“Get a Life!” That expression seems to me to be of relatively recent vintage. When I was young, no one believed that anyone over 30 had a life; so the admonition was a waste of breath. Nowadays, it seems that for most of us we have to pick and choose which life we wish to address at any one time. For most of us it isn’t that we need a life; most of us seem to have too many.

I wear hats. Sometimes it is a fashion statement (regrettably); sometimes it keeps the sun or rain off my follicle challenged head; and sometimes it serves to remind me which life I am leading. Am I husband, father, son, professional attorney, counselor, supplicant, friend or man of leisure? You can fill in your own blanks.

Occasionally, however, we need to stand back from the trees of our roles and get a bit of perspective. Elsewhere in this issue is a reprint of a federal district court opinion out of Texas, which I was emailed by a colleague. I have not done the research to determine whether the order is real or bogus, but it really makes no difference. Most of us have been there and have felt, if not expressed, the same sentiments. The order addresses a loss of perspective as much as a lack of professionalism. The attorneys probably felt that they were being zealous advocates of their positions and that such advocacy mandated certain tactical decisions. You go down that slope and all of a sudden you start looking around and wondering what happened. How did I get to this sorry state of affairs and lose that perspective of what is important? Surely, not everything is important. So the admonition of the court could just as well have been “Get a grip!” or “Get real!” Come to think of it, I think all of these expressions have been given to me by my children or some other astute thinker of like age.

Anyway, your Bar Association is here to help you regain that grip. Over the years Keith Truffer has done an excellent job in pointing out the problems with the slippery slope in his professionalism column in The Advocate. It is tough to give out nuggets of information and admonitions in conduct in a way that people actually want to read them, but Keith has consistently given us pointed and readable articles about behavior to which we can all relate.

The Bar Association, however, has a social mission. While the summer months have been filled with work and family activities, Heather and the Bar Association committees have been putting together an array of social activities for the fall that are really quite amazing. If you cannot find anything in the upcoming social events to enjoy, perhaps you need to get a life more than you realized. There is a trip to Kingsmill that has something for everyone in November, a crab feast on September 18th by the Young Lawyers’ Committee for all to enjoy at Oregon Ridge Park, a casino night in March at Greyrock Mansion, a golf outing in September at Elkridge Hunt Club, etc., etc. Flyers for most of these events are in this edition of The Advocate. Try to find a couple of events and come on out. Take a break. Get a grip. See you there.