This article is an adaptation of a presentation given at the Law Society of Ontario’s Eight Minute Municipal Lawyer program held on May 1, 2024.
For the professionalism portion of the Law Society’s recent Eight Minute Municipal Lawyer program, I was asked to reflect on managing uncertainty in the land use planning process. Here are my top five tips, most of which come from advice I have received over my longish career. I note that these are written from my perspective as a private practitioner, but I think that the majority are applicable to lawyers practicing in-house as well.
Tip #1: Live beneath your means
In the early 1990’s, I had just joined my law firm, fresh from the Bar Ads and obnoxiously eager. A land use planner by first training, the only law I ever really wanted to practice was municipal law. I had finally arrived.
My first morning on the job, I found myself in the office of a very senior corporate lawyer. I didn’t know him very well but the word on the street was that he had been through the wringer: his last firm had dissolved in acrimony, there were bankruptcies and divorce. He was essentially a refugee with us. At the end of our conversation, just as I was leaving, I said, “Got any advice for a baby lawyer…. old timer?” I didn’t actually say the “old timer” part, but I think it was understood all the same. He sighed, leaned forward and said, “Yeah. As a matter of fact, I do, you obnoxious keener." He didn’t say the “obnoxious keener” part out loud either, but you know. And then he said, “Live beneath your means. If you do that, you’ll have space for everything else.”
Now much later in my career, this remains some of the best advice I have received. It can be hard when you are starting out, but do your best to leave yourself financial breathing space and it is so much easier to handle uncertainty. And everything else, for that matter.
Tip #2: Take care of your physical, mental and spiritual health
My second piece of advice was imparted to me by a mentor who has been practicing law longer than I have been alive (a fact that would be a little more impressive if you could see me while reading this). At the time, I was grappling with some serious questions about my life and career, and he said, “Remember, Scott. You take yourself wherever you go.”
Obvious, right? Except most of the time, most of us think and act in ways that don’t reflect this. “If only my associates were different, or my clients weren’t so demanding, or my spouse was more understanding, or the Government left the Planning Act alone for 5 minutes… I would somehow be different."
Dealing with uncertainty requires balance, wisdom and above all else, resilience. That’s deep, internal stuff that will not magically mature; it requires work. You and you alone are responsible for your physical, mental and spiritual health. Get help with it now, not when you crash. Seek out therapy, spiritual direction and mentors who you can be 100% honest with. Do you know why clients hire you or, more importantly, keep hiring you? It’s who you bring to the file more than what you bring. In the end, it’s principally your character that they want and need most. That requires attention.
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