One of the unspoken realities of law practice is that boredom seeps into a lawyer’s practice after a few years. If you can make it 8 or 10 years, you are ahead of the curve. Lawyers get restless for change, but sometimes that restlessness turns to carelessness. Careless mistakes can cause trouble, so beware of the symptoms, the greatest of which is delaying almost everything until the last possible moment to get the biggest possible “rush” out of the challenge to still meet the deadline. If you know what I’m talking about, read on.
So what can you do about it? A practicing lawyer can change four aspects of their practice to relieve the sense of boredom: practice setting, practice area, clients, and their attitude.
Probably the most common occurrence is a lawyer’s desire to change practice setting–leaving one firm or employer to another. Often the change is from big firm to small, solo practice to small firm, or private practice to in-house practice. This change of practice setting leads to new challenges that can help break the monotony and boredom some lawyers experience after a few years of practice. A more drastic change of setting is to leave the practice of law for a another profession or related profession. Certainly a common course of action, but it leaves behind an investment of time in the skills and knowledge needed to practice law.
Another way to relieve boredom is to change the mix of clients. This requires an assessment of current clients to find out what you like and dislike about them. Find the common attributes of your favorite clients, then use that information in your marketing and client selection process. Accept only the clients that meet your standards. Boredom wanes when we enjoy the challenge of helping clients we like.
Changing your practice area is another way to relieve boredom. By creating new challenges, a lawyer can erase the restlessness that is associated with work we don’t like. Adopting a new practice area comes with challenges too. A lawyer must learn the new area to gain competence before representing clients. Taking CLE courses in your area is a good start. You may need to seek permission from your firm, so create a plan to show how this new practice area could help the firm. Try to choose practice areas that are complementary to your existing cases and clients; that will help with marketing the new practice area.
The final aspect of your practice that you can change is your attitude. Sounds harsh, but sometimes all it takes is a personal decision to enjoy what we have. Take a few minutes to write down the pros and cons of your current situation. If the pros outweigh the cons, then maybe you need to adjust your outlook. But if the cons outweigh the pros, then try the changes suggested above.
Always remember, you are a well-educated professional, and have skills and abilities to do just about anything that makes you happy, so when boredom seeps in, take control of your destiny to make positive changes in your professional life!
