Why Coach Lawyers? For the Froth.

Why coach lawyers? I’ve worked in many fields. Law is not one of them. What am I doing here?

Status quo dictates that due to my own career I could empathize perhaps more acutely with professionals in politics, marketing, HR, entrepreneurship. And I can absolutely coach those folks. And I do.

Hell I’ve thought more than once that I might make a smaller percentage of impact in coaching lawyers compared to other professionals. But law is one of the fields where I see help being needed the most. And ya know, this is coming from a guy who at one time wanted to work in the State department to bring about Middle East peace. Call me naively ambitious, I guess. I’m cool with that.

Law is where failure is not an option (more on that later).

Law is where suicide, depression, and substance abuse is disproportionately higher than other professions, not to mention the general population.

Law is where driven and passionate minds deplete themselves intellectually and sometimes emotionally, and even physically. The wounded helpers as they say.

Law is where (mostly) just and bright people go to affect the world around them.

Law is where a bunch of played out stereotypes, stigmas, and status quo ways of thinking and behaving lives. So let’s shake it up, right?

Law is where stellar practitioners spend so much time practicing that they never learn how to lead - and that goes for others as much as themselves.

It is also where those people lose themselves to the work, the competition, the comparison, and their compassion for others.

When I ask myself where is the froth, I think of law. The froth is the dynamic, complicated, satisfying, surprising space of mystery that excites me. It’s where change can happen because it is where change is, already, actively happening. All foamy, and aromatic, and messy.

I also coach lawyers because I’ve come to realize that in their Type A profession I might be one of if not the only Type B person in their orbit. Perhaps the only person they’ll interact with who doesn’t care about winning, being right, or demanding the spotlight. Instead, a port in the storm that protects their agenda.

I coach lawyers to give them a space where failure is not just an option it is most often THE option, the choice, that makes personal and firm growth possible.

If you are or know a lawyer who wants to change the way they show up, send ‘em my way. And if it turns out my coaching isn’t what they need I’ll make sure we explore and connect them with the resources they need. (Dave@heycoachdave.com)