In Praise of Unavailability

Published August 24, 2010

In a previous communication I noted that my wife Paula and I were planning a three week journey/vacation up and down the California and Oregon coasts. It was an enjoyable and worthwhile experience, one that took me away from the daily routine of work longer than at any time in my career (although of course I still used electronic technology to keep connected and be as productive as time off would allow). It brought home to me again that taking care of physical and mental health is a fundamental responsibility, one that makes professional life possible.

Certainly I know from my coaching experience that too many lawyers are close to burn-out or, at the very least, are unhappy in their day-to-day occupation. In fact, there are just too many reported cases of alcohol and drug abuse; how many such cases are not reported can only be left to the imagination. All successful people tend to work long hours and are focused on and passionate about what they do. In the effort to excel, made more intense by the pressure of economics, trying too much to succeed can cause problems for lawyers.

Often, lawyers make the argument that they simply cannot structure their practices to be away for any length of time, but there are ample illustrations to the contrary. An effective tool of time-off management is to assure that you are allowed to have your vacation without surprise attacks from your opposing counsel. When in litigation, preparing and filing with the court (and serving opposing counsel with) a “Notice of Unavailability” will go a long way to prevent sudden motions or deposition settings when you plan to be out of town for more than a few days.

This idea came to me in the late 1990s; it was not commonly used and most people never heard of it at the time. Since then, states as diverse as California, Florida, Georgia, New York and others seem to be aware of this procedure and some courts even have formal rules providing for it. Though still not widely discussed, this is a good technique to manage one’s priorities and control one’s own time for “renewal” (sometimes otherwise called “vacation”) without worrying about someone back home seeking to take advantage of you and your client during your temporary absence from the office.

Lawyers typically think they always know what needs to be done, and that they can do it if they just work hard enough and fast enough. That’s asking far too much of anyone, and it often produces self-defeating fear and paralysis. A thousand-mile journey is nothing more than a series of steps; tools like a notice of unavailability enable you to take them one at a time.

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Audience type: Administrators, Associates, Large Law Firms, Small Law Firms, Sole Practitioners