Good Lawyer or Good Life

Edward asked me recently who at the office I consider a hero - who I look up to and aspire to be like. It was a question that gave me pause. For when I stopped to think about it, there was no one really I could think of. Sure, there are people I respect on a professional level- people who are better lawyers that I could ever hope to be - who will pour tirelessly over case law and codes in search of that one footnote that provides the missing link in their argument; that read and reread each document they prepare, finding each typo and gramatical flaw before anyone else does; who argue endlessly over inane details to further their client's cause. That's not me. That will never be me. Sure, I want to be a good lawyer. But I want more than that. And from what I see at the office, being a great lawyer seems to mean not being able to have much more in your life than work. Frankly,I would rather be an average lawyer and have a full life than be an excellent lawyer and have only my work.