Happy Lawyers?

I just read a really poignant article entitled “Happy Lawyers, Finding Happiness in Troubled Times” written by Staci Zaretsky on The Lawyerist ( http://lawyerist.com/ ) about why so many lawyers are not happy. I really intended this to be a comment on that article but decided to blog it instead. You can find the article here: http://lawyerist.com/happy-lawyers-finding-happiness-in-trying-times/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+solosmalltech+%28Lawyerist%29&utm_content=Twitter

In the article Zaretsky writes that “Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor once said that work worth doing is the secret to a happy life.” Exactly! I love being in this profession and I love the work I do; that is why I got into the legal profession in the first place. Unfortunately, however, many lawyers are not able to find such happiness. I have often heard people counsel unhappy lawyers to go back and rekindle that which made them go into the profession in the first place. This isn’t always helpful.

For centuries the legal profession has been reputed is being one of a handful of professions that people could get into if they wanted to make a lot of money. And it’s true. Because of this, there have been tons of people who have become lawyers for this very reason: money. Then when the money is either taken away or is no longer a motivation because they are financially secure, they have nothing else to love about being a lawyer. Therefore, it will be fruitless for them to go back and search for that initial motivation for becoming a lawyer because it just is not there. That is, for these lawyers there never really has been any “work worth doing.” My hope for these lawyers, the clients they are here to serve, as well as all the rest of us, is that we can find a true passion in our wonderful profession and in serving the clients who put their lives in our hands and all have “work worth doing”!