When It Sleets It Pours – What Does Shoveling Snow Have to Do With the Practice of Law

“Just when you think (think) you're in control
Just when you think (think) you've got a hold
Just when you get on a roll
Here it goes, here it goes, here it goes again
Oh, here it goes again
I should have known, should have known, should have known again
But here it goes again
Oh, here it goes again”

--Damian Kuash, OK Go (and the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA)

I try to approach my personal life with the same discipline I learned as a lawyer in private practice. You just keep at it one step at a time and do your best. Lately, despite my charmed life, it has been a little bit of a struggle.

It starts with my determination to exercise more. I upped my squats and managed to strain my leg muscles. Stupid me. They get better with rest, of course, but the cards recently dealt to me by life haven’t allowed that to happen.

First came to big sleet storm about 3 weeks ago. I shoveled my driveway several times during the storm period and it seemed like for several days thereafter to gain full access to both car bays in the garage. The sleet had rolled off my roof forming a two foot mound of solid ice in front on my garage, I have been shoveling snow since my boyhood in Connecticut, but this time the effort was so much harder.

Once I finished the driveway and cleared out the trash area, I thought I would just wait for the rest to melt. But we had about week of freezing weather. Then, as the melt finally came, our sump pump system began to fail, first the main pump and then the backup pump. I called my regular plumber, and he said he could come out in six days. Meanwhile, the sump was filling with water. First, I had to dig through a two-foot feet block of mostly solid ice running down my basement stairwell, which otherwise would have eventually melted and run into the sump pit and flooded my basement. That was about eight hours of effort, basically chipping my way up the iceberg and hauling the ice to either my basement bathtub or the back yard. It was difficult and hazardous work, but sort of satisfying that I could still do it.

Then, several times a day, I had to bail out the sump manually by scooping out the water and taking it to my basement toilet. I drained about 20 large really large buckets of water. Finally, my plumber arrived to tell me my backup system for sump was broken too, and my sump line was blocked. He said I had to call a drain specialist. When I did, they said they could be out in another week. So, I called Rotor Rooter, and they came out that day, but, after cabling/snaking my sump pump line the maximum 75 feet, they couldn’t find the problem. They came back the next day and worked diligently to solve the mystery. It turns out my sump pipe was frozen near the house, blocked by a solid wedge of ice. They knocked that out of the line and installed a new sump pump. But then I had to work on the drains and pipe ending, cleaning out leaves and crud. I also had to dig a longer drain channel, so the water didn’t collect in the sump pipe exit.

By this time, my hamstring muscles are hurting and I am limping around. Then last Sunday night it snowed once more. Here it goes again. I have to shovel the driveway, not so hard this time since the snow is so wet, unlike the solid ice caused by the sleet in the prior snow. I also have to dig out the drains and the two-sump pump pipe ends one more time. Thank goodness there was little snow in my basement stairwell.

So, what does this have to do with the practice of law? A lot of success in the law is perspiration; it is not just about out thinking or strategizing on how to defeat the opponent. Yes, that matters, but it is also about out working the other side. And showing dogged determination in the face of adversity, refusing to surrender, and believing in yourself. Yes, I can. I like to think my persistence against the elements and my will to prevail (a trait I note on the banner of our website, www.awrcounsel.com ) was just a skill I learned professionally. Practicing law and shoveling snow have some things in common.