If you were educated in California's public schools, you read this for the first time in the fifth grade, again in the eighth, one more time in high school civics, and, if you took the sparsely attended jurisprudence course, a final time in law school. Despite this repeated exposure to our nation's most enduring set of principles, I never really understood what the "pursuit of Happiness" meant until my stepson began legal practice earlier this year. He was tired of reading about unhappy lawyers, he said. "Tell me how to be happy practicing law." So back to first principles I went.

We know that the Founders didn't have weekend spa retreats, golfing getaways or new BMWs in mind when they included in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence the right to pursue happiness. So what did these men of the American Enlightenment mean?

They meant eudaimonia, an Aristotelian concept defined not by honor, wealth or power, but by rational activity in accordance with virtue over a complete life. These virtues were those of character—honesty, pride, friendliness and wit—intellect; generosity; and knowledge of those matters that are fundamental and unchanging.

"Happiness, eudaimonia, arises from virtuous activity," I told Adam.

"Uh-huh," he said, with that look young people give even their stepparents. The "I didn't ask for platitudes but was seeking genuine guidance here" look. He didn't have to tell me about burdens of billable hours, the grinding slog of paperwork, the pitched battle of litigation or the often corrosive internal politics that attend the practice of law in every firm. Legal practice could easily consume one's life and often frustrated our attempts to set the gears of justice into motion. It was and always will be enormously stressful. Could it possibly be transformed into something resembling contentment? The positive answer to this question comes from scientific research about "eustress" or good stress. The term was coined by the neuroimmune biologist Hans Selye in the early 1970s. It refers to the happily adaptive response to what some people call "problems" and others deem "challenges." In response to "challenges" - difficulties or barriers people believe they have the freedom and power to address - the body releases adrenaline and noradrenaline, hormones that heighten our perception, increase our motivation and physical strength and extend our capacity to function intellectually, physically, emotionally and behaviorally.

This "good stress" acts both as a motivator to creative problem-solving and as its biochemical reward. Eustress is the biological example of the Aristotelian concept of value eudaimonia, the pursuit of which our new country guaranteed us.

As the Happy Mind Web site suggests in its post on Eudaimonia and the Pursuit of Happiness: "If we can rediscover the concept of eudaimonia, and adapt it to suit our modern values, perhaps we can find a way to achieve longer-term happiness. A modern concept of eudaimonia, for example, might include the need to take account of the effect of one's actions on the environment, as well as on other people in one's community. It might take the form of political engagement, or artistic creativity, or volunteer work. By focusing on the effect of our actions on those around us and on the world in general, rather than on our own happiness, perhaps we can learn to be eudaimon, and to be happy."

"OK, OK," I could hear Adam saying, "but you're digressing again. You said you were going to talk about happy lawyers, not about Thomas Jefferson and some 1970s feel-good immune-biologist."

If philosophy and social science didn't provide the answers he was looking for, all I had to offer was my own professional experience. So I shared with him the joy I derived from my ability to solve a client's problem through legal research, strategic thinking and effective advocacy and the surprisingly deep satisfaction I felt in procuring a greater degree of justice for my clients than they had ever thought possible.

Despite the cold chill of fear and nausea that accompanied me to the 3rd District Court of Appeal during my first few years of practice in Sacramento, I'll never forget the heady sense of accomplishment that followed formal oral argument before a three-judge panel. I entered the courtroom fearful of passing out at the podium but left feeling just a little bit heroic. Taking and defending my first dozen or so depositions, arbitrating my first dispute and trying my first half-day court case were all rich sources of eustress and eudaimonia. Asking the right questions, obtaining both expected and unanticipated answers and following the trail of evidence to a beneficial conclusion were not easy to learn. But they were all worthy challenges that provided their own exciting rewards.

The gentler arts of legal practice were also sources of fulfillment. Advising my first few pro bono clients about their legal rights was immensely gratifying. These were people and nonprofit organizations who never expected the justice system to be put to use in their service. Hearing the relief in their voices at the smallest victory was better compensation than any anticipated year-end bonus. The law did not, after all, serve only the rich. It served my people—and those less fortunate than I had been—as well.

At some point, all of us who till the fields of justice realize that our knowledge of the law and ability to wield it on behalf of others is one of life's great and rare privileges. No one, no one, will ever be quite so able to bully us—or anyone we care about—simply by asserting their status or brandishing their economic power again.

If we surrender ourselves to the lessons the practice of law has to teach us, we are given the opportunity to exercise every strength of character and overcome every weakness of resolve with which we have been simultaneously blessed and burdened.

If my stepson and his fellow new attorneys would permit me to be sentimental for just a moment, this is what I'd tell them: Legal practice is not a job. It's not even a career. It's a calling. You will push yourself harder than you can imagine. In the near term, your victories will be more internal than external; more apprenticeship than accomplishment. With the blank screen of professional life to be filled, however, you could not be better positioned to pursue happiness—rational activity in accordance with virtue over a complete life—than you are at this very moment.

Welcome to the profession! Do well. Do good. Be happy

After 25 yrs of commercial litigation practice, Victoria Pynchon joined the Southern California ADR firm Judicate West where she mediates and arbitrates business disputes. She also writes the Settle it Now Negotiation Blog, contributes to the IP ADR Blog and the blog of theProfessional Women's Network of Southern California. This article was originally published in the December 26, 2008 issue of the Los Angeles Daily Journal.

©Stu Rees. All rights reserved.

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Longtime Timesheet readers may remember that I was a bit late getting out holiday cards to clients and colleagues last year. Well, once again, the shoemaker's children have no shoes, and I'm a bit tardy sending a holiday missive to my legal research and writing and legal writing and practice management consulting clients. But no worries: the Billable Hour Card Store's Lawtoons collection has come to the rescue once again. My message: My husband (and partner), Mark, came up with the idea to include a message in the form of a citation sentence:

Click here to enlarge(large file; please be patient)

Solomon, Lisa. Holiday Greeting Card (2009)(wishing health, happiness and prosperity in New Year). The card I use: Armed with a clever message, I browsed through the more than 325 humorous law-related greeting cards at the Billable Hour Card Store until I settled on the perfect one, called The Editing Process. Other features I use: Although I usually use a festive font and color for my holiday cards, the dry humor of the message inside this particular card called for Times New Roman in black (18 pt. bold, left justified). Ordering some cards imprinted with my law practice's logo and others imprinted with the logo for my consulting practice was a snap.

There are many advantages to being busy. You can arrive late at meetings, not return telephone calls, cut short conversations or simply be MIA (Missing in Action) at Court for days on end, leaving things to your secretary. You no longer need a "to do list". Things do not slip by, as other people are constantly calling you up and asking you where it is, you are of course too busy to take their calls but it is an option not usually available to diligent people.

But now everyone seems to be at it.

Plumbers used to arrive on time and were "under the gun" of the lady of the house until the job was done. Now, by using the "busy" business model they not only get paid more, they can arrive late but still find house owners forgiving and circumspect. Mobile phones allow plumbers to escape to other emergencies.

Doctors applying the "busy" model have time for a chat, despite the full waiting room.

Being busy has been recognized as a spiritual tool and an essential part of the "Law of Attraction." Apparently, you will find the universe amending the work practices of others so that they do some of your work to try to get you to the stage, you should have been at, if you had not being so busy.

In fact, developing the habit of convincing people that you are busy has been hailed as the new alternative to customer service and a lot less taxing.

Paul Brennan is a legal cartoonist, author and speaker. He is the author of We Have the Time if You Have the Money: How to Promote Your Legal Practice, A Legal Guide to Dying: Baby Boomer Edition, The 10 Greatest Legal Mistakes in Business . . . and How to Avoid Them, and The Law is an Ass—Make Sure it Doesn’t Bite Yours, which are intended for a worldwide audience. He blogs at www.101reasonstokillallthelawyers.com. In his day job, he is the principal of Brennans Solicitors, a law firm located in Mooloolaba, a Queensland, Australia seaside town, where he practices in the areas of business law (including franchising), intellectual property, trusts and estates, immigration and real estate. For more information on booking Paul as a speaker, visit www.lawanddisorder.com.au.

©Dan Rosandich. All rights reserved.

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This one is dedicated to the freshman members of the 111th Congress:

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Available on A Time to Grill

A long, long time ago, when I made a living
Working for insurance companies
Well, I knew how to bill a file
And I took every case to trial
And I collected all those hourly fees
With tort reform it changed forever
For plaintiffs and defense together
Dockets all were clearing...
The lawsuits disappearing
I still remember how I tried
To understand the reasons why
Adjusters laughed out with delight
The day the lawsuits died

[CHORUS]
So bye, bye to defending P.I.
Drove the plaintiffs out of business
But defense work went dry
And good ol’ firms were left
a’wonderin’ why, sayin’
"This is not what we had in mind"

In the good years we could bill our time
And not think about the bottom line
But that’s not how it is today
Now insurers limit discovery
And demand a cap on legal fees that
they’re quick to cut and slow to pay

And as I watched them celebrate
I realized it was too late
Bad faith and worker’s comp
Were slowly dying off
And as the tort reformers legislate
The lawsuits they eliminate
I saw my law practice dissipate
The day the lawsuits died

And I was sayin’
[CHORUS]

I quit my job to mediate
But I couldn’t charge a decent rate
Insurers all refused to pay
I went up to the courthouse door
Where I tried those cases years before
But the judge there said they’d
settled every case
The plaintiffs took what they could get
Insurers knew that there was no risk
They saved the cost of trial
By using in-house counsel
And the two that I defended most
"Good Neighbors" and those "Good Hands Folks"
They raised their glasses in a toast
The day the lawsuits died

And they were sayin’
Bye, bye to defending P.I.
Drove the lawyers out of business
and the claims have run dry
Insurance dollars stay with our bottom line
They said, "This is just what we had in mind"
They said, "This is just what we had in mind"

Just one of the hilarious songs on

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