The Spirituality of Lawyering

Just this week I got a call from woman who’s dad just died from a car accident, a client’s house was foreclosed, a man with no legal status was caught by immigration agents and sent to prison, and yet another arrested for embezzlement and his mother sobbing in my office.  These are brand new cases – just in.  In my docket, there are dozens of clients who the government is trying to deport, and several who just filed for bankruptcy.  These are people with very heavy personal problems coming to the office and pouring their hearts out.  These are men and women in pain and mentally and emotionally beaten.  My job as a lawyer is to listen, absorb, and take on their problems if needed.

When I take on a case, I take on that person’s overbearing depression and mental anxiety.   I shoulder whatever burden he is carrying and I make it my own.  I fight his fight.  And oftentimes I feel his pain.  Not much has been written about the emotional and mental part of lawyering.  Lawyers are supposed to be logical people and mentally tough and brave in the courtroom.  Some are called freedom fighters and fighters for justice.  But when woman who’s father just died of an accident hands you that emotional load and expects you to act and somehow make things whole again, the pressure can be enormous and overbearing. 

And the cases keep coming, tragedy after tragedy, sad stories, depressing events, horrific endings. It never ends.  It’s no wonder why many lawyers turn to alcohol and drugs for escape.  We tackle other people’s problems as well as our own.  Lawyers in California are required to take classes on alcoholism, stress reduction, and substance abuse every three years. For lawyers who can’t handle heat, they get out of the kitchen.  They change careers or find a field of law that is less stressful. 

I know of many who burn out or breakdown because other people’s problems get to be too burdensome and overwhelming.  Without spirituality at work, this job can lose meaning.  And once that’s lost, then a career may be over.  Spirituality requires stepping back, taking a deep breath, and search for meaning.  Because one can get lost in the myriad of complicated and  emotionally charged events of humanity.  

What is spirituality in lawyering?  This is one of those questions where each person you ask would have a completely different answer based on his or her situation in life.  The answer for me lies in what is spirituality itself.  And this again would be subjective based on many people’s experiences in life. But to take a stab at this, I would offer that spirituality in lawyering is an inner journey in search for some affirmation that what I do for others somehow enhances their lives. And this affirmation is what keeps me going during difficult moments in my work.

This is probably no different in a doctor’s life or a police man or a fireman or even a janitor.  Each of these jobs presents different challenges.  And of course each challenge is unique.  I can’t say that as a lawyer, I face greater challenge because I don’t have to run into a burning building  to save a life or perform life-saving surgery.  But regardless of what job, to keep giving your best, one needs to draw from some inner strength to keep going or you lose your edge.

When a mother sobs and ask why her son needs to be removed from the United States and thrown into a country he barely knew and ask me to help, it cannot just be an intellectual or analytical exercise of what laws apply or what rights are violated. And it cannot just be a matter of making a few bucks here and a few dollars there.  We all know that money is artificial and non-sustaining.   A deeper question needs to be asked. And it is a question few lawyers ask before they take on a case.  Many lawyers practice “door law” or take whatever case that walks in the door.  But few lawyers ask why.  Why should I take on the fight? Or what will I personally achieve by tackling this person’s problems.  This requires some self-examination that many are not comfortable with. 

The great lawyers of the past, such as Clarence Darrow or William Jennings Bryan must have undergone some serious self-examination to be great defenders for justice.  Darrow, late in his career, according to one article, "…began taking criminal cases, because he had become convinced that what we are used to describing as 'the criminal-justice system' was a gigantic fraud that ruined real people's lives because they had no representation capable of defending them properly against it." The article continued that throughout his career, Darrow devoted himself to opposing the death penalty, which he felt to be in conflict with humanitarian progress. In more than 100 cases, Darrow only lost one murder case in Chicago.

​And we know about William Bryan.  He is the lawyer who is best known for his crusade against Darwinism.  His self-examination must have led him to believe that Darwin’s evolution theory undermined morality.  The classic movie “Inherent the Wind” is a fictionalized account of the Scopes Trial in which Bryan represented a Christian organization against the theory of evolution. Bryan worked tirelessly for his belief and in some accounts died of exhaustion.

Spirituality in lawyering is relevant, to use a popular legal word, because there is so much at stake.  Each file that we handle is someone’s future.  Each case is a living, breathing human being.  If lawyers cannot find substance and meaning in the cases they handle, not only can they fail their clients but they fail themselves.  But we don’t learn spirituality in law school.  Law schools do not emphasize this inner journey to find meaning in work.  We are trained to know the law and to make money in the process.  We are trained to be analytical sharks, to devour opposing counsel by our wit and speech.  But spirituality connects you to work.  It is the energy that pushes you to attain your goals and achieve greatness. 

I have encountered lawyers whose sole purpose in life is to crush the opposing counsel.  I have faced litigators who take pride in embarrassing and even humiliating the other attorney.  This cannot be spiritual.  On the other side I have also seen professionals who would go out of their way to help and to give their time to empower others.  This is the way it should be.  To empower someone is a powerful spiritual act. When my clients realize that I am only a mouthpiece for them and that they are the true fighters for their rights, they feel empowered. They are energized. This is true spirituality in lawyering. 

Sometimes lawyers get a bad rap.  Many lawyers are disciplined.  And many have the notorious reputation of being greedy, uncaring and heartless.  There needs be spirituality in the practice of law because we are a nation of laws and the people who practice it must be more than just a talking heads.  Compassion, care, charity, and love can all be integrated in lawyering.