Competence

In every talk I give--on practice management, on lawyer wellbeing, on ethics--I include the ABA's definition of wellbeing:

"Lawyer wellbeing is a continuous process whereby lawyers seek to thrive in each of the following areas: emotional health, occupational pursuits, creative endeavors, sense of spirituality or greater purpose in life, physical health, and social connections with lawyers. Lawyer wellbeing is a part of a lawyer's ethical duty of competence."

I like this definition for two reasons:

☝🏻 We tend to focus on mental health, which is justified, but wellbeing covers so much more--it is about our whole human selves.

✌🏻 Can you provide the competent, diligent, and zealous representation we're required, ethically, to give, if you do not take care of yourself? I think the answer is a resounding no.

Competence generally means representation requiring the legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the representation.

What if we committed to this addition, proposed by the ABA and some states:

In addition to the legal knowledge, legal skill, thoroughness and preparation, competence requires mental, emotional, and physical ability reasonably necessary for the representation.

I recently shifted my view of the ethics rules. Instead of a punishment--if you do not do this your job is at risk--what if we viewed them as an empowerment?

What if, instead of fearing punishment or judgment, the ethics rules--like this proposal--empower me to make better and different decisions about how I run and build my practice?

That's my goal in every talk I give--to empower others to make different decisions than the ones I made in my first 4.5 years of practice.

It is possible and I've been much more successful and fulfilled since I figured this out.

✌🏻🔥❤️