By Mark Miller of Norton Rose Fulbright
(Aug. 23) – Behind Blue Eyes is my version of an Adult Time Out (ATO) from the practice of law. My ATO was a journey from billing hours to reestablishing a career based on a new service model. I am now convinced that every lawyer should take a pause in one’s career to see where one has come from and what the future holds unless a course correction is taken.
My ATO started with a simple manuscript (Jerry Maguire style) addressed to my firm’s managing partner. It was my (ir)rationale form of “ask” to take five months away from billing hours. I wrote of my need to step off the treadmill and breathe a slow pace into life for a few months before resuming the hard-charging life of a partner in Big Law.
At this stage of the process, most colleagues encouraged me, but many thought I was a bit crazy and expected me to be told to withdraw from the firm. Although this was a natural expectation by Big Law lawyers, I was determined to test traditional notions of lawyer behavior, making it very clear that I would return.
I was determined to walk a different path – one never traveled before at my firm – by not quitting when the daily routine reached a level of frustration. I had established a very successful career over 25 years, and I truly enjoyed my clients and the law of ERISA, my specialty.
But I needed a break, a pause.
When I met with the managing partner to discuss my manuscript, I took a deep breath as he simply told me to go on my adventure and come back ready to hit the ground running. I was relieved that I did not need to withdraw from the firm.
Daily, I walked stairs (the ship had 11 floors), played guitar, read books that I should have read over the years and took some incredible naps. These are things that I deprived myself from doing while exhausting myself as a law firm partner.
Containership travel was my experiment to see if I could truly unplug from the machine of Big Law. And it worked. I managed to unplug from my illusory high station of life. Unplugging was not easy, as there were countless moments that I felt I had destroyed a successful career by taking this break.
I overcame these thoughts as I walked onto land in Genoa. I experienced a freedom by walking on a path into the unknown of life. I was relaxed in a way that a two-week vacation drinking Coronas on a beach never delivered.
Then I headed to Cape Town and up the east coast of Africa. Traveling in Africa was incredible. Not knowing anyone, I began a game of walking up to strangers simply to interact with people.
Most of these encounters led to incredible experiences. Experiences such as invitations to weddings, canoeing, a jazz concert, dinner with the Center for Disease Control and a US Ambassador party. This was a great strategy in asking corporations whom my law firm did not have a working relationship with to hire me for ERISA work.
Beginning conversations with strangers, either in the depths of Africa or a corporation tied to another law firm, will produce relationships that can last a lifetime.
As I drove the east coast of South Africa and then into Mozambique, I felt a freedom from my past like never before. I believe in the principle that your past dictates your future unless you decide to live into an unconstrained possibility of a future. I was willing to live into that unknown. I was embracing creating a future not tied to my past way of approaching life.
But as I travelled into the depths of Africa on my way to Uganda, I had a monumental shift. I realized that I could make my practice of law like walking into the unknown. I could make it exciting. I could move the focus away from merely billing hours to serving clients with a “with pleasure” service model. “With pleasure” is a response that I heard many times on this getaway, and it truly resonated with me.
Beware that unplugging may lead one to a monastic lifestyle.
— Mark Miller
I could shift a very successful and complex ERISA practice to a higher level of service. Big Law is premised on achieving a level of excellence in the delivery of legal services, but there is a higher calling – servicing clients at the level of a genius. This level expands the traditional notion of client service with a service commitment to clients more than generating revenue.
Upon my return, I could not help but wonder how my practice could expand beyond the norm – similar to wondering what comes after the letter “z.” Pushing the boundaries of generating profits per partner beyond simply billing hours, I expanded client service to a level never before experienced.
My ATO resulted in an ERISA practice never before imagined by the firm. We were retained by clients that elevated our practice from excellence to a level of genius – all by delivering service with a “with pleasure” model. This made my practice more than just exhilarating.
As I am four years out from my return, I could not be more motivated, moved and inspired with the practice of law. And it all started with a manuscript. I never envisioned that taking a pause would result in a journey that started on a containership with a goal to simply unplug to arriving for the first time back in the office on the 47thfloor energized like never before.
An ATO is a must for all lawyers, but beware that unplugging may lead one to a monastic lifestyle.
Mark Miller is a partner in the Houston office of Norton Rose Fulbright. He specializes in advising corporations and business leaders on issues involving executive compensation and retirement plans. His book, Behind Blue Eyes, is available for purchase.