Pressure Levels Rising.
When lawyers are in trial, it is nearly impossible to not feel the stress of the practice. No matter how old of a hat you are at it, trial is a hostile pressurized environment that consistently will instill stress in the most experienced and savvy of lawyers. Is there really anything we can do about this? Probably not. Trials are trials and they, on some level, are not supposed to feel relaxing. Everyone is on edge. Everyone is nervous (well, some more than others). Everyone is hyper-focused on delivering the goods necessary to prevail (or at least get the introduction of evidence right). So it is probably our lot in trial lawyer life that when we are in trial, we are bound to feel extraordinary levels of stress.
Why am I talking about this? Well…it’s because I am in trial! Stress abounds, so I cannot prattle on as I usually do in my posts this week. However, I can’t help but take a few minutes to jot down a few things I do when I am in trial to try and dial back the stress and keep it all together:
Exercise, Exercise Exercise.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know what people are thinking: Who in the hell has time to exercise when they are in trial? You stay up late to work on your case. You get up early to work on your case. There is no time for exercise. I say pish tosh! For years, when I have been in trial I always maintain my exercise regimen. I realized how focused and centered I was in trial when I got my exercise every morning. Also, when I work out, it gives me that time alone with my thoughts to really think about my case and court. It’s like I have the room to really think when I exercise every day of trial. I realized years ago how much it helped my stress level to do this. It also helped my trial practice because during my workouts, I really was able to work through my trial strategy consistently.
Eat Something Before Court
I cannot tell you how many times my growling stomach at counsel table during trial threw me off my game for that session. If I forgot to stuff something substantial enough in my mouth before court in the morning, I always paid for it dearly with a very loud obnoxious stomach. You don’t have to eat a “proper” breakfast to keep this from happening (even though that would be great). I know it is all we can do to get out the door in plenty of time to be on time for court during trial. However, even a piece of buttered toast makes a difference in this department. Eat something every morning of trial, or (if you have a stomach like mine) your body will noisily object.
Schedule Breaks
No matter what I needed to attend to in my case during trial, every night I came home from court, I wouldn’t automatically just walk in and hit the books immediately. I had a schedule of breaks that I would utilize no matter what was going on in my trial. My schedule entailed coming home from court and not even looking at my work until after 9pm. This gave me the time away from my work to get perspective and just take a damn break from it. Yes, you will feel anxiety at first in doing this. But, what I did to cool the anxiety was promise myself that I would attend to whatever I needed to in preparation for the next day at 9pm. Trust me. This works.
Get To Court Early
Even though every regular day, you just cannot do this, when I am in trial, I get to court at least 30 minutes early. So if the judge is set to get on the bench at 10am, I like to walk in at 9:30am. I mean, in counsel’s chair 30 minutes before court. I found that this always helps me center myself before a long day of court. You need those quiet times in the space before you turn everything on and are 100% focused for the next 8 hours.
Okay! Enough with the lists! I have got to get back to work.
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