PRESIDENT ' S MESSAGE
Now what are you going to do about it ?
T his time of year as we head toward New Year ’ s Eve , thoughts and proclamations of a clean break , fresh start , lofty goals , and self-reflection are near constants . Well , “ near constants ” while sharing brain space with endless lists of tasks to complete - work related and personal - social calendar obligations , horrendous traffic ( even by Atlanta standards ), and the intermittent shock of legitimate cold weather sprinkled with spring-like days . Not to mention the new twist of what COVID-19-related modifications need to be made to holiday plans . But , I digress .
Self-reflection . We have done a lot of that lately , haven ’ t we ? For many of us , the last 20 months have been a near constant exercise in selfreflection . What is most important to us ? Who is most important to us ? Are we happy doing what we do , where we do it ? Are there ways to be more efficient and buy back some coveted “ me ” time ? Of course , for those of us who ( perhaps in retrospect ) took too many trips to our suddenly well stocked pantries at the beginning of lockdowns ( cough , cough - me ), reflections on how to refocus on our health . While this much self-reflection may be exhausting , particularly since we are trained to focus on our clients ’ needs and wants , perhaps to the detriment of our own , is it really such a bad thing ? Is it taboo to acknowledge that we have identified some things about our professional lives that we do not want to “ return to normal ” under any circumstances ?
CHRISTINA M . BAUGH Barnes & Thornburg LLP cbaugh @ btlaw . com
As we near the close of 2021 , I have had the opportunity to hear some remarks given by and about some esteemed lawyers who were retiring in the coming months . Perhaps as a result of the aforementioned lengthy self-reflection period , I began to notice some troubling themes throughout the comments . Comments that were clearly intended to reflect positive qualities about the retiring individuals , comments intended to reflect the retirees ’ commitment to the profession and work ethic , and comments that perhaps in other years would have caused me to think “ wow , that person really did it right ,” caused my brow to furrow . Countless incidents of prioritizing work / client issues over family obligations or personal wellbeing , the admittedly higher
4 November / December 2021