Trial Magazine

I recently attended a Yale Law Women meeting to speak on a panel with other experienced female attorneys. The audience was composed of some of the top law students in the country—bright, ­hardworking, and ambitious young women. I was prepared to answer questions about legal practice, such as trial strategy and taking depositions. But I was shocked when the first question I received was about work-life balance.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. The question of how to balance a career with a personal life always seems to be looming in the background for most attorneys. But I haven’t quite figured out the answer, and I had trouble coming up with an intelligent response for this room full of eager students.

To me, it’s not about “having it all” or even having balance—it’s about recognizing the limitations on your time and making the most of the time you do have. As a busy trial lawyer and the mother of four girls, I do not have enough time for everything I want to do. The key is finding joy in different aspects of your life.

The simplest way to find joy in your career is to do the kind of work you love—and to do it well. Many young lawyers who are starting out might struggle to determine where their strengths and interests lie.

For example, I was set to be a corporate lawyer, but when I experienced the thrill of the ­courtroom, I knew I needed to be a trial lawyer instead. I look forward to sharing my passion for the courtroom with law students this month during AAJ’s Student Trial Advocacy Competition (STAC)—and perhaps help develop that enthusiasm in someone else. (Read about ways to reach out to the next generation of plaintiff lawyers on p. 34.)

You may also have strong passions outside of your legal practice. In this issue of Trial, three AAJ members share the importance of branching out—learning a new skill, taking on pro bono work, or volunteering in the community can have both personal and professional benefits (p. 43).

It can be hard to find joy in your everyday activities. Returning emails at midnight or scrambling to pick up your dry cleaning on the way to an important meeting often overshadows the bigger picture of why we chose to be plaintiff attorneys. This is where AAJ comes in. No—AAJ is not going to pick up your jacket from the cleaners, but your colleagues can share advice on how to manage stress (p. 22), foster a healthy office culture (p. 38), and plan for big changes in your firm (p. 28). In addition to the resources in this issue of Trial, AAJ Education recently hosted a complimentary webinar on attorney well-being, which you can view at www.justice.org/wellbeingwebinar.

To any members struggling to rediscover the joy of our profession or find the time to focus on the activities they value most, I encourage you to reach out to your colleagues and take advantage of the resources available to you. And for those few who have it (mostly) figured out, share what you have learned by volunteering to be a STAC judge (www.justice.org/judgeforstac) or mentoring a young lawyer. Maybe no one can really have it all, but we have a better shot when we work together.

Kathleen Nastri is an attorney at Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder in Bridgeport, Conn. She can be reached at kathleen.nastri@justice.org.