When did it get to be summer?

I, for one, am still in denial.  It can’t possibly be later than March or so.

But our summer associates have started, the kids are almost done with school for the year and it’s supposed to hit 90 degrees over the weekend.

I guess it must be summer.

When you don’t have kids, you plan fabulous vacations for yourself.  I remember those relaxing trips to the beach. But when you’re a parent, summer takes on a whole new meaning. When you’re a parent, you plan an entire summer’s worth of “vacations.” By that, I mean a patchwork of summer camps, summer programs, play dates, family vacations, and trips to the local ice cream shop.

And that trip to the beach? We tried using the MSBA’s Annual Meeting last year as a catalyst for our first family beach vacation.

It was a great idea, but It was also anything but relaxing. (I will spare you the gory details.)

What it was, though, was memorable. The kids remember it, despite the fact that they were only 2 and 3 1/2 when they went. They have asked repeatedly if we can go back to the beach again. And, yes, they also fondly remember the goody bags from the annual meeting exhibitors.

So, we will be taking the same trip again this year. I’m sure that it will still be a challenge. I’m sure that we will still come home exhausted. And I’m sure that it will be different now that the kids are a year older.

But I also suspect that it will be equally memorable this year.

And, as a parent (lawyer or not), what more could you ask for than to have a family vacation that both you and your kids remember for years to come?

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I took off Friday and headed to a small town called Shade Gap in Pennsylvania. My family owns property just outside of Shade Gap and, every spring and fall, a group heads up for a camping trip.

If the town is remote (population 97), the property on which we camp is even more so. It is surrounded on three sides by state game land and is primarily wooded. There is a dirt road through the woods that leads to a clearing, on which we pitch our tents, build our fire and spend most of our time.

There are certain traditions that have evolved — pizza grilled cheeses, a circle of chairs around the campfire, games during the day and a creepy, late-night hike through the woods to an abandoned house that sits on the property.

But my favorite part of these trips is disconnecting from the “real world.” Phone reception is limited, there is no running water and there is no electricity. Unless you drive into town, you will not see anyone other than the camping group for the entire weekend. The nearest store is about a 25-minute drive away.

I give myself permission to put the “out-of-office assistant” on my email and to leave my cell in the car for this trip. I give myself permission to leave my real life and all of the obligations, responsibilities and stress in Baltimore. For this weekend, my purpose is to enjoy the scenery and the company.

Aside from cooking and games (Frisbee, wiffle ball, boccie ball, etc.), there is no agenda on this trip. There is nowhere else to be and nothing else to be doing.

Time in Shade Gap seems to stand still; the hours stretch to the point that any concept of time is eventually lost. At noon on Saturday, for example, I was certain that it was nearly dinnertime. Read the rest of this entry »

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Earlier this month, I participated in the American Bar Association’s Midyear Meeting in New Orleans. Aside from the obvious benefit of being in a great location I’ve never been to before, the meeting was a perfect example of some of the benefits of being active in the bar.

Of course, there were excellent CLEs and panel discussions. Not only did I attend an educational event put on by the ABA Criminal Justice Section, but I also participated in one at Tulane Law School.

There, I had the honor of discussing careers in criminal justice alongside a sitting U.S. District Court judge and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, which gave me an opportunity to learn and to hopefully impart something helpful to a room full of law students.

The ABA meetings are also an opportunity to recognize those attorneys and judges who are doing great things nationally and back in their home states. A member of Maryland’s delegation was awarded as a finalist for the ABA National Outstanding Young Lawyer Award. Recognitions such as these are important not only for the recipient but also for those in attendance as inspiration to do better in our profession and communities.

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Most offices are ghost towns during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. With partners on vacation and annual billables already calculated, it seems like the perfect time for a young lawyer to escape, right?

Well, maybe. It’s certainly a good week to vacation without losing much “face time” if that’s important to you. I’d argue, however, that the last week of the year is an opportune time for young lawyers to go to work.

With fewer people e-mailing and calling you, it’s a great time to catch up on all of the things you’ve been meaning to do but haven’t had time.

Want to write an article for publication? Start researching. Have a stack of files that need to be archived? Clean house. Wondering what’s new with your old classmates? Spend some time on LinkedIn and Google. Wishing folks a happy new year is an excellent excuse to reconnect.

Of course, there’s also the perks of having unbridled access to holiday party leftovers, and, if you’re really lucky, skipping the suit and tie. A lawyer I know works in a position where vacation days, not billable hours, are counted.

Instead of taking off during the last week of the year, he “vacations in place” and saves his paid leave for the warmer months. No matter what your motive, I think working during the last week of the year could be the best week of the year to work.

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Anyone who knows me knows I have awful luck with cars. It seems like every set of wheels I’ve had since I got my license was cursed — my first car caught fire due to a freak electrical short, another car was hit twice by drivers that didn’t leave notes and I’ve probably had close to a dozen flat tires.

I’ve had enough. Last week I sold my car.

My fiancé and I decided to be a real live city-living, one-Volvo-driving couple. His practice is primarily in Baltimore and he has always taken the bus to work. I’ll use the car during the week for my brief commute and hope there are no more car calamities.

So far (it’s only been a week) things are working out, mostly because our current schedules are relatively predictable. But I’m curious – are there any young lawyers out there who share a car or have given up car ownership altogether? Is it possible to practice law in Maryland without a vehicle?

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On Saturday, I will be in Bristol, N.H., to run my eighth marathon. The past few months have been a truly difficult balancing act between finding time to train, meeting the needs of clients and trying to spend time with my family.

This week has been especially brutal, because of a mid-week arbitration in New York and a couple of evening events earlier in the week. (In all honesty, I’m barely getting this blog written in time, but a commitment is a commitment.)

Attorneys are on the high end of Type A personalities. I make lists for my lists and continuously analyze everything. For example, when I started running, I decided to run a marathon. I had never run long distances before making this decision. But I couldn’t settle for a 10K or a half marathon or anything less than 26.2 miles.

In order to be successful, I had a training program to get in shape so I could do the actual marathon training program.  At some point during my first marathon, in Baltimore, I knew that I was going to finish and a sense of relief came over me. Relief and joy (to know that I would finally be able to stop running).

What’s my point? I don’t really know. It could be that everyone can do something if they put their mind to it. Maybe it’s exercise is good for all of us and when you find something that you like to do, you should find time to do it.

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