The therapy for lawyer lawyers program does not begin from any preconceived notion that an attorney will either remain in the practice of law or eventually seek out other options identified during the course of therapy. Once the attorney has embarked on the process of change and also began to acquire more clarity with regard to his or her overarching values, however, it is sometimes the case that attorneys realize that their authentic interests lie outside of the practice of law. To the extent the attorney begins to move in his direction, we work with the attorney to help him or her become more clear around authenticity and, on a practical level, re-orient his or her professional energies in a potentially new direction.
Changing this path can be a daunting prospect for attorneys at any stage of their careers. The practice of law is not only a profession that is highly rewarded socially and financially within our society, but over time one’s “identity” as a lawyer becomes more deeply internalized. To the extent one’s identity has become aligned with his or her status as a practicing attorney, this identity must be deconstructed to successfully allow the attorney to move forward in a new professional direction.