Apologies for the lack of updates recently. Between trying to get ready for Christmas and trying to get far enough ahead at work to take a couple of days off, I’ve been busy.

I’ve also been depressed and stressed out. I hit something of a milestone in my career last week. After 15 years in practice, with 7 of them at a law firm, I’ve been threatened with a legal malpractice suit.

The folks at work, particularly my employers, have been very sympathetic and understanding. The general attitude has been “sooner or later, it happens to everyone.” Nevertheless, it feels like a real punch to the gut when one of your clients, someone whom you have been representing and have an established relationship with, decides they might need to sue you. It creates all kinds of conflicting feelings.

The first is invariably (in my case) guilt. You sit and you agonize over everything you ever did for them, wondering if you made the right choices. Then comes anger. You make an effort, you do the best work you know how to do, and this is the thanks you get? It’s only later, maybe much later, that you can gain enough emotional distance to begin to evaluate your situation clearly.

In the meantime, it’s a constant distraction. At a time when I surely do not need any distractions.

I’ve always tried to be conscientious about providing services to my clients, about doing the best work that I can for them. I’m afraid that now I will second-guess myself. That I might become hesitant about pursuing a strategy if I can’t make the client understand it, even if I believe it is the right strategy.

In any event, this is a hell of a way to finish out the year.