SOLO NETWORK
The Secret of Success
Need balanced lives, not necessarily more billable hours
BY JAMES E. BRILL
Oscar Wilde once wrote that
there are two great tragedies in life:
not getting what you want and not
wanting what you get.
This theme is continued in a
recent book entitled, "When Every-
thing I Always Wanted Isn't Enough."
Once a guru was asked the
secret of success. "Good judgment,"
was his reply. When asked how to get
good judgment, he responded, "Expe-
rience." Upon being pressed on how
to get experience, his answer was,
"Bad judgment."
I think that the real secret is
being able to define success for your-
self on your own terms-a major
problem for lawyers.
Success cannot be defined sim-
ply as money, because there will
never be enough money. It is not
being first in everything, because by
that definition 99 percent of us are
losers and we all know that none of
us wins every time.
Many lawyers are engaged in a
frantic chase for success, on the
merry-go-round in search of the brass
ring that always seems to be just out
of reach, responding to the siren call
of billable hours, and selling their
lives for money, an hour at a time.
Hourly billing quotas are the
rage in many law firms and are
imposed equally on senior partners
and new associates. As a result,
senior lawyers no longer have time to
mentor new lawyers or to leverage
the firm's store of information and
experience.
It is clear to me that billing
quotas are adding incredible stress
to the lives of affected lawyers. The
situation is made even worse when a
lawyer feels more stress and greater
pressure from the lawyer's own firm
than from opposing lawyers.
It is also clear to me that the
quality of the lawyer's life is a
significant element of quality law
practice. Life must be more than
striving for money, power and posi-
tion. Money does not bring satisfac-
tion, power is fleeting, and position is
even less permanent. It is so easy to
James E . Brill, a solo practitio-
ner in Houston, is a former chair of
the ABA's Law Practice Management
Section and a member of the ABA's
Task Force on Solo and Small Firm
Practitioners.
100 ABA JOURNAL/ OCTOBER 1992
go from Who's Who to "Who's he?"
The complaint echoes through-
out the land that law practice is no
longer a profession, it is a business.
Yet, the focus of our practices must
be on service to clients with mone-
tary return being a byproduct of that
service. We cannot let money become
the main goal with service merely
the byproduct.
Dissatisfaction abounds. One sur-
vey of recent law school graduates
found that only 63 percent would
again choose to be lawyers and that
47 percent of the
women and 42 per-
cent overall were
considering leaving
the profession.
Another study
of lawyers of all
ages indicated that
only 31 percent
were more than
somewhat satisfied
with the way their
work lives meshed
with their personal
lives, and 59 per-
cent did not predict
any improvement.
Here are a few of their co=ents:
"I do not want to be under this
kind of pressure the rest of my life."
"Time demands are currently
astronomical."
"Associates need to be single to
succeed."
"Marriage, parenting and being
a lawyer at the same time are ex-
tremely difficult."
"I do not want to have to live the
rest of my life this way."
Dang ... Ov. ..I". d Load
Almost 75 percent of all lawyers
log at least 1,800 billable hours a
year, with the norm approaching
2,000 hours. In a number of firms,
the quota is 2,200 billable hours a
year. Put into perspective, that is 7
hours a day, 6 days a week, 52 weeks
a year!
The culture of many firms is to
worship and reward long hours to the
exclusion of most other factors . The
pressure put on new lawyers to
spend long hours nltimately is felt at
the top of the pyramid. These new
lawyers look at their senior lawyers,
even the founding lawyers, as
drones. Having been thus trained,
these lawyers will perpetuate the
system as they inflict its code on yet
another generation of new lawyers.
In other words, most lawyers
are on a treadmill, subjected to the
unyielding pace and the unremitting
demands of their practice. It is no
wonder that lawyers are unable to
mesh professional lives with mean-
ingful personal lives.
The stresses of modern law prac-
tice will cause many lawyers to deal
with the competing pressures of per-
sonal and professional lives in such a
way as to give rise to deficiencies in
professional conduct. All lawyers must
recognize that stress can take its toll
on the lawyer, on the lawyer'S family,
on the clients and on the profession
as a whole.
Many lawyers are crying for
help. They want to stay in practice
but cannot keep up the pace. If we
are to provide quality legal services
over a lifetime career, there must be
a reasonable balance between the
office and home.
Since so many lawyers are them-
selves unhappy, it is DO wonder that
the public is unhappy with lawyers.
If this situation is to change, lawyers
must find balance and achieve greater
personal satisfaction.
Those of us in solo and small
firm practice have a number of ad-
vantages, one of which is that we do
not need to satisfy the billing com-
mittee more than we need to satisfy
our clients.
We practice in an ambiance
where we have a greater chance for a
balance between our personal and
professional lives. As we achieve this
balance, we live fuller lives and have
more to give to ourselves, our fami-
lies, our clients and our profession.
When we are happier with ourselves,
we will find that we have discovered
the secret of success. •
IllUSTRATION 8Y ROSf RTA POlfUS