Video: You trained people to expect constant access to you.

I’ve been away for four weeks on vacation.

Cruise: Brisbane to Seattle.
Swam with reef sharks and sting rays in Morea.
Seattle: 3 days with friends. 

And my business ran smoothly.

A lot of barristers and senior lawyers don’t believe that would happen for them, even if they took a few days off.

Because they believe:
Clients will leave (lose work)
Work will dry up (lose money) 
Someone else won't do as good a job as them (lose control)
Or people will question how committed they are to their role, clients, matters, etc.(lose reputation)

These drive more behaviour in law than people admit.

So they stay available 24/7.

Then, they hand responsibility for their practice to:
client demands
matter pressures
court deadlines
End-of-year budgets
'urgency'
and other people’s expectations.

And call it “legal practice.”

I don’t believe that's what creates meaningful success.

I accepted litigation briefs as a barrister for years and still prioritised holidays/vacations.

Not because I wasn't committed to my work, solicitors, clients or matters.

Because I had clarity about the kind of practice and life I wanted to build.

We teach clients, teams, colleagues — everyone — what to expect from us.

We train them to expect what we have now.

At some point, you have to take responsibility for the practice you are building.

Because if clients' demands, 'urgency', and other people’s expectations are deciding your practice, you aren't building the practice you want.

You are reacting to pressure and expectations without proper systems in place.

And with AI changing the profession, this matters even more.

Because the barristers and lawyers who build strong practices over the next decade will not be the ones who stayed available to everyone 24/7 or had the most legal knowledge and experience.

It will be the barristers and lawyers' clients' trust with:
judgment
trust
clarity
care
commercial sense
risk ownership
strategic advice
human influence under pressure

At some point, you have to stop building around fear of what other people may think.

Because if you want to build something exceptional, eventually you have to become comfortable being the exception.

That means:
Some people will misunderstand you
Some will judge you negatively
And some will not like your standards.

You have to be OK with that to build the practice you want. 

When you build your practice around:
clarity, priorities, and focus.
higher performance standards.
And leadership, everything changes. 

That’s what we do in High Performance Lawyers.
Applications close in a few days.
I review every application personally.
Only one spot is available.

Email me at louise@louisemathias.com.au - “HPL” in the subject line if you want the full details, and I'll reach out to see if it's a fit for us both.


→Mt Ranier - on flight from Seattle to LAX.