Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m J U L Y 2 0 1 7 29 Paulette Pommells, a Toronto coach, identifies empathy and a desire to share knowledge as positive lawyer quali- ties, but she has seen those traits sometimes carried to excess. "Law is a profession of helping people," she says. "Many lawyers have an altruistic sense of wanting to help people and make a difference, but some lawyers suffer volunteer burnout if they're helping too many people outside their paid practice." One such client of Pommells was a named partner in a small law firm who said yes to every request, whether from a client seeking pro bono representation or from a law student seeking job help. "She receives two of these emails a week from law students, which over a year translates into two weeks of full-time work," says Pommells. The lawyer reached a point where she could no longer sustain such a schedule. The commitments totally align with the lawyer's values, says Pommells, "but you can't say yes to everything. Sometimes, you have to turn down paid work, too, depending on what you've got [in your inbox]. We are literally helping her say no." The coach and her client worked out a process that she can follow whenever she is asked to accept a new commitment. "She asks herself, 'What will it entail if I say yes to this opportunity? Will it take me away from other important responsibil- ities that I have? Is there a way I can delegate some of my existing workload to take this on?' She now has her own 'Oakes test' that she applies to any request." Another kind of client with whom Pommells often works is the lawyer with a surplus of critical thinking skills. "Law- yers think things through, looking at them from all sides, and relying on solid evidence or facts before making a decision or devising a strategy," she says. For some clients, however, critical thinking has spiralled into negative thinking. A new call has engaged Pommells for help in finding an associate position. He was invited back by the small law firm where he articled, but he declined because of a senior partner with a "difficult personality." In his job search, the young lawyer was analyzing every position from every angle, asking himself, "Is this going to be a repeat of what I just went through?" He was also unsure how to explain to a potential employer why he left the previous firm. His fear of appearing to be "damaged goods" was preventing him from applying for any position. He was even recon- sidering his original decision to study law. Pommells worked with the client to "give himself permission to move forward," leaving behind the negativity of the articling experience. They developed a response to the awkward question of his departure. Instead of disparaging the pre- vious firm's senior partner, he would specify that he wanted an area of practice unavailable to him where he articled. To show he was serious about the new practice area, the client would do several information interviews with prac- titioners in that field and even take a course to help fill a gap. At press time, his job search was still underway, but the client's anxiety level was reduced and he was no longer having an existential crisis. Ian Solomon, a Toronto lawyer coach who has been both a lawyer and an entrepreneur, contrasts the mindsets of the two vocations. Whereas entrepreneurs are serial risk takers, he says, most lawyers are risk averse. "They are trained to look at the downside of any proposition. They're good at seeing obstacles to moving forward on any particular issue." The difference is apparent in how they react to setbacks. The entre- preneur "will pick himself up and try again," says Solomon. "Lawyers, if they fail, don't take disappointment very well." They have low resilience and may falter in their day-to-day practice. "They don't return phone JOHN HRYNIUK

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