- law dawg
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As a group of future lawyers is presently taking day 2 of the bar exam, we thought we would dedicate a post to coping mechanisms. As those lawyers are finding out, and we all already know, the legal profession is not without its healthy dose of high stress situations. Judging by the AAMH CLE requirement, one of the most common and problematic coping mechanisms is alcohol and drug use. How has that worked for you? What other coping mechanisms have you found to keep yourself grounded and get you through the days? What do you or say to get yourself through hearings or depositions? What keeps you from throwing your hands up and walking away? Is it the gym, vacations, video games, nooners, or maybe just thinking positive thoughts? How do you cope with the stress of being a lawyer in Las Vegas?
I see a therapist once a month to discuss my stressors and continue to fine tune ways to manage stress in this job. You don’t know what you don’t know and I found therapy has been helpful to teach me different ways to deal with stress and find the techniques that work best for me. Along those lines I’ve found journaling helps. Write out whatever happened that made me feel stressed. Its almost like purging it from my mind. Get out all the tension/anger/stress and then move on. I also use visualization techniques (particularly over the weekend) to help not thing about work. I find the “trashcan” visualization technique particularly helpful. Otherwise, I think the biggest help for myself is not making being a lawyer my sole identity or even the biggest part of my identity. I as a person exist outside my job. And my worth is not decided by my job.
I put my big boy pants on and do my job.
Oh jeez why didn’t I think of that? Cancelling therapy now!
I’m guessing you are a man?
thinks of himself as a man. self-admits to being just a big boy. man would have no problem with therapy. big pulls up pants and does his job! later soils them.
big *boy pulls
And where is your gender-neutral equality? If it has been worded differently (big girl skirt) you would be screaming about stereo types….Or are you now Ok with characterizing women with all of the weak gender attributes of the 40’s 50’s and 60’s?
I’d LOVE to see a therapist. Honestly I really need to talk to someone.
But the few I have been able to find who are taking new patients require me to sign a full waiver of rights, release of all duties by the therapist, and agreement to full arbitration of all disputes.
This leads to two problems. First, I’m not going to sign a contract that egregious, and I would advise any client who asked me to never accept those terms in a contract. Essentially, the only obligation left in the contract is for the therapist to give you their time, by the terms they would have no duty of care to the patient.
More importantly, even if I was going to just sign my rights away wholesale, I could never trust a health care professional that would ask me to sign away all my rights and waive all their duties. How can I open up to a therapist who wouldn’t talk to me unless I agreed that they don’t have to meet the standard of care? I just signed a paper that says I should not trust them.
So after running into this with two local therapists and an online therapy app (that was a scam and the worst waiver I have seen in any contract ever) I think I just don’t get to have mental health care. I can afford it, I need it, I am willing to do it, but I am not willing to sign the waivers they require.
There should be a medical licensee equivalent of NRPC 1.8(h)(1). We can’t do that, other professionals shouldn’t be able to do that either. Potential liability is what helps reduce certain risk taking.
interesting decision up for oral argument today on the propriety of tax sales. https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/02/justices-to-consider-constitutionality-of-tax-foreclosure-sales/
The takings argument is an interesting one, albeit probably a loser.
Maybe the petitioner should’ve paid their taxes.
I find these novel takings arguments to be tiresome. The government is already subject to lots of substantive and procedural requirements when takes action. Nothing would get done if every time it affected your pocketbook it became a takings claim.
Thank you for adding substance to today’s blawg.
The bar exam. Is this the last or one of the last real bar exams? I can’t believe the new fangled bar exam. A mere 100 question foundation law exam which starts this year for the 2Ls at Boyd. No trust and estates on the objective part. What was accomplished by all this. The premise and mandate to change the exam was flawed. Look what they did in California. They made a mess of things. Will the new exam result in a huge flood of the
store front virtual non ABA law school grads (under functional equivalency which is a joke) and flood us with those California lawyers. I hope not. The exam needs to have a high bar of competency but doubt it will do that. 100 questions is a joke. No bar review course for the FLE. Then Performance Tests. Then submit your work for review. What is wrong with this picture.
There will also be a “who gives the best handshakes” section, followed by a short singing competition and competitive eating contest. The points will be awarded at random and then averaged among the candidates, who will all receive big hugs and a “REAL LIVE LAWYER” ribbon to pin to their new Alfani suits.
The ALfani potshot was unnecessary. You have to start somewhere
The Real Estate Salesperson (lowest level RE license) is 120 questions.
Yes, the new bar exam is a joke. God help the unsuspecting public.
As an aside, in a few years expect your malpractice premiums to go up.
The MBE was the only portion of the Nevada bar exam that allowed test-takers to gain admission to other states by test score. Now that is gone. Sad.
What is crazy is that all of the firms in town supported it wholeheartedly – why dumb down the bar and increase your competition by opening up the firewall to let in CA attorneys? Make it make sense.
I’ve become so disillusioned with the practice of law, for me finding the motivation to continue on is more difficult than dealing with the stress, not to down play the high levels of stress also involved.
same. the closest i come to coping is reminding myself that my dogs would miss me if i died, even though i assume the rest of the world would be high-fiving each other.
You’re wrong. Let’s get a coffee.
You have to leave the profession. The profession will never change, and you’ll be miserable until you die. I have never been so happy since I quit being an attorney.
Were you able to get enough money to retire before quitting or did you pivot to work that was more fulfilling? How long were you an attorney before quitting?
Retirement is a time game. Save even modest amounts when you are young and you’ll be set for retirement. Highly recommend that you begin to educate yourself about retirement. There are tons of resources out there. I tend to trust Suze Orman and Tyler Gardner for very basic information and then you can do a deep dive from there. Whatever you do, do *not* hire a “wealth manager” who takes a “small” percentage. But to your point: you don’t have to be a lawyer to have a very comfortable retirement. You need to invest (EFTs) consistently, through reliable, low cost services (Vanguard), over as long a time as possible. There are people who make very modest living, but retire and travel the world because they invested consistently.
find another job – you can do so much with a law degree. I’m on my forth area of law in 20 years and finally found happiness… You only live once. If you’re not happy pivot.
Avoid the temptation to make being a lawyer the be-all-end-all of your life. It’s not the flex you think it is when you happen to work the fact that you’re a lawyer into the first 3 minutes of every concersation you have. Nobody really cares. And many will just try and work your being a lawyer to their advantage.
The lawyers who have problems are the ones who are so deeply wrapped up in being a lawyer that it becomes their whole identity; they lose who they really are.
Being a lawyer is no more or less stressful that anything else. Pussies burn out at Starbucks in roughly the same percentage that they burn out as lawyers.
Sure, lots of professions are stressful. But putting Starbucks in that category is hyperbolic. The staff at my Starbucks is perpetually high. It’s a crap shoot as to whether I get the drink that I ordered. Those kids are having a blast.
I am thankful for my crazy family and crazy religion. Those two things do more than any other to keep this profession from completely subsuming my identity.
I cope by cultivating outside interests that have no connection to or bearing on my practice. I give myself permission to decline invitations to mixers/networking events unless I specifically want to support a cause or friend. And I ensure that my calendar has space for my friends who I met through school or work and those with no connection to the legal community. Those actions, along with the continued support of my spouse, are how I’ve avoided burnout.
Somehow, despite my better judgment, I’m still here. My coping mechanisms are enjoying the fruits of my labor. I plan vacations and make them work and disconnect. Sure I don’t want to come back, but it certainly helps. During a bad day, I simply get up and walk away sometimes. Leave the office and go get a snack–so I guess junk food. To avoid too much thinking about work after hours, I watch tv, go to VGK games, and play video games. I find that those things take my mind off of reality for a bit and give me a break so I’m ready to hit things head on again later
Record on appeal has been filed in the Ty Maynarich disability case.
https://caseinfo.nvsupremecourt.us/public/caseView.do?csIID=72417
topical
Coping mechanisms: exercise (albeit less consistently than I would prefer because this is the best way to handle stress imo); overindulgence in food; immersing myself in the curiously soothing world of skincare videos on YouTube; cherishing time with my nearly grown children; occasionally allowing the warmth of young, free-spirited and untethered male companionship; and planning my retirement to an exotic locale.
How young and free-spirited does one need to be?! Would you settle for someone who is not so young and who’s spirit is locked up tight?!
Create sim characters of opposing counsels and lock them in a room with no food or toilet.
Find a version of this profession that you actually like. It will still be stressful. There will always be people and circumstances that are hard to tolerate. But there is no reason to go to work every day to do something you do not enjoy. You are talented, educated, and in high demand. Go find a fit that makes you happy.
And treat your coworkers and colleagues and (if it applies to your area of law) opposing counsel well. Be a nice person. It will be reflected back to you. It will reward you in your day-to-day disposition irrespective of its effect on others. It will make this profession better.