The Fear Factor
Let’s start with the positive. I have had a great career as a lawyer. In truth, I have enjoyed several chapters, all of which were doing legal work, but totally different – from poverty law to fighting the government, to helping the environmental movement, to business law. Each has its own reward. I have made a living.
But I have to acknowledge there are darker sides to becoming a lawyer and practising law. No – not the usual Hollywood stuff of selling your soul to the devil or compromising your values.
The darker aspect which comes to mind today is anxiety and fear
– fear of making a mistake and fear of failure. I suspect this intrudes on people working in many professions and other jobs, but in my experience it is legend amongst lawyers and articling students.
My own experience is validated by an article with appeared in The American Bar Association's *ABA Journal* entitled "Law Practice Can Trigger Stress Disorder, Says Attorney Who Now Works as Therapist" by Martha Neil. From that article:
A sense of impending doom is a common feeling for many attorneys in practice:
From the mistake made when drafting a document or taking a deposition to a transgression that you may not even be aware of yet, there's always something lurking in your consciousness to produce a feeling of being "in trouble."
For him personally, writes Will Meyerhofer, a former BigLaw associate who now works as a psychotherapist, "it got to the point for me, at Sullivan & Cromwell, that I felt my entire body clench in preparation for attack just walking through the doors of 125 Broad Street and stepping into that elevator." His post, however, indicates that law practice, in general, rather than any particular law firm, is the cause of such stress.
Most people must contend with the stresses, competition and demands of our current work environment culture those problems. But lawyers may be in a league of their own when it comes to taking fear into the workplace and incorporating it into their daily activity (and nightmares).
The anxiety and fear of making an error may begin in law school. An old movie “The Paper Chase” illustrates how an illustrious but intimidating professor at Harvard destroyed the confidence of some of his students. We hear from some mentoring lawyers “Put their feet to the fire”. “Put the fear of God in them”. It seems nothing is good enough. No mistake can be too small. Every word counts. Every question in court is critical and if you miss one, you can never go back. Once the contract is signed, the litigation begins. And on and on.
Does law attract individuals who are susceptible to this catastrophic type of thinking or does it develop and grow over time? Do the more mature lawyers, the mentors, suffer from this type of thinking so normalize it and pass it on?
Lawyers are trained to analyze every situation to the benefit of their client and often this means taking advantage of every possible interpretation of the written word, and knowing that any set of facts or circumstances can be spun to achieve the best result for the client despite the intent of the participants or, in fact, “reality”. Knowing this, lawyers live in fear of other lawyers doing just that with their work. And of course, lawyers well appreciate the intolerable experience of being sued for making a mistake, having seen their clients suffer through it. Lawyers are well aware of the current philosophy and culture in US and also Canada that if on person has suffered, someone else is responsible and must pay.
We have insurance and that should help, but I am not sure that it does. Some lawyers may believe that if they worry, they will not make mistakes as though excessive worry is a worthy preventative measure. Their inner voice says: “I have always worried a lot, never been sued, so worrying must be effective.”
I am not sure if architects, accountants, dentists, doctors, business people, teachers, etc. suffer from this syndrome. What I do believe is that this type of extreme anxiety and fear detracts a lot from enjoyment of life and cannot be very productive. Recognizing and dealing with it is important. And this means more than just putting it in a compartment and coping. It is noteworthy how many lawyers use alcohol as a coping mechanism for the stress of practice.
I think that these issues are worthy of serious, open and honest discussion in a safe environment. Law firms have mentors for articling students (called Principals). Mentors are not born great and don’t become great without training and a deep understanding of what they must do to encourage the development of their mentees. There should be a program for mentors and feedback from mentees. There are many other ways to help lawyers deal with the fear factor, but we have to start with consciously confronting the problem.
No comments:
Post a Comment