December 2007 Nevada Lawyer

December 2007

STRESS AVOIDANCE AND STRESS CONTROL FOR LAWYERS: A CHECKLIST

BY JAY G. FOONBERG

(REPRINTED WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR).

Yes, lawyers are people, but what kind of people are we? Do we unnecessarily cause stress to others? Do we unnecessarily become the victims of stress? Much of the damaging stress which exists in the practice of law can either be avoided or controlled. Stress and the reaction to stress costs money. Stress and the reaction to stress causes family problems, sometimes resulting in divorce. Stress and the reaction to stress causes illness and death.

The purpose of this article is to teach lawyers the most common sources of unnecessary stress in the practice of law and how to minimize or eliminate the harmful effects of unnecessary stress.

The benefits of stress avoidance and control include four major points:

1. Stress can cause illness and even death to the lawyer, the staff and the lawyer’s family, if not avoided or controlled.

2. Stress and the illnesses caused by stress can have a significant effect on the profit and loss of the law practice. It is estimated that as much as 70% of the disease and illness which affect lawyers’ and the staff’s absences and efficiency are stress caused or exacerbated.

3. Stress is a disease which can easily be transmitted from lawyer to family with serious damage. Stress has been called the disease of “dis-ease.”

4. A relatively stress-free attitude toward life combined with a happy attitude can extend your life expectancy by as much as 7 ½ years.

Initially, the following points must be emphasized:

1. I am not a doctor or a therapist or a psychologist or any kind of an “ologist.” What is in this article is the result of my being a lawyer for more than 40 years and what I have learned from other lawyers. For medical advice, ask your own medical person and follow their advice.

2. Some stress is good. Short term reaction to a situation may cause lifesaving stress. Long-term stress is generally bad, but can often be avoided or controlled.

3. You may have no control over what other people do or don’t do, but you always have some control over how you do or don’t react to what they do or don’t do.

4. Understanding the sources of stress in the practice of law may make you more sensitive to situations where you can control or eliminate the stress. Much law-related stress is unnecessary in a happy, profitable law practice.

WHY IS THE PRACTICE OF LAW SO STRESSFUL AND WHAT CAN BE DONE TO PREVENT OR MINIMIZE STRESS?

Our stress began even before we became practicing lawyers. We stressed over high school and college grades. We stressed over the SAT and the LSAT. We stressed over law school grades and the entire law school experience of facing daily challenges posed by the Socratic method. We stressed over the bar exam. We stressed over whether to get a job or to start a practice.

The practice of law creates stress. We work with clients who themselves are under great stress and not in a normal state of mind. The stakes in a dispute can be high to the people involved. We feel responsibility for other peoples’ lives, economic situation and freedom.

We continually face deadlines imposed by others without regard to our other time requirements. Often multiple clients require something to be done when there simply isn’t enough time to do it all. We are constantly interrupted by people, emails, telephone calls and faxes, all wanting something immediately. There is always “one more thing” that could have been done: one more witness to be deposed, one more case to be read, one more clause that should have been added or modified.

Time delays cause severe stress. Judges fail to render decisions. Judges can be arrogant. Clients fail to respond to inquiries or interrogatories. The burden of others’ delays ends up on our shoulders.

Much unnecessary stress is also caused by other lawyers. In litigation or negotiation some are either posturing or trying to run up the bill. Unnecessary scorched-earth litigation and failure to cooperate are significant causes of stress. Within a firm, lawyers are often in competition to run up billable hours, causing long days and evenings and weekends devoted to the time sheet instead of to the lawyer’s family or self.

We worry about the competency of our staff and the accuracy of information received from staff or clients. We are then called upon to “clean up the mess” when they give us incorrect information. We become distrustful and adopt a feeling of “I have to do everything myself.” Notably, more than one-half of all secretarial position applicants to employment agencies refuse to work in law offices because of the stressful atmosphere.

Clients and brokers often look at us as being “deal breakers” and as negative because we are aware of the mess created when things don’t go according to plan. We emphasize risks because we believe it is better to miss ten good boats than to get on a boat that sinks.

Keeping current with the law and with new technology is a continuing source of stress. We lose any sense of privacy when e-mail, telephones, cell phones, and texting all follow us wherever we go and all seem to demand instant response.

Finally, even after our work is completed, everything we do is subject to being “nit-picked” by the client, opposing counsel, the court and others, creating a sense of fear of error on our part.

SOME TIPS FOR STRESS AVOIDANCE AND STRESS CONTROL

Given all of the sources of law-related stress, what can we do to minimize or eliminate the unnecessary stress and its toll on our health and wealth?

Listed below are some of the “cures” and avoidance techniques I have gathered during my years as a lawyer. You should feel free to focus on and implement those most relevant and helpful to you in your own life and practice.

1. Recognize that drugs and alcohol are not a solution, but will make the problem worse.

2. Take care of your body. Exercise at least three times per week. You can’t help anyone if you are dead and you are a liability if you are sick.

3. Fire the stress causing clients. You can probably lose 90% of your aggravation and only lose 2% of your income. They typically are poor-payers, which adds to the stress.

4. Insist on cash up-front to avoid the anxiety and stress over getting paid.

5. Fire incompetent staff.

6. Make time for family and work on your relationships with family members. Clients come and clients go, but family is forever.

7. Work on relationships with the people in your office. You need them to earn your income and to reduce your stress.

8. Don’t obsess over technology.

9. Schedule nothing for Friday if you have an option. Leave open the possibility of a three day weekend and surprise your spouse or others.

10. Let macho, scorched-earth lawyers play their stupid game. They are committing suicide. Let them.

11. Don’t let arrogant judges stress you. Respond only to the words they use, not to their tone of voice. Don’t let their delays in rendering decisions stress you.

12. Organize your use of time so you can leave the office at 5:00 or 5:30 if you wish. Be a compulsive list maker. List making is the critical tool for being in control of how you spend your time

13. Carve out 2 hour blocks of time three times per week to do “heavy” tasks or to think about matters which require deep thought. Allow no interruptions for any reasons during these time blocks.

14. Learn how to “turn off” before you get home.

15. Learn what to neglect. Don’t feel guilty when you neglect things you can’t do.

16. Learn to say “no.” You can’t be all things to all people. Unkept promises are a constant source of stress.

17. Have an exit plan. Some day you will either want to stop what you are doing or you will have to stop what you are doing.

18. Get a pet. Even a goldfish in a bowl on your desk can relieve stress.

19. Turn off your instant e-mail notifier. Check your e-mails only at specific times.

20. When clients demand instant answers to their questions, protect yourself and the client by saying something like, “I have two answers, the instant answer and the right answer. They may or may not be the same. I am 90% certain that the instant answer is probably correct.”

21. Explain to clients that you are always available to them for bonafide emergencies but that you value your time with your family on weekends and evenings.

22. Bitter pills are best swallowed as quickly as possible. Do what you have to do and move on without stressing over things that can’t be changed or avoided.

While not all stress can be avoided, we as lawyers can be better people, live longer, and maintain a satisfying practice by avoiding unnecessary stress. Good luck and best wishes for a saner, less stressful life and practice in 2008!

Jay Foonberg is the only person to have given CLE presentations in every U.S. state and on every continent. He is also the only person to have been honored with awards for lifetime law achievements from 4 ABA groups: Harrison Tweed Award for Continuing Legal Education, Sam Smith Medal from the Law Practice Management Section, Don Rikli Award from General Practice, Solo & Small Firms Section, and Lifetime achievement and 2 platinum keys from Law Students Division. His 4 decades of teaching CLE include teaching the first Law Practice Management Classes at UNLV Boyd School of Law. His books have earned $2,000,000 for the ABA and include the all time best seller (every year since 1977) How To Start & Build A Law Practice, 5^th edition and How to Get and Keep Good Clients ,3^rd edition.” For more information, visit www.FoonbergLaw.com