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LEGAL REPORT: FAMILY LAW to manage the ups and downs, including setting clear boundaries, says Reierson. She doesn't have a listed telephone num- ber, for example, and doesn't give clients her home number, as she feels not taking calls after hours is important. Similarly, she chooses not to carry a BlackBerry. Clients must also speak to Reierson's as- sistant first when they call. One of the most important factors, she says, is setting clear expectations of your clients, including sending them a letter detailing processes, a retainer agreement, and other general information. Personal balance is also critical, says Reierson, such as maintaining your health, eating properly, spending time with family, and taking vacations. Cameron says she deals with the situ- ations by staying centred in herself. "If I don't give myself a time to at least have a breath and really be committed to the time that I have with clients, then it's disastrous," she says. This means having enough time with clients, not thinking about numerous other things or being "Where my clients have a significant emotional tie or need that arises out of an issue, then I usually refer them to an appropriate counsellor to deal with that issue." – NEIL TURCOTTE, MACPHERSON LESLIE & TYERMAN LLP interrupted all the time and staying gen- erally in tune with them. Stu Webb, who started the collabora- tive law movement, says he checks to see if he's relaxed in the room, says Cam- eron, and she carries that in her head as well. "If I'm not relaxed in the room, no- body's going to be relaxed in the room," she says. Exercise, enough sleep, and eat- ing enough are also essential, she notes. Oftentimes, says Cameron, the legal issues are very simple, but it's the emo- tional aspect that makes it more difficult. "The concept of keeping that emotional piece at arms' length says to me that the real issues don't get addressed," she says. Cameron, who specializes in collabor- ative practice and mediation, says it used to be more difficult when she was litigat- ing, and part of the litigation paradigm asks lawyers to "take the client's emo- tional frame of the world and frame the case in that manner, which means really having to wear it at some point. Because I don't litigate anymore, I don't have to sit on one side of the emotional equa- tion," she says. There are several resources available to family law lawyers for dealing with this issue, says Cameron, including new books, training on vicarious trauma, and courses on "mediator compas- sion burnout." Other important skills learned in workshops include de-esca- lating conflict, she says, an important part of a lawyer's role. In Saskatchewan, says Turcotte, part of the annual family law update is usually a coping lecture on these types of issues. For clients, says Turcotte, there are many resources available, but there is a waiting list for many of them, which is part of the frustration. "You can't always meet the need in terms of the immedia- cy," he says, which can add to the emo- tion involved. Looking for Philip Slayton's TOP COURT TALES column? Read "A needle in a hay- stack" online this month at www.canadianlawyermag.com. Slayton examines how difficult it actually is to find much substantive information about the nine judges on the bench of the Supreme Court of Canada. 44 JUNE 2008 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com