An Unforgiving Jealous Mistress

The very first law professor that walked up to the podium of my classroom in the summer of l952 recited a truism that is much deeper than it sounds, and the lawyer must recognize its significance in order to make peace with his or herself, or they will experience a series of regrets and doubts about what they are doing. What Professor Evans said was: “the law is a jealous mistress.”  In a word the law requires one’s full and exclusive attention if one intends to succeed at the practice of law.

There is a fine line in the balancing act between the time one spends in developing one’s law practice, and paying attention to one’s family and personal life. The single attorney probably has an edge here, as he or she does not have to deal with familial conflicts, and the extended family of the single lawyer will attribute their lack of communication with how hard the young attorney is working. The same thing does not hold true for the family man or woman in the practice of law, whether in a larger firm or solo. The bottom line is that we, as attorneys, must set our priorities between business and family. When we do that, we will find that certain types of the practice of law are more suitable than others for the balancing act we set for ourselves. It starts in setting our goals for our law practice as well as for our personal life.

Goal setting is never more important than in the beginning stages of a young lawyer’s professional life. It directs us in ways that have long lasting, and sometimes irreversible effects on our lives. A misstep in this decision can and often will cost us years of non-productive “busy work”, as opposed to striving to achieve our life long goals, whatever they may be.