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Legal careers are dead


“Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” 
― Martin Luther King Jr.

 No, this isn't a debate -- as much I know you'd love to jab, thrust and land a knock out blow.

 It's true.

 My truth that is.

 legal careers are dead...

 If I've any advice to aspiring lawyers (aka I want to make it to partner) it's to go do something different with your life. 

 Actually, that's not really the case: if you're still connected to the flame that in the beginning, burnt so bright, then my advice is to drop the ego stuff -- i.e. I'm better than everyone else -- and connect.

 Connect deeply:

 Who am I?

 Why am I here [in this profession]?

 What do I want my life to look like when it's finally done?

 How can I serve?

 I repeat.

 How can I serve...my soul.

 How can I connect to True Self?

 How can I stop thinking it's everyone else's fault?

 How I can ameliorate my obsession to win?

 What is the more beautiful question that, if answered, might blow my heart wide open? (I'll give you a clue. It's not being part of a firm that talks endlessly about billable hours, PEP and WIIFM.)

 But seriously, if you're invested in the legal profession and you're struggling to make sense of your life, I recommend you stop reading legal material for a while (unless it's an absolute must) -- e.g. case reports, SRA alerts and The Law Society Gazette (if you practice in another country, substitute the usual dull material that you force yourself to ingest) -- and start reading outside of law.

 And no, I'm not suggesting you indulge in a few Jo Nesbo novels or pop psychology but something more insightful. 

 Here are a few books that I can highly recommend:

 "Enough" by Jack Bogle

 "In Search of Excellence" by Bob Waterman Jnr. and Tom Peters

 "Transforming Practices: Finding Joy and Satisfaction in the Legal Life" by Steven Keeva

 "The E-Myth Revisited" by Michael E. Gerber

 "The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible" by Charles Eisenstein

 "New Seeds of Contemplation" by Thomas Merton

 But actually, you don't need to read anything. All you need do, to rebuild your faith in your legal career, is to listen. To listen to what's in your heart. 

 Both of us know that if you're shackled to the wheel of working harder than anyone should reasonably expect of you, to generate great gobs of profit (for whom?) that you'll never connect with your True Self.

 Of course, you may dismiss all this as utter nonsense and continue to exist inside your own self-made bubble, and that's fine. But sooner rather than later you'll discover you've given most of your life to something that, in all likelihood, was never you in the first place.

 Blessings,

 Julian

 PS. You may want to watch this wonderful tribute to the late Steven Keeva. 

Note: If you're interested I'd love you to jump across to my Patreon page to check out more of my work. Hell, you might even pay me a small sum to keep up the pressure to change the law firm model -- to enable you to connect Soul with Role.

 Photo by Luke Palmer

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Thanks for leaving a comment. I hope to approve things as soon as possible. Take care, Julian

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