there. Trust it. Don't pretend however to be happy. Most anyone can see you are faking it. If you are truly happy you won't really care how others take your new pursuit of happiness. This is freedom of the spirit. This is living at its best. Lawyers, why not live life at its best--today?
I remember all too well, one day, while running through the subway to catch a connecting train my good friend (a philosopher/artist) called out as I faded into the mass of the traveling humanity "Do you really have time to hurry?" We really do not have time to hurry through life. We are people. We are humans. We just happen to practice an ancient profession distorted by the twisted conflicts of our times. We also live in a time and culture dominated by a kind of spiritual materialism, marked by the drive for financial riches (where does that end?) and the satisfaction of our restlessness, and emptiness with more stuff. The media and mass-market sales in general are increasingly dependent upon what I call placing purchasers in a "hype-notic trance."
There is a false anesthetic where we "feel better" if we can "lose ourselves" in a sports race, a sensational news story or other great distraction. This is living in a fog of pseudo-happiness. Akin in many respects to Plato's shadows on the cave walls being mistaken for "reality." The frailties of human nature are nowhere better known or exploited than in these places. They attract us and distract us like the steady mind-numbing hum of blinking lights and coin dropping clatter of a Las Vegas casino. We create similar hiding places, similar foggy realities in our mind about our work obligations. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-money, anti-capitalism, anti-sports, anti-working hard. We should all develop the awareness of when we're living and reacting in the fog. The fog is going to continue trying to penetrate our minds no matter. Snap out of it. Newsflash: the winner in life is not the guy that dies with the most toys.
This is your life. Begin active attentiveness to your happiness, now. Nurture the habit of enjoying life. Be watchful of and responsive to the time snatchers. Let the other legion of ready, willing and able time givers take your place. How do you define success? If your health and happiness is not frontloaded into your definition your definition might be too shallow. Jump in the deep end. Live with integrity, compassion, and competence. Invite happiness into you life today and for the long run (if you get one). The fatal day is out there.
"An all points bulletin"--for ISBA members and others
By Scott A. Berndtson
The legal profession has a duty to protect the consumers of legal services in Illinois. The Law Office Management and Economics (Standing Committe on) Council of the Illinois State Bar Association has for many years grappled with the issue of non-lawyers providing consumers with legal services. We applaud the Association's leadership in establishing a Task Force to deal with this important issue and we are proud to be invited to participate in this process.
The phenomenon is spreading across the country and taking hold wherever professional bar organizations are weak. It is happening in Illinois. Illinois lawyers must be strong. We must stand united in the fight to prevent the dilution of our unique role in the society. No other profession has such concentrated training and stringent rules of ethics and conduct. This training and these rules are our shining beacons in the increasingly gray areas of law and dark moments of human interaction. This specialized training and these rules of ethics and conduct are our ultimate distinction in the marketplace. When nonlawyers deliver services it can mock the value of this distinction and erode the importance of our unique role in society and our ability to provide competent, thoughtful and professional judgment on our client's behalves.
For these reasons, the delivery of legal services by nonlawyers is a critical issue of the day. It requires our best analyses and the development of preventative mechanisms to ensure consumer safety. When lawyers are systematically sidestepped, the potential for harm to consumers grows exponentially. The legal profession owes a duty to protect the consumers of legal service sin Illinois. The legal profession owes a duty to consumers to terminate the unauthorized practice of law in Illinois. The Task Force is up for the job. We need your help now.
I. The most common violators
We urgently need your stories and accounts of persons who have been damaged by others unauthorized practice of law. If they are willing to present testimony to the supreme court, the legislature, or other distinguished panel, for the purpose of having their horror stories told, and in the hope of correcting such injustices in the future, please let us know. Offenders might come from the following: title companies, realtors, estate planners, accountants, insurance companies, bankers and others. The task force is calling upon us to provide them with the actual instances and the names of individuals who can testify. We must not let this opportunity pass. E-mail your specific accounts to Lawyr2@aol.com or write me at P.O. Box 6545, Galena, IL 61036. Thank you for participating in this important issue.
II. New consumer protection laws are required
In order to prevent the continued erosion of consumer protections in the marketplace of legal services, it is necessary to enact legislation that allows for the collection of attorney fees for successfully prosecuting the unauthorized practice of law claim. No other mechanism of prevention will be as certain to cease the offending practices or be as efficient in doing so. It is simply not enough to direct matters to the attorney general's attention and hope something will be done. Just as the "Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act" has put a chilling effect on fraud and deceptive practices a "Consumer Protection Against the Unauthorized Practice of Law Act" could do the same.
The key issue in balancing the powers of the legislative and the judicial branches. Thankfully, the Illinois Supreme Court has the ultimate jurisdiction over the regulation of the practice of law. Perhaps a hybrid agency of the ARDC, along with the various state agencies and departments involved in licensing, can combine to create a forum with teeth to control this dangerous threat to justice and consumer protections. We simply cannot in good conscience sit idly by as our abilities to deliver our special services to consumers are eroded by wave after wave of violations.
III. The importance of maintaining the high ground
In an era when lawyer bashing is ubiquitous, we must arm ourselves with the words and phrases to defend ourselves and promote justice in society. The battle cry will be heard that we are just greedy and monopolistic. Do not shy from the attack. Counter it. Counter it with the cry of consumer protection! Counter it armed with the names, stories and tragedies of regular folks let down by the supposed "cost savings" and "simplification" of nonlawyer lawyering. Don't buy it and don't let them get away with it. Stick up for your profession at every turn. If you can't stick up for your profession, then figure out why you can't. Start changing it for the positive--or get out. Let someone in who gives a damn. Remember, get the names and stories down. Stockpile examples and rattle 'em off in the defense of what is right and good about what we do day in and day out.
IV. The successful campaign
Talk to your associates, bar associations, clients and start making the case everyday in some way or another for the fight against the unauthorized practice of law. It hurts people. We need more than ever a unifying issue to galvanize us in these times of growing distrust and competing interests. Help protect your chosen path in life as a learned professional. Help stamp out the pseudo-economic arguments for icing out attorneys and start learning the arguments of fairness, competence and justice for consumers. Help us make a successful campaign. Be ready when the time comes to know what to say, how to say it and especially why to say it.
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Scott A. Berndtson of Berndtson & Associates, P.C. practices law in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. He lives with his wife and four children in Galena, Illinois. His address is 117 Irvine St., Ste. B, P.O. Box 6545, Galena, IL 61036. He can be reached at 815/777-6565, (fax) 815/777-6566 or e-mailed at Lawyr3@aol.com.
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