I just got an email from a lawyer pointing out a grammatical error in one of my posts. I thanked her for writing and have corrected the error. But lady. . . lighten up!

Here is part of her email to me:

"Lawyers should be articulate and use proper grammar, particularly in print. Your gaff is like circulating a resume with a typo.  It makes a very bad impression.  Please remove me from your mailing list."

And that was the nice part. (She accused me of spamming her, quoting the definition of spam (the definition!) and otherwise being much too unpleasant for a beautiful Sunday afternoon.)

What is it about practicing law that makes people so. . . uncivil? Can’t we. . . all get along?

If you think you have been spammed and you don’t want to be on a list, can’t you just unsubscribe? That’s what I do, every single day. All it takes is a click. Or delete the freaking email. But sending angry responses?

Life is too short, people!

I know about the pressure. The deadlines. The arguing.

I remember dreading Mondays, being scolded by judges, and being so tired, you can’t think straight.

It seems like yesterday when I was up all night worrying about how I would pay the bills.

So I do understand.

I haven’t practiced since the late 1990s, and people who knew me then tell me I am a different person today. They say I was uptight, unfriendly, short-tempered. And I know that’s true. I was would so tight, it was years before I began to unravel.

I guess my demenor served me when I was litigating. Tough mantle, and all that. But looking back, I can tell you, I am much happier today.

Life is supposed to be fun and if you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, do something else. And if you do enjoy practicing law, but the long hours and stress get to you, there are things you can do. Exercise is a good start. We’ll explore some other strategies in future posts.

If I had learned to deal with the stress when I was practicing, maybe I still would be. And yes, I just ended a sentence with a preposition. (And I had fun doing it.)