The Marin Lawyer December 2018 by Marin County Bar Association

THE MARIN LAWYER An Official Publication of the Marin County Bar Association

THE MARIN LAWYER December 2018 Editor Robert Rosborough Editorial Layout Kiersten Ross

2018 Officers Thomas S. Brown, President Charles Dresow, President Elect Susan Feder, Secretary Caroline Joachim, Treasurer Dorothy Chou Proudfoot, Past President Jessica Karner, 5 Year Past President Board of Directors 2018 Directors Alan Brayton Nicole Çabalette Damon Connolly Christian Martinez 2019 Directors Scott Buell J. Timothy Nardell Anna Pletcher Robert Rosborough 2020 Directors Marie Barnes Gregory Brockbank C. Clay Greene Andres Perez Nestor Schnasse Executive Director Mee Mee Wong Membership & Events Manager Kiersten Ross The Marin Lawyer is published by The Marin County Bar Association 101 Lucas Valley Road, Suite 326 San Rafael, CA 94903 415-499-1314 info@marinbar.org www.MarinBar.org

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THE MARIN LAWYER An Official Publication of the Marin County Bar Association

IN THIS ISSUE Editor’s Introduction Robert Rosborough

President’s Message Thomas S. Brown

Workaholism and You: Is It Healthy? Carolyn L. Rosenblatt

Preparing to Hike the Pacific Crest Trail: How My Lawyer Lessons Served Me Well Randy Wallace

Meditation Made Easy in Marin Robert Rosborough

Relax - Refresher - Resilience for Happy Lawyers Dr. Maynard Brusman

Judge’s Corner: Wellness Via Gift Judge Chernus and Judge Lichtblau

Law & The Balanced Life: Are They Compatible? Stephen Sulmeyer, JD, PhD

Vacations Are an Option for Lawyers Embracing Work-Life Balance Dr. Maynard Brusman

Froggy’s Top Ten: What I Learned Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail Randy Wallace

Stress, Worries, and Sleepless Nights Richard Goldwasser, M.D.

The Stressed-Out Lawyer: Finding Relief in Marin Barbara Monty & Andrew Wolfe

Update From a Political Junkie Greg Brockbank

Fire Resource Guide Morrison Foerster

New Members

Upcoming Events

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EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION ROBERT ROSBOROUGH

Taking Care of Yourself

he statistics are grim. Lawyers are not a happy bunch. I believe that Marin Lawyers are a happier bunch than most but we are not immune to the pressures of the profession, not to mention of life in general. Everyone faces challenges and everyone deals with them in different ways. Some of those ways are more constructive than others and different ways appeal to, and work for, different people.

read Carolyn Rosenblatt’s, Workaholism and You: Is It Healthy? She draws on her years of experience as a public health nurse before she became a lawyer to make a convincing argument for taking care of yourself. She offers some helpful tips that may seem a little more ordinary than meditation (although she also points out that cardiac surgeons are just one type of doctor recommending meditation.)

In the interest of promoting good health, both mental and physical, among our members and the profession in general, MCBA presents this special wellness issue of the Marin Lawyer, aptly timed for one of the more stressful times of year. Most of the content is a collection of past Marin Lawyer articles addressing various aspects of wellness, including information and advice you can use as you seek whatever formula works best for you to maintain wellness and cope with the stress of an often stressful profession.

And don’t miss our Judge’s Corner this month: Wellness Via Gift, where Judges Lichtblau and Chernus discuss their personal experiences donating kidneys. And if you are not getting your fix of politics now that the mid-term elections are over, check out our political columnist’s recap and observations of the November election.

I won’t do my usual cataloguing of every article but a few highlights are worth mentioning. While you can read some of those grim statistics in Andy Wolfe and Barbara Monty’s article, The Stressed-Out Lawyer: Finding Relief in Marin, more importantly, they point out some of the opportunities here in Marin for not becoming part of those statistics. In Meditation Made Easy in Marin, I discuss the type of meditation that I both practice and teach, iRest, headquartered right here in San Rafael. Some types of meditation are easier than others and while the “user-friendliness” of iRest attracted me to it, even more appealing was how effective it is when the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs use it to treat PTSD in soldiers. Something that feels great right away and can help even active-duty soldiers in Afghanistan? Sign me up. Maybe you’ll sign up too. And if meditation doesn’t sound like your thing,

Whether you read one article or all of them, I have a request of you: choose one appealing wellness activity suggested in an article and resolve to incorporate it into your life. If all of our readers did that, I’d consider this issue of the Marin Lawyer an enormous success. Be kind to yourselves and others and have a happy holiday season! Rob Rosborough is Of Counsel to Monty White LLP. He mediates disputes where an ongoing relationship is at stake, particularly adult-family conflict such as disagreement over caring for an aging parent and HOA disputes. He maintains an estate planning and general advisory and transactional law practice focusing on personal and small business issues. Rob also teaches at USF’s Fromm Institute (conflict resolution and history of science) and helps lawyers cope with the practice of law by teaching them meditation skills as a certified iRest® meditation teacher. EMAIL

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PRESIDENTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MESSAGE THOMAS S. BROWN

2018: The Year in Review

y goal as incoming President last January was to further the mission of the MCBA, which is to involve, encourage, and support bar association members, to serve as a liaison to the Marin County courts, and to educate the community and enhance access to legal services. Reflecting on the last twelve months, I see a lot that we have done to achieve that goal and I hope youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll agree that 2018 did indeed further our mission. Program Committee Co-Chairs Tom McInerney and Susan Feder were responsible for scheduling and coordinating our programs this year, which included an excellent slate of speakers and topics. The year started with a fascinating inside look at free speech on campus with Navigating the First Amendment in the Trump Administration by Dan Mogulof, UC Berkeley Assistant Vice Chancellor and Director of Communications for UC Berkeley. Gerald Uelmen, Professor and former Dean at Santa Clara Law School, raised important questions about how our legal system operates in Is a Trial a Search for the Truth. In a year of #metoo, we had an illuminating Update on Gender Inequality Issues, hosted by Jennifer Reisch, Legal Director of Equal Rights Advocates and Bernice Yeung, Reporter for Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. And with Uber and Lyft seemingly taking over the streets, we got to hear an inside view on Legal Puzzles from the Gig Economy, featuring Nancy Allred, Senior Counsel, Policy for Airbnb and Loni Mahanta, Associate General Counsel for Lyft. The annual United States Supreme Court docket review and update with Professor Rory Little, the discussion with U.S. District Court Judge William H. Orrick, III, and the annual Judges Luncheon offered members insight into the issues facing both the local and federal

bench. Additionally, the Bench Bar Committee led by Chair Eric Sternberger has re-engaged with the court by holding regular meetings with all members of the bench to do our part to improve the operation of the courts for the bench, our members and the public. For educating the community and enhancing access to legal services, we continued to promote and feature the highly successful Lawyers in the Library program founded by past President Larry Strick and the services of Legal Aid of Marin, which offers pro bono opportunities for attorneys to serve the community in a variety of different legal arenas, from housing to employment to estate planning. The Pro Bono Luncheon highlighted those attorneys and other legal professionals whose work has been instrumental in providing much needed legal services to our County. Finally, the District Attorney Candidates Luncheon introduced the candidates to the membership and the public. Lori Frugoli's squeaker win in a race where every vote mattered shows the importance of forums like this. It is my pleasure to congratulate District Attorney Lori Frugoli as our newest elected chief prosecutor and head of law enforcement for the County. Lori defeated fellow MCBA board member Anna Pletcher in one of the closest elections in this County's history. I have known Lori for over 20 years from my prior career with the Marin County DA's Office and recently had the privilege of getting to know Anna from her service as a member of the MCBA Board of Directors. Both of them are to be commended on their campaigns and I wish Lori the best of luck as she takes over for Edward Berberian, our retiring District Attorney. I would also like to acknowledge some folks who have been instrumental in making this year run smoothly.

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Director and incoming Secretary Robert Rosborough acted as editor of the Marin Lawyer newsletter and has done an excellent job in sourcing articles and features every month. Kiersten Ross joined the MCBA staff this year as our Membership and Events Manager and has been invaluable in organizing and promoting the monthly membership meetings, section meetings, responding to membership questions and keeping production of the Marin Lawyer running smoothly. I cannot thank Executive Director Mee Mee Wong enough for her leadership and assistance. Unlike neighboring bar associations with larger staffs, MCBA relies solely on the hard work and dedication of Mee Mee and Kiersten, who do an incredible job handling innumerable responsibilities, from events to member services, responding to the press and the community, and generally running the more complicated than you might think day-to-day operations of the MCBA. As a number of past presidents can attest, the MCBA would not be nearly as productive or efficient without their tireless work.

Many others contribute to the success of MCBA and I'd like to start by thanking all of the Officers (President-Elect Charles Dresow, Treasurer Caroline Joachim, Secretary Susan Feder, Past President Dorothy Chou Proudfoot, and Five-Year Past President Jessica Karner) and the Directors who served this past year. MCBA's sections are key to its health and our numerous section chairs dedicate much time and effort to making the sections vibrant, where you can consult and

network with your colleagues and earn CLE on current topics affecting your practice. A huge thank you to all of our section chairs for their tireless work. MCBA also offers programs that help the wider community such as fee dispute arbitration or the modest means mediation program in conjunction with the courts. These programs are possible solely because of the commitment of the numerous MCBA members who volunteer their time. Thank you to each and every one of our volunteers. On a personal note, I would like to encourage members to assist the victims of the Camp Fire, which ravaged the town of Paradise and has devastated the lives of thousands of Butte County residents, including many in my home town of Chico. Agencies listed below are handling donations for the Camp Fire victims. In closing, it has been an honor to serve as President of the Marin County Bar Association and I wish the incoming officers and board the best and pledge to continue to work to support the mission of this great organization. Thank you all and see you around the courts. Best, Tom Thomas S. Brown is Of Counsel at Foley and Lardner LLP where he is a member of the Firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Government Enforcement Defense & Investigations Practice Group. He is President of the Marin County Bar Association and earned his B.A. from UC Berkeley and J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law. WEBSITE

HOW TO HELP THE VICTIMS OF THE CAMP FIRE North Valley Community Foundation: 530-366-0397 Butte County Office of Education: 530-532-5720 Caring Choices: 530-899-3873 American Red Cross: 800-733-27677 or text REDCROSS to 90999 The Salvation Army: 800-725-2769 United Way of Northern California: To donate, text BUTTEFIRE to 91999 THE MARIN LAWYER An Official Publication of the Marin County Bar Association

WORKAHOLISM CAROLYN L. ROSENBLATT

Workaholism and You: Is It Healthy?

rom the first day you enter the practice of law, the value of hard work is thrust upon you. Ads for new lawyers frequently request “hardworking.” We tend to publicly praise those who work the most. Large firms reward those who have billed the most hours with promotions and partnerships. Our society itself, founded by those for whom hard work was considered a moral or religious virtue, values the hardworking individual. Working to excess may be the only addiction our culture condones and praises. After all, hard work is good for you, isn’t it? Perhaps it is not as good as you think. If I may share with you the perspective of a former public health nurse, I have a few ideas gathered from my ten years in the trenches with roughly 10,000 patients. We observed a lot of patients who had worked hard over a period of many years. I saw them with all their illnesses and regrets. From the ones who were dying, I learned the most. I concluded that there is most certainly a point when overwork is plainly dangerous. For instance, I met patients who had “worked hard their whole lives,” as their spouses told me. They never took breaks, and claimed that they had never been sick. They were dying of heart disease. All those plans for retirement, when they would finally rest, were now ruined by illness. Retirement savings were spent on doctors, hospitals and treatment. When a very ill person said “I’ve never been sick a day in my life,” I knew it wasn’t true. They had been sick for years, but never recognized the subtle signs of the insidious development of chronic illness. When is working dangerous? When you have no time at all to tend sufficiently to the basic needs of your body and spirit for rest, nutrition, repair, relief, exercise and socialization. Though you do not see or feel it

(sometimes for years,) you will pay the price later on. Each person’s capacity for neglect and even abuse of health is different. It can truly go on and on before the wearing effect of these things begins to emerge as breakdown of systems within. It isn’t just luck or good genes that differentiate those who spend their later years healthy and relatively pain-free from those who do not. It is often attention to all the small things, day after day which makes the difference. Though the body tries to right itself in the face of every harm we do to it, eventually, it shows the damage. Addiction to working is so consuming, and so distracting, we don’t even notice. As a young person, seeing people with every imaginable illness or disability from cradle to grave, I began to “get it” that there was clearly a relationship between working so much as to ignore your health and having it break down. Of course, our genetic tendencies play a significant role in how healthy we are as we get older, but how about the time before we are old? As time went by, I found that my direct observations of patients in my caseload were reflected in what was being written in the medical literature about the effect of too much work and too little time to care for one’s health. Some illnesses were beginning to be defined as “stress related” a significant part of the time. These included migraine headaches, hypertension, gastrointestinal ailments such as colitis, ulcer and irritable bowel syndrome, heart trouble, chronic pain, skin ailments, and various others. Research was done, and though not at all conclusive of a 100% causal relationship, stress was found to be a major factor in a very large number of people demonstrating symptoms in these categories. What to do? One can’t avoid stress. It is built into the

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workday. Having had the benefit of seeing how people got sick and stayed sick, I was determined I would not fall victim to the syndrome of stress-related illnesses. When I changed careers and began practicing law, there I was: first one in the office in the morning, and last one home at night. Carrying a briefcase around all the time with more work to do at home. Stomach aches, trouble sleeping, eating on the run, all of it. I was a workaholic!

you are on it this time. That way, your entire next year or next few months will schedule around it, instead of the other way around. Be prepared to pay the price of extra pressure on leaving, and again on “re-entry.” It’s worth it. Your batteries recharge and you can work with renewed vigor until the next vacation. Besides, it forces you to organize work so you can leave. This is good. Walk

Those 10,000 patients, each of whom was my teacher, had had their lessons silenced by the culture of lawyering and the daily pressures of my new profession. Somehow, with the wakeup call of motherhood, I finally came to my senses. I made some serious decisions about how not to fall victim to the three biggest killers in our country: heart attack, stroke, and cancer, at least not anytime soon. It’s about prevention, of course, and living your life in prevention mode. Consciousness of trying to be a healthy person, despite the work and associated stress, is paramount. That can keep you on track. It might also keep you from being the person dropped by the heart attack when this doesn’t run in your family. “He was so young!” Aside from the worst killers, it would be nice to avoid chronic pain, nasty headaches, high blood pressure, and the rest, as these might arise from overwork and lack of care for your health. We all want to be healthy, but who has the time? There is so much work at the office! Each of us must find a way to pay attention to the body and the spirit. Lawyers, I fear, live in their heads entirely too much. So, there are many measures one can take, but in brief form, here are a few of my favorites:

Keep walking shoes in the office, in your car, or wherever. Fifteen or 20 minutes can do wonders when you are ready to tear your hair (or someone else’s) out. You don’t have to be an athlete. Just get up and move. The work will still be there when you get back. And you will finish it. Your heart will thank you for the break. Visit Your Friends Talk to them. Lawyers are like other professionals in that they often put friendships last. It’s more important than you think to have conversations that do not involve shop talk. It reduces the effect of stress and obsessive thoughts about that deadline, and might make you laugh. Laughing is the best stress antidote ever discovered. Eat Good Food, and Not at Your Desk There is no virtue in fast food while working. Digestion is impaired. You feel sluggish. Low fiber foods like fast foods increase your risk of colon cancer. Skip the worst ones altogether. Pepperoni and double bacon cheeseburgers aren’t worth the health price - ask anyone recovering from a stroke or fighting heart disease.

Take Vacations

Give Yourself Permission to do Nothing Sometimes

Sound simple? It’s not. The best technique I’ve found is to put vacation in on the calendar for next time when

Sitting quietly and practicing clearing your thoughts (meditation) is only about a 5000 year-old technique.

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Cardiac surgeons recommend meditation to patients these days, as do many other doctors. It reduces heart rate and blood pressure, and mitigates the damaging assault of stress on all body systems.

The wisdom of my 10,000 teachers is reflected in many current pieces of research on stress reduction and longevity. From them, here’s to your health! This article was originally published in the September 2003 issue of the Marin Lawyer.

Spend Time With People You Love It’s impossible to have happy relationships unless you spend the time. The support of loved ones can get you through any stress on earth. Cultivate them, so you won’t have to deal with stress by yourself. People in healthy relationships live longer.

Carolyn Rosenblatt began her career as an RN, primarily working as a visiting nurse for 10 years. She made thousands of house calls to hundreds of elderly people and their families. Carolyn is very familiar with what it is like to live with the problems of aging. Carolyn is also an attorney who vigorously represented injured individuals over a 27-year career. WEBSITE

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LIFE ADVENTURE: PART 1 RANDY WALLACE

Preparing to Hike the Pacific Crest Trail: How My Lawyer Lessons Served Me Well

he powers that be at the Bar Association graciously permitted me to publish my “Notice of Unavailability." When lawyers ask me what I am doing from April 28, 2017 to on or about September 15, 2017, I tell them I will hike 1,716 miles from Campo, California, the southern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail to Callaghan’s in Oregon.

I bought three different pairs of shoes until I found the right ones. I bought green super feet insoles because you do not want Achilles and ankle problems, shin splints and plantar fasciitis on the trail. I bought three different packs because I found out real quickly that, “if a pack don’t fit, you’re gonna wanna quit.” The third pack fits.

I also tell them that to my surprise the practice of law taught me lessons that will serve me well on this hike: failing to prepare is preparing to fail, knowing what I do not know, and of course old school binders. Nevertheless I feel like Rip Van Winkle waking up after 40 years. What gear is available, how much does it cost, what to choose and how to choose it? If I listed all of the items in Binder No. 1 and told you that I downloaded and printed pictures, with specifications, and weights, I would lose you as readers. Binder No. 2 was route planning, logistics, food menus, water locations and quality and camp sites. That raises two basic lawyer questions: how much I did not know and how much I did not know what I did not know.

Take, for example, base weight—everything you carry minus consumables (food, water and fuel). Talk about fanaticism, you have no idea: the bottom line is 22 pounds or less is very good…less than 18 pounds is better…less than 15 pounds is outstanding, but impossible for most. Do you know the answers to what to get rid of, what to keep, and what do you need as opposed to want? I did not.

But as in the law, some things you cannot fully prepare for or practice, like the weather and the pain. And unless you shake down your gear on a four day trip and maybe two of them before you start your hike, you will not know what works and what does not. In the words of the special ops forces “you gotta lock your sh#@t down tight” before you go. In the Sierra, you need 4,000-plus calories a day and enough protein (about 80-95 grams per day depending on your weight) so your body will not start cannibalizing itself, i.e., atrophying muscle to liberate amino acids to regenerate the daily tearing and repair of muscle fibers. How many are thinking, “I’ll pass and go lie on a warm beach somewhere”? I could not fault these thoughts.

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But every day you will see billion-dollar views. Every day you may have a, “Holy sh@#t, Batman,” moment. Every day will be different other than knowing you will wake up to the light and birds, coffee up with breakfast, pack it all up, hike, snack, drink, stop, rest, filter your water, change your socks, air out your feet, take everything out of your pack, set up camp, cook, eat again, organize for the next day, read your maps, sleep, and then start again, and again…every day for four plus months. Did I say washing your clothes and taking a shower every seven days or so makes you hiker trash?

Will I hike all of the 1,716 miles? I hope so but the goal is to hike for four plus months and see where I end up. If I don’t make it, it might be because of the snow, but it will not be for lack of the lawyer lessons learned.

The entire PCT from the southern terminus, Campo, California to the northern terminus, Manning, British Columbia is 2650 miles. Way too far for this boy in one hike. But as part of my “base weight” on my hike, I will carry Dylan Thomas: “Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at the close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” This article was originally published in the April 2017 issue of the Marin Lawyer. Randy Wallace is a mediator and lawyer. He has practiced law for the past 39 years and has been a mediator since 1994. Last year he became a confirmed thru hiker. He is also a Past President of the Marin County Bar Association (2015). EMAIL

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MEDITATION ROBERT ROSBOROUGH

Meditation Made Easy in Marin

editation is much in the news these days, from the cover of Time magazine to another CEO “coming out” as a meditator. As a meditation teacher, I encounter non-meditators who imagine that meditation is all about zoning out. I encounter even more people who have tried meditation and wonder where the zoning out comes in. They tell me they are “bad” at it because their mind wanders or they can’t stop thinking about the brief due the next day. Many years ago, I fell at least somewhat into the latter camp; I was an off-and-on meditator because I didn’t feel like I was making much progress. It was frustrating, sitting still but thinking about all the work I had to do because I couldn’t help it. I knew that meditation was a long-term practice, but making it into one entails actually practicing. And that wasn’t easy for me. Encountering Integrative Restoration I decided to look for a more structured approach, one that would help me really make meditation a part of my life. I quickly discovered just how stressed out Bay Area folks are when I found classes filled months ahead of time. I also discovered that Apple didn’t have a trademark on all terms beginning with “i” when I encountered a class for something called “iRest.” iRest is an abbreviation for Integrative Restoration and one thing that caught my attention was the fact that iRest was not only used to treat post-traumatic stress disor-

der (“PTSD”) but that the Department of Defense was the one using it. I thought if you can get a bunch of soldiers to sit around and meditate and it can actually help someone who’s had an IED go off next to them, surely it can help with my ordinary, humdrum life. I soon found myself lying on a yoga mat with over 50 other eager meditators as Richard Miller, a clinical psychologist and creator of iRest, guided us in a 30-minute meditation. I was so relaxed at the end of it, I took Richard’s advice to move around and gather my wits before, as the pharmaceutical industry says, “operating heavy machinery.” This was not my mother’s meditation. Why meditate? Before saying more about iRest, a little about meditation in general. One of the most common ways to meditate is to focus on your breath. You might bring your attention to the air as it passes in and out of your nose or to your belly as it rises and falls. Your mind will soon wander. At some point, you will realize that your mind is wandering and tell yourself, “!#?!#!. I need to focus here. Okay, back to my breath.” You will do this over and over again. Sound fun? Probably not, as you realize this is what “practice” entails. In teaching, I tell students that meditation is like going to the gym for your mind—you have to put it through its paces if you want results. So why do it? Because it helps with many concrete things (focus, sleep, anxiety, the list is long) but I think

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one of the most important is improving your ability to pay attention as you go about your daily life in such a way that instead of reacting to events, you can respond with equanimity. Increasing mindfulness is the trendy term. Examples from driving seem to resonate with my students: if someone cuts you off in traffic, would you rather be able to let it go in a few seconds or spend the next thirty minutes stewing about it? Meditation makes the first option much easier. iRest’s approach

iRest is a modernized version of an ancient practice: yoga nidra—sometimes translated as “sleep of the yogi,” a reference to the way yoga nidra induces a physiological state similar to sleep. About 40 years ago, my teacher and now friend Richard Miller walked into a yoga nidra class at the Integral Yoga Institute near Dolores Park in San Francisco. After a few decades and an enormous amount of work, study and research, we have iRest. Despite these yogic origins, you are not “doing yoga” as many think of it. You lie on the floor or sit in a chair and it is practiced by people of all faiths and none. I practice in my bed more than anywhere else. iRest starts by getting you out of your head by using imagery and sensation to connect to a bodily feeling of calm and safety. You then bring your awareness to different parts of your body, simply taking in what you notice, not trying to change anything. You then work with your breath, further relaxing both mind and body. By this point, you are relaxed enough so that you can feel safe working with challenging thoughts, beliefs and emotions. Maybe you find yourself angry by the end of each day. Or you think you’ll never be good enough for your boss. Or you’re blaming yourself for talking back to the judge that day. Whatever is on your mind, iRest helps diffuse its hold on you by having you work with it and its opposite thought, belief or emotion. Overall, the effect is deeply relaxing and helps you feel more in control of yourself and your thoughts.

With iRest, instead of just trying to focus on something like your breath over and over, your mind is occupied with a variety of tasks. I have found it much easier than other forms of meditation I have tried. And it felt like I was making progress right away, not years down the road. Like most people, I started by listening to a recording to guide me through. Eventually, I found I didn’t need that. And iRest is flexible so if you just feel like sensing your body one day, maybe working with a troubling thought or just trying to get to sleep you can do it for a few minutes or thirty.

The Integrative Restoration Institute It was iRest’s ease and effectiveness that piqued the interest of the military. The Department of Defense conducted its own study of iRest at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center as an adjunct treatment for PTSD and found it to be so effective that they hired the director of the study to immediately implement a program. Since then, the use of iRest among active duty soldiers and veterans of all faiths and backgrounds has grown steadily. Tens of thousands of soldiers have practiced iRest and it is now used at over 85 military venues, including various Veterans Administration facilities around the country. It is now being introduced to military venues in Canada, Britain and Australia. Several short films have been produced about its use by soldiers. You can view one soldier’s story in this moving video on YouTube. Founded here in Marin in 2006 by Richard Miller, the Integrative Restoration Institute trains the teachers that bring iRest to all of these soldiers. But iRest is flexible enough that it can be tailored to serve diverse populations. IRI has developed programs for a wide variety of settings, from helping the homeless to treating addiction. A former lawyer friend of mine, Kamala Itzel Berrio, is one of several people helping to develop a program for young women that have been the victims of human trafficking. Some of these programs help right here in Marin, including iRest for grief (offered at Hospice by the Bay) and iRest for the incarcerated (including San Quentin.)

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The dedication of IRI’s small staff and the help of many volunteers allows it to train teachers, develop programs, and support diverse research. It also offers meditation retreats around the world, from here in Marin (at Dominican’s Santa Sabina Retreat Center) to Ohio to Bali. I highly recommend the retreats, which are open to everyone.

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If you are interested in learning more or supporting IRI, you can find out more about IRI’s programs and donate on its website. Richard has written two books on iRest, both available on Amazon and he has recorded a course, also available on Amazon. You are most likely to find a public offering in connection with a yoga studio, although you are still more likely to find traditional yoga nidra, which is much less oriented towards each individual meditator’s personal needs. As a certified teacher, I sometimes offer trainings to stressed -out professionals as well as a class for those going through divorce. I also find a wonderful symmetry in the fact that a friend and I lead a weekly iRest meditation open to everyone every Thursday evening at the Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco, the very place Richard first encountered yoga nidra.

Silver

This article was originally published in the October 2017 issue of the Marin Lawyer. Rob Rosborough is Of Counsel to Monty White LLP. He mediates disputes where an ongoing relationship is at stake, particularly adult-family conflict such as disagreement over caring for an aging parent and HOA disputes. He maintains an estate planning and general advisory and transactional law practice focusing on personal and small business issues. Rob also teaches at USF’s Fromm Institute (conflict resolution and history of science) and helps lawyers cope with the practice of law by teaching them meditation skills as a certified iRest® meditation teacher. EMAIL

Interested in sponsorship? Contact Mee Mee Wong at 415-499-1314 or mwong@marinbar.org

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ONE MINUTE MINDFULNESS DR. MAYNARD BRUSMAN

Relax - Refresher - Resilience for Happy Lawyers

tress is a very powerful force that involves awareness, attention and energy. It can be managed and empower you. If you let stress control you, the resulting distress can be harmful to your body, mind, and spirit. Learning to become more “present” will free you to be more flexible and creative. Mindfulness reduces stress and promotes resilience. You can become more resilient, enjoying better health and well-being.

1. Find yourself a comfortable position with as few distractions as possible.

6. Now take a deep, soothing breath all the way down to your abdomen.

2. Gently close your eyes and focus your attention inward.

7. As you exhale, let your facial muscles, neck and shoulders relax.

3. Imagine a radiant light dissolving your 8. Feel a wave of warmth and heaviness stress. sweep down to your toes. 4. Take a few easy slow breaths, taking air in through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. 5. Say to yourself, “Alert mind, calm body”.

Stress is a natural response within all of us and it can serve as a valuable source of increased energy and creativity. When coupled with an optimistic attitude, positive or stress can help you accomplish the things in life that are most important. However, knowing how to manage unwanted stress and relax is essential to your enjoyment of life. Remember that you are in charge of your own physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.

9. Allow the relaxation to re-energize your body and mind. 10. Slowly open your eyes, stretch, and ease back into normal activities.

Golden Rule: Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff... ultimately it’s all small stuff. This article was originally published in the December 2010 issue of the Marin Lawyer. Dr. Maynard Brusman is a consulting psychologist and executive/career coach. He has a leadership coaching practice in the San Francisco Financial District specializing in working with attorneys. EMAIL WEBSITE

You can choose to be happy, healthy, and relaxed. THE MARIN LAWYER An Official Publication of the Marin County Bar Association

JUDGE’S CORNER JUDGE CHERNUS AND JUDGE LICHTBLAU

Wellness Via Gift

ur Marin bench is now fully staffed with twelve judges. Yet we’re a bit light on kidneys and proud of it. This issue of the Judge’s Corner is not intended to address body parts on the bench, but to talk about kidney donation. In June 2016, Judge Chernus donated his kidney to Penny Dufficy, the Honorable Michael Dufficy’s wife. In August 2012, Judge Lichtblau donated her kidney to a cousin. For each of us, the donation process was lengthy but relatively straightforward. It was also incredibly rewarding and life changing. Live kidney transplants have been around for quite some time. The first successful live donor transplant occurred in 1945 when a man named Ronald Herrick donated his kidney to his twin brother, Richard. Mr. Herrick continued to live a healthy life for decades after his donation. (Richard lived eight more years. Their surgeon went on to win the Nobel prize.) Live kidney donation increased exponentially over the following decades, peaking in the early 2000s. Over the past decade, the number of live transplants has averaged approximately 16,000 per year. Unfortunately, the wait list for transplants has also increased over the years. As of August 2017, 115,000 remained on the national transplant waiting list, 20 of whom die each day waiting for a transplant. Simply put, there aren’t enough kidneys offered. Although kidney transplants occur from both live and cadaver donors, living donor transplants have greater success. A kidney from a living donor usually functions immediately, which makes it easier to monitor. Donors are tested prior to the donation to ensure compatibility with the recipient and they are often relatives with close genetic matches. The recipient and donor can

also schedule the surgery at a time that allows everyone to be ready and at their optimal health. So how does the donation process work? Generally speaking, it takes time and commitment. First, a potential donor must give a blood sample to determine blood type compatibility. In this test, blood from the donor and recipient are mixed to ensure that the recipient’s cells do not attack the donor’s cells. Physicians also examine antigens and antibodies to determine compatibility. Although greater compatibility results in better outcomes, even transplants with little or no match can result in a good outcome with the use of immunosuppressive medications.

Even if your blood type is not compatible, you can still indirectly donate a kidney to your intended recipient. Through a “daisy chain” procedure, Judge Chernus donated his kidney to a compatible stranger in Colorado in order that Penny Dufficy could receive her kidney from a stranger from Maryland. In total, there were 16 kidney donors and 16 recipients all over the country in a daisy chain that took about two weeks to complete from start to finish. In fact, Penny Dufficy’s transplant was number 30, Judge Chernus’ donation was 31, and his recipient’s transplant was the 32nd and final operation. Regardless of whether the kidney donation is directly to an intended recipient or through a daisy chain, the donor must undergo multiple exams over several months to ensure he or she is a healthy patient before being allowed to donate. If you have ever wanted to make sure your doctor takes all of your minor complaints seriously, we suggest you donate a kidney. You will undergo the most thorough physical you ever thought possible. Physicians will follow up on just about every-

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thing, from family history to blood pressure, even if just momentarily elevated. Tests will range from stress tests to renal ultrasounds. You are even required to submit to a psychological examination to ensure you are not donating for money or other improper reasons. The doctors want the transplant to be successful and they don’t want any surprises. Believe us when we tell you, they follow up on everything. Judge Chernus was required to wear a remote transmitting blood pressure monitor for 24 hours, which took and transmitted his blood pressure at random times during the day and night. Finally the big day comes. It’s incredibly exciting to know that you are going to make a meaningful difference in the recipient’s life. Judge Lichtblau checked in the day before surgery and Judge Chernus checked in on the day of the surgery. A full team of doctors cram themselves into your tiny hospital room to greet you. The surgery itself lasts several hours. The best news is when you hear that the recipient’s surgery is also successful. Knowing your kidney is working in another person’s body is truly the best medicine for a speedy recovery. Seeing the recipient for the first time following the surgery is incredibly moving because you know you have given them freedom from that awful dialysis machine.

Recovery time varies from person to person, but we found we were back to light activities within a few weeks. Although recovery time will cause you to take time off from work and other activities, recently enacted Labor Code section 1510 mandates that employers with 15 or more employees grant a paid leave of absence not to exceed 30 days for the purpose of donating an organ to another person. The hospital will follow up with you for the next couple of years to make sure you have fully recovered. There is something weirdly special about knowing that one of your organs is working inside another body, allowing that person to resume a full life. It brings profound meaning to the phrase we often tell children that “sharing is caring.” While it’s a big decision to make and not one that should be taken lightly, we feel truly lucky to have said yes. Judge Roy O. Chernus was elected to the bench in 2010 with his term starting in January 2011. He earned his bachelor's degree from George Washington University and his law degree from New York Law School. He served as a Court Commissioner from 2005 until his judicial term commenced in 2011. Judge Sheila Shah Lichtblau was elected to the bench in 2016 with her term starting in January 2017. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley and her law degree from Hastings College of Law.

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WORK-LIFE BALANCE STEPHEN H. SULMEYER, JD, PhD

Law & The Balanced Life: Are They Compatible?

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." – The Gospel According to Thomas

Having a balanced life requires that we find an inner refuge within the hurricane of daily life, impregnable to the events of both our outer and inner worlds. It’s not about making room for exercise, or a date night once a week with your spouse, although that can be part of it. Meaningful balance is about creating a refuge within ourselves of peace, solace, relaxation, and deep meaningfulness, where we get to be truly ourselves, to truly relax, to feel supported and nurtured and safe. It is the place inside where we know without doubt, “here I cannot be harmed.” True balance is about freedom from domination by external and internal events—not only our cases and clients, our deadlines and task-lists and billable hours, but also our self-doubts, our fears, and the attacks of our inner critic. The problem is that

we tend to be consumed by our focus on particular inner or outer events (or both), and often end up feeling under siege or overwhelmed. The inner abode is a constant, living reminder that we are more than a puppet reacting to events; that we are not actually in danger; that we are never truly disconnected from the inner peace that is the source of our strength and well-being. Balance doesn’t mean dissociating from the inner and outer forces that assail us, but rather transcending them and their effects on us. We all yearn for this freedom, not because we all seek escape necessarily, but because the self-mastery this freedom requires is part of our provenance as mature human beings. The work of creating the inner refuge, in other words, is the work of personal growth. What this implies is that the only meaningful way to have a balanced life is to address our fundamental need

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to grow as human beings. That is, balance requires that we accept life’s invitation to grow up into the mature human beings we are capable of being. This invitation, this urge to grow, is present in all living things. In Sanskrit it is referred to as moksha, in Western psychology it has been called the drive toward individuation or self -actualization. It is the natural, evolutionary drive that impels the acorn to become an oak tree, and that impels the individual human being to develop in a way that best expresses the natural predilections and uniqueness of that individual. Only by following the call to growth that emerges from the depths of our being can we find balance. The alternative is stagnation, arrested development, a state of meaninglessness, malaise, emptiness, deadness—however well or poorly we might try to hide such a state from ourselves. For many of us, the challenge presented by the individuation drive has to do with making the leap from our adolescent self to our adult self. To grossly oversimplify the situation, most of us have personalities that are in essence a series of maturational accretions layered on top of a foundation that was set in place in high school and college. Many of us are, in other words, seasoned adolescents masquerading as adults—and many of us feel that way, at least some of the time. This adolescent self contains within it unexamined dynamics from our earliest years, including what I call the deficient self and the compensatory self. The deficient self is who we secretly fear and believe ourselves to be: little, scared, weak, stupid, mean, bad, unlovable. The compensatory self is who we try to convince ourselves and others that we really are: self-confident, likable, loving, strong, smart, capable. Some are more successful than others at creating a workable compensatory self. We members of the Marin County Bar Association are presumably among the more successful: we succeeded at creating a working compensatory self that has carried us far, even though many of us are painfully aware of our deficient self-tugging at our sleeves (or worse). The problem is that the individuation drive does not allow us to rest on our laurels. It puts the fire under our feet and says, “you must grow, or die.” It can create the

feeling inside of, “the way I’m living my life just isn’t working anymore,” or a vague sense of discontentment, or that something vital is missing, or of wondering “is this all there is?” How this often plays out is that life presents us with situations in which the old ways of being no longer work. The stresses of greater job responsibility, of being a husband or a wife, of being a parent, of being a leader, show us the ever-broadening cracks in the outmoded foundation. Or it might be that we accomplish everything our culture or our families say is worth achieving, and yet we still feel incomplete, or phony, or unfulfilled. Some people quit jobs or switch careers, some have affairs, many start drinking too much—but none of these ultimately makes a difference. The call is to turn inward, to grow, and to grow in a particular way: to come home from selfalienation. When we are identified with the compensatory self we are inevitably split off and alienated from other vital parts of the psyche. In our teens and twenties this isn’t so much of an issue, because early adulthood is all about finding an identity we can be comfortable with and that can allow us to find our way in the world. But by midlife the alienation from unconscious yet terribly important parts of ourselves tends to become unbearably painful. There are good reasons for this. For one thing, when we act from the adolescent self, we are constantly defending against feeling hurt: hurt by our spouse, upstaged by a partner, chastised by a judge, humiliated in front of a client—afraid of being hurt in all the myriad ways we were hurt as a child. When we act in this automatic way, we are unconsciously believing and reinforcing certain ideas about ourselves: I am small, I am weak, I am unlovable, I can’t handle being hurt, I don’t have what it takes to stand up to daddy/ mommy—i.e., we are still believing ourselves to be the deficient identity. To actually allow ourselves to feel and to be our deficient self—to confront it, to question it, to know it—is intolerable to most of us, and consequently we have to continually strive to keep these terrifying feelings below the surface of consciousness, resulting in a state of arrested development. The selfdoubt and psychic pain engendered by this way of

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being inevitably becomes increasingly intolerable. In addition, other unconscious elements of the psyche add to the upping of the ante as they struggle to gain our attention and ultimately to become integrated into consciousness. Jung spoke of the need to integrate not only our shadow (roughly corresponding to what I’m calling the deficient self), but also the anima or animus (the feminine principle within the male and the male principle within the female, respectively), and the Self (the mysterious wholeness that lies at the center of each person). Jung also spoke of the need to achieve balance in the form of exercising what he called the inferior function, i.e., the mode of functioning that we are least comfortable with (e.g., for thinking types it might be our feeling function/emotional intelligence or our sensate function/body intelligence). Integrating these elements into our conscious life not only brings a sense of wholeness, but also provides support that we need in order to overcome the inertia created by our defenses against hurt, fear, shame and loneliness. For example, integration of the anima allows a man to have the compassion and nurturing (and the strength that these provide) that he needs to confront his fear and his solitude, and to be able to let go of his infantilized relationship to his internalized mother. Integration of the animus permits a woman to have the focus and will that she needs to overcome cultural and familial prohibitions (and their attendant shame and fear of exile) on being fully in her power, on being who she truly is. The wholeness that arises from integrating the split-off parts of ourselves gives us the strength to stand on our own two feet in the face of our terror and aloneness. As Einstein was quoted as saying, “I now bask in that solitude that was so painful to me in my youth.” So how do we do this? How do we create this inner sanctuary and engage in meaningful self-growth? First, it’s important to recognize that one of the great challenges that all people on the path of growth face, but particularly lawyers, trained as we are as problemsolvers, is how to embrace the journey of inner growth

without making it one more thing on our endless to-do list. If you treat your need for balance as one more problem to be solved, you’ll just be given another problem. As Einstein said, no problem can be solved from the mindset that created it. In other words, what’s needed is to move away from, to disidentify with, the problem-solver we have taken ourselves to be all this time, and allow some other, hitherto unknown part of ourselves to arise. All spiritual traditions and all psychotherapeutic modalities of which I am aware speak to this: maturity is about dying to who we have been and being re-born to something greater than that former self. Warning number two: it’s important to recognize that one of the challenges or obstacles to creating the inner citadel is that it requires us to move away from the familiar and into the unknown—and that stirs up loss and terror. Moving away from our habitual way of being is a process of separation, and this is often experienced as a movement away from the warm, cozy, secure hearth that is home, what we have taken to be most dear. It takes a great deal of support to stay on the path that leads to balance. That support can come in a wide variety of forms, including books, psychotherapy, spirituality, a support group, a daily practice of some kind, a martial art like aikido, and so forth. Support can provide the perseverance and the patience that are absolutely needed to stay the course. Okay, what does this look like in practice? In the most practical of senses, it starts with commitment. Our irrevocable, unassailable commitment to our path of growth, and the earnestness with which we follow that path, is the fuel that propels us on the journey. Simply making the commitment and taking the first step will result in a huge and noticeable change. This commitment means that loving the truth exactly as it actually is is more important than feeling good. It means practicing ruthless self-honesty. It means meeting the disowned and frightening parts of ourselves with courage and compassion, in a spirit of anthropological discovery. The greatest obstacle to this path is our tendency to deceive ourselves to who we really are.

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But the form this commitment is expressed in depends entirely on the individual. There are no instruction manuals or by-the-numbers guide books for this. There are countless paths to wholeness, and each person has to choose the path that best suits him or her (or, to be more accurate, each person has to allow him or herself to be chosen by a particular path). What all true paths have in common is some form of inquiry into the truth. No room for dogma here. It’s all about finding out your truth for yourself, and then living it. Such inquiry often involves questions like: Who am I really? Is it really true that I’m small and weak? Do I really need to be scared and anxious about this? For lawyers I suspect part of the inquiry involves asking questions like: why did I become a lawyer in the first place? Why am I practicing now? Is my legal practice really serving my growth as a human being? If not, could it? How? Regardless of specifics, it’s all about creating the place within you that is imperturbable, where you cannot be blackmailed by your childish fears, or by the expectations or judgments of others, where you can be true to your true self no matter what the reactions may be from within or without. In creating the inner Shangri-La it’s helpful to have small practices that you can do throughout the day that are quick enough that you won’t feel like they’re interfering with your ability to get your work done. One example is what I call the “thirty-second vacation.” Try making a firm commitment to do the following: When you find yourself feeling anxious or overwhelmed, immediately stop what you’re doing and for thirty seconds be silent, turn off your discursive mind, and just be instead of doing. Even a thirty second break from identification with the overwhelmed self can be enough to break the spell. Another practice: when you’re feeling anxious or overwhelmed, stop what you’re doing and ask yourself: who am I taking myself to be in this moment? What am I truly afraid of in this moment? What is my true motivation for (fill in the blank, e.g., wanting to dash off that nasty letter to opposing counsel, retreating from a confrontation, etc.)? Is that really who I am and how I want to be? If I were truly being myself, how would I handle this? If this seems too heady an

approach, there are plenty of non-verbal paths to true self-knowledge, including art, music, movement, devotional prayer, and service to others. To conclude: balance isn’t a destination. It’s a momentby-moment creation. It’s a verb, not a noun. Real balance is about finding sanctuary, over and over and over again, from our self-doubts and our fears until we are able to be our true self more often than not. It’s also, ultimately, about how we find our higher self, the inner stillness that is the source of our strength, our peace, our very being. In the end, finding our true self is the only way meaningful balance, and true happiness, can be attained. This article was originally appeared in the December 2007 issue of the Marin Lawyer. Stephen H. Sulmeyer, J.D., Ph.D. is a lawyer, psychologist, mediator, and collaborative law practitioner. His psychotherapy practice is based in Marin County, California. He offers alternative dispute resolution services in Marin County, San Francisco, Sonoma County, the East Bay, and throughout the Greater Bay Area. WEBSITE

THANK YOU TO OUR 2018 MCBA SPONSORS Gold

Interested in sponsorship? Contact Mee Mee Wong at 415-499-1314 or mwong@marinbar.org

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WORK-LIFE BALANCE DR. MAYNARD BRUSMAN

Vacations Are an Option for Lawyers Embracing Work-Life Balance

Lawyerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Whole Life

legal profession is currently experiencing increasing numbers of lawyers who are dissatisfied with their careers and abandoning the practice of law for less stressIn the increasingly demanding world lawyers face; many ful career alternatives. Contributing factors include anxilawyers desire to achieve professional success, a fulety, depression, relationship issues, and questions relatfilling life, and true happiness. However, achieving both ing to personal values and the meaning of life. their personal and professional goals sometimes proves to be elusive. Unmanaged stress increases anxiety, depression, anger, substance abuse, and feelings of unhappiness- all of Most lawyers live hectic and stress-filled lives. They ex- which decrease quality of life and workplace productiviperience a great deal of pressure from the billable hour ty. In fact, a study done at John Hopkins University requirement and client/firm demands. Finding a balance found that out of 104 occupational groups, lawyers were between work and life without sacrificing professional the most likely to suffer from depression- more than success is often a significant challenge. three times more likely than average. High levels of stress are reported by almost 3/4 of lawyers and resultYou have made a major investment in your legal career. ing in damage to the physical health or emotional wellYouâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve earned the right to both career success and a being of 1/3 of these attorneys. happy personal life. Planning regular vacations each year can help you achieve personal and professional success Increasing billable hour requirements time pressures are and well-being. frequently cited as the reason for the high rates of lawyer dissatisfaction. Attorneys complain of little time for Stress Resilience themselves or their families. In contrast, happy people are less self-focused, less hostile, more loving, forgiving, In the pressured legal world; becoming stress resilient is trusting, energetic, decisive, enthusiastic, creative, sociaan essential component of happiness for lawyers. Resili- ble and helpful. ence is the ability to persevere and adapt when overcoming obstacles. It is the key to happiness and success Stress is a natural response within all of us and it can at work and in life. The secret to the emotional intelliserve as a valuable source of increased energy and creagence competency of resilience is accurate thinking. It is tivity. When coupled with an optimistic attitude, posiimportant to challenge limiting beliefs and negative tive or eustress can help you accomplish the things in thinking. Managing stress allows you to excel in the life that are most important. However, knowing how to workplace while maintaining a well-balanced, healthy manage unwanted stress and relax is essential to your lifestyle. Shifting your mindset to the value of taking enjoyment of life. Remember that you are in charge of regular vacations can help you be more productive. The your own physical, mental, emotional and spiritual THE MARIN LAWYER An Official Publication of the Marin County Bar Association

health. You can choose to have regular vacations to help ing lawyers, they think they can work non-stop often become happy, healthy, and relaxed. sleep deprived without any negative consequences. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In my opinion, Life Balance and Mindfulness lawyers need vacations as much if not more than other professions because of the unrelenting stress and presPoet David Whyte writes eloquently about staying con- sure. Unfortunately, lawyers frequently resist going on scious of what matters most. “We have patience for vacation because of their work-driven and highly comeverything but what is most important to us. We look at petitive mindset. the life of our own most central imaginings and see it beckon. For the most part, we have not the courage to Even if it just means taking Friday and/or Monday off, follow it, but we do not have the courage to leave it. We take a brief vacation. Go away for a long weekend. Stayturn our face for a moment and tell ourselves we will be ing away from the office, email and shutting off your sure to get back to it. When we look again, ten years smart phone for a few days will help restore your energy have passed and we wonder what in God’s name hapand increase focus and clarity. Taking a break can help pened to us. clear your mind, but taking even a short vacation will help you relax, and help you look at cases with a new We sabotage our creative possibilities because the world perspective and less stress. revealed by the imagination may not fit well with the life we have taken so much trouble to construct over the How can you maintain your productivity and your edge years. Faced with the pain of that distance, the distance as an enlightened lawyer? Go on a vacation. between desire and reality, we turn just for a moment, and quickly busy ourselves. But then we must live with the consequences of turning away.” – David Whyte Life in the 21st century law firm has become more business-minded focusing on the bottom line. This change in focus makes it difficult for lawyers working in a firm to have time for relationships and other meaningful pursuits. Balance is about integrating the needs and wants of our personal and work lives. A number of attorneys I have coached have expressed the desire to spend more time with their families or other priorities than constantly striving for recognition, status, and money. Balancing your personal recognition, status, and money. Balancing your personal and professional life requires making different decisions based on clear values and a life plan.

Taking a break to rest and restore your energy and encouraging those you supervise to do the same can be extremely helpful to your law practice.

I’ve coached numerous lawyers who tell me they don’t have time to take vacations because of demands from clients or high billable-hour requirements. Many lawyers fear that if they do take time off, they’ll be viewed as Vacation and Recharge Your Batteries less motivated and focused than their colleagues or competition. Far too often, the result of not taking time Taking a vacation can help you better manage stress and off from work is seen in a high rate of burnout and derecharge your batteries. Many lawyers are extremely pression among lawyers. Recent research supports the competitive and driven individuals. In my work coach- view that retention, productivity and career satisfaction THE MARIN LAWYER An Official Publication of the Marin County Bar Association

are positively affected when lawyers plan vacation time. The Case for Vacations

•

Develop firm core values or principles that do not encourage participation in conference calls, returning voice mails or e-mails during a lawyer’s vacation.

Vacation is a time for rest and renewal and to have • Engage in positive coaching conversations around the some freedom from work. However, laptops, iPads, virtue of vacations. smart phones, and other remote tools allow lawyers to have easy access to the office. We live and work in a Vacationing legal professionals might consider establishculture of distractibility. Creating time away could be the ing the following habits: healthiest step lawyers could take. • Refrain from calling the office to discuss business Morale, motivation, productivity, health, energy and crematters or check voice mail or e-mail. You are either ativity are given a boost by taking vacations. Most of my on vacation or you’re at work; you shouldn’t try to be lawyer clients report feeling rejuvenated and reconnectin two places at one time. ed with family and friends after a vacation, and thinking more positive about work upon returning. • Trust your collaborative colleagues to pick-up on your behalf. We live in a work-obsessed culture where we live to work. It is important for leadership at law firms to cre- • Let go of the guilt over taking time off. Create a ate a positive environment where taking time off is recmindset that respects your personal life as much as ognized and encouraged, as a way to promote a healthiyour professional life. er and more productive workplace. Time-Off Promotes Business and Life Success Office Support The importance of planning vacation time as it relates to Law offices can encourage lawyers to take needed vaca- the success of a legal practice cannot be underestimated. tions to improve the quality of their lives and be more Lawyers are unlikely to maintain a high level of energy, focused and energetic. engagement, creativity and productivity without a real break from their work, regardless of how much they • Partners or supervisors can be role models, taking love their work. Enjoying both your work and personal regular vacations and supporting others to do the life can help create happy lawyers who are fulfilled, same. When lawyers take time off, provide support healthy and productive. and advance preparation so vacations are not interrupted. This article was originally published in the January 2013 issue of the Marin Lawyer. • Inform your clients of scheduled vacations and manDr. Maynard Brusman is a consulting psychologist and execuage their expectations around the importance of vacative/career coach. He has a leadership coaching practice in the tion time. Do not call individuals on vacation, except San Francisco Financial District specializing in working with attorneys. EMAIL WEBSITE in a real emergency. •

Create an enlightened and innovative workplace culture where working on vacation is not expected, acceptable, or considered a best practice.

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LIFE ADVENTURE: PART 2 RANDY WALLACE

Froggy’s Top Ten: What I learned Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail

ome of our readers may recall I went on a “little hike” this spring and summer to walk the length of California or to walk as far as I could on the Pacific Crest Trail. The powers that be graciously permitted me to write a follow-up to my April Top Ten article. First, the metrics: 1170 trail miles, 1250 total miles, 116 days out and 84 on-trail. That’s the equivalent of hiking up and down Mount Everest six times. I have 575 miles to finish my goal from Campo, California to Ashland, Oregon. I will do a substantial portion of that from March to October in 2018. Second, every PCT hiker is given a trail name. Mine was Froggy. It was an acronym: EFFFing Really Old Guy Getting Younger. I will let the readers supply the missing vowel and consonants in the first word. No hiker on-trail heard my name without laughing or telling me it was the best trail name they heard. It was pretty cool to have people I had never met come up to me and say, “You’re Froggy! We were talking about you the other day; it’s great to finally meet you in person.” I think that response had a lot to do with FROGGY’S TOP TEN, a spinoff of David Letterman’s top ten. So let’s begin.

weather conditions or reroute, when to filter and water up, how much water to carry and whether to keep your gear inside your tent at night—all can lead to disaster with the wrong decision. I trusted my gut every day and I am here today writing this article. No. 9. It’s Not Lost, You Just Can’t Find It

No. 10. Trust Your Intuition I cannot tell you the number of times I trusted my intuition on-trail. Had I not done so, trouble awaited me. Bad decisions on the PCT are life-threatening. Four hikers died this season: two women from drowning in river crossings and one man from dehydration and exhaustion, another in an avalanche. Simple decisions like when to stop to camp for the night, when to wait out

This is a principle equally applicable on or off trail. To this day, I laugh at not being able to find something in my backpack, thinking it was lost, only to find it two days later. The longer you are on-trail and the more you get dialed-in to your gear (See No. 6), the less this principle rears its ugly head.

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No. 8. Trip Up Not Down

No. 5. Preparation versus Execution

In 1250 miles I fell twice, and the second time was not until the last day of my hike. Falling down can end your hike real quick. So when you stumble, make your next step up to give yourself time to plant those trekking poles and not fall.

It is one thing to talk about and to prepare to hike the PCT. It is quite another to actually hike 12 to 18 miles a day, have blisters for a week, sore feet every day (seriously, every day), physical exhaustion, mental exhaustion, carry a twenty-five to forty-two pound pack, set up and tear down your campsite every day, find and filter water, cook the food, weather the heat and wind and rain, watch for the snakes, mountain lions, bears, ants, bees, wasps, black gnats and mosquitos, and protect your food from marmots, chipmunks and ground squirrels. Even with all that, it was still the best ever.

No. 7. Strength and Honor (the Roman Credo) Every day, hike the trail with strength and honor. Every day I gave thanks to the trail for not getting hurt. Every day I gave thanks to the animals for not eating my food and letting me sleep in their home. Every day I thanked my body and mind for the strength to continue day after day after day. Every day I thanked the Pacific Crest Trail Association and the trail angels for maintaining the trail and us hikers. And every day I thanked Mother Nature for giving me no more than I could handle and the “holy sh*t, batman” moments of breathtaking beauty and joy.

No. 6. Dialed-in for Food, Water, and Gear Dialed-in is an expression on-trail describing how well you do what you do on-trail. Ideally, with FOOD you want to have consumed all your food when you walk into a resupply town. There is one exception. You might want to carry an extra dinner because it is light and it is an emergency ration. With WATER, your days generally involve knowing where each water source is and gearing your hiking schedule to it. Heat, altitude, number of miles hiked and how much you carry at any given time require you make this dialed-in decision carefully. Your life may well depend on it. With GEAR, one overarching question is asked: is the gear item you have making your hike more enjoyable? Each item should also have at least two purposes. It’s better if it has more. I was still dialing in on gear until my last day on-trail—getting rid of stuff. I think I will continue this process for as long as I hike.

No. 4. Be Quick but not in a Hurry Many sections of the trail are flat-out scary and dangerous. I call them half-and-halfs. One section is hard rock and the other, usually the downhill side, is loose dirt and rock ready to give way. If you slip and fall, it is 500 to 700 feet to the bottom at worst or a pulled groin muscle at best. And that is the end of your hike and your sorry keester. So when crossing these sections, you must move quickly to get past the slippery stuff, but not hurry so as to cause the slippage and all she wrote. No. 3. Destination and/or Journey Many PCT hikers are linear. They want only to connect the dots from the southern terminus in Campo, California to the northern terminus in Manning, British Columbia. They have to hike their 17.9 miles a day to do the trip of 2650 miles in 150 days. They have to keep moving to miss the snow in Washington. Some will not even stop to talk, and one of the best experiences on-trail is talking to your fellow hikers. If you want to hike your hike as a job, as a destination and it works for you, then do it. My preference is a journey. Sure, I did my daily mileage, but I took over 2000 pictures, met eighty-five hikers going north whom I met again going south. And when we met up it was hugs and smiles and laughter, fist and elbow bumps for all. So take your pick, whatever works, do it.

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No. 2. Less is More If there was a mantra on the PCT, this would be it. Weight is everything. PCT hikers are obsessed with base weight: how much does all your gear weigh less water, food and fuel? The less you carry in base weight, the more food and water you can carry. Water weighs 2.2 pounds a liter. You need a liter of water for every 34 miles you hike. Sometimes you have 29-mile water carries. You have food for three to seven days. You need two pounds of food a day assuming you carry one ounce per 100 calories. In the desert, you need more water. In the Sierra, you need more food. Now you get an idea of base weight. Most hikers will not tell you their true base weight—it is always more. Mine was around 18 pounds but really it was probably 19 pounds. LOL And finally—drum roll please—the best thing I learned how to do on the PCT:

bag but your bladder is full and bursting. It is time to go from the fifty ounces of electrolyte lemonade you drank to hydrate yourself at dinner and the Nuun watermelon water you drank during the night to continue the process. How does going outside sound to you? First you need to get shoes on and a headlamp, then find a place to go that is leave no trace and then you’re doing it in the rain and wind and cold—I thought so. Once you learn how to go into a bottle, problem solved; you go back to sleep and will be ready to hit the trail like gangbusters.

So there you have it folks, FROGGY’S TOP TEN. There were other lessons learned, like the Pete Schweaty Food Carryin’ Bag, why women are the best hikers on the PCT, the B…A…H…G’s and the PCT Pony Express mail service. But those are for another time or if you run into me, ask away. For now, Happy Trails and Happy Holidays. This article was originally published in the December 2017 issue of the Marin Lawyer.

No. 1. P*#ing into a Bottle Picture this: it is raining cats and dogs, the wind is howling and changing directions. It is cold outside. It is 3:00 AM. You are warm, snug and dry in your sleeping

Randy Wallace is a mediator and lawyer. He has practiced law for the past 39 years and has been a mediator since 1994. Last year he became a confirmed thru hiker. He is also a Past President of the Marin County Bar Association (2015). EMAIL

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STRESS AND ANXIETY RICHARD GOLDWASSER, M.D

Stress, Worries, and Sleepless Nights

e all experience stress in our lives. It may come from work, relationships, or current events, and may manifest in many ways. This article will review common symptoms of anxiety/stress and elaborate upon effective methods of managing it.

All Anxiety is Not a Disorder Because stress is ubiquitous, most of us can look at the diagnostic criteria and identify common elements in our lives. At what point does a condition become a disorder?

Why is Stress a Problem? Anxiety disorders affect up to 1 in every 4 Americans. There are several specific disorders (see Table on p. 5), with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), being a common and often undiagnosed condition.

Current diagnostic criteria for most disorders clearly require that the anxiety, depression, substance use, etc. causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (i.e., work, health or relationships may be adversely affected).

GAD is a chronic condition (i.e. at least 6 months duration) characterized by excessive anxiety and worry, rest- What Can be Done? lessness, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability, tension, and/or sleep disturbance. The first step toward well-being is acknowledgement of the problem. For many people this is the toughest obIndividuals with GAD often have other anxiety symp- stacle. Denial may derive from fear of the unknown, toms as well. In fact, about half of people with an anxie- embarrassment over seeking help (admitting that we are ty disorder have another condition as well, such as deall human!) or perhaps a wish that the problem will go pression, alcohol or other substance abuse, or another away on its own. Unfortunately, without some form of anxiety disorder (e.g., panic disorder, obsessiveintervention most anxiety disorders become chronic or compulsive disorder, or post traumatic stress disorder). recurring.

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The good news is that there are effective interventions available. For many people, non-medication approaches are the first step. These include making conscious decisions — and following through — to go back to basics (i.e., exercise regularly, establish regular sleep patterns, avoid excessive alcohol consumption, and to spend time with friends or family members in pleasurable non-work related activities). It turns out that the adage, “friends are good medicine” rings true for many people.

Where to Begin?

What About Medications?

Richard Goldwasser, M.D. is a psychiatrist in Mill Valley, treating children, adolescents, and adults.

If you, a client or loved one suspects an anxiety disorder, a good physical exam with the primary care doctor and perhaps some blood work (checking thyroid, liver and kidney function) is a reasonable place to start to rule out a medical contribution to the anxiety.

Depending upon the level of distress and functional impairment, the treatment may be more aggressive (e.g., Therapy is often useful. There are many types of psytherapy, medications, and lifestyle changes), or less so. If chotherapy, from brief (e.g., 10 visits), to long-term in- there is limited progress after a month or two of intersight oriented psychoanalytic therapy (e.g., years of sev- vention, a more intensive approach may be needed. eral weekly visits). Many anxiety disorders respond to cognitive-behavioral therapy, where the focus is on The good news is that anxiety is a very treatable condichanging behavior (and mood) without delving deeply tion and, once treated, quality of life can be greatly eninto the past emotional conflicts. hanced. Prevention and early intervention are, of course, the ideal (long before burn-out occurs), but even severe, Other kinds of therapy commonly used to treat anxiety chronic anxiety can be effectively managed. disorders include supportive work (e.g., values clarification) as well as learning relaxation techniques such as This article was originally published in the September 2003 issue breathing, biofeedback, or hypnosis. of the Marin Lawyer.

There are constantly new medications being developed to treat anxiety. Although benzodiazepines (like Valium) are still used, the first line for most anxiety disorders are much safer, without the risk of developing a tolerance or dependency. (See Table II on p. 5.) Medications in the SSRI family (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) are very effective with most anxiety disorders, as well as depression (for which they were initially developed). A closely related medication, Effexor, has similar effects, and Buspar is mainly for anxiety without depression. At the beginning of treatment many people experience some side effects (e.g., gastrointestinal upset, headache or change in sexual function), but these are usually mild/moderate and only transient. Of course, if the side effects are severe or persist beyond a few weeks, an alternative medication should be tried.

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STRESS RELIEF BARBARA MONTY AND ANDREW WOLFE

The Stressed-Out Lawyer: Finding Relief in Marin

t would be hard to find a lawyer who does not think law is a stressful profession—perhaps not surprising in a profession centered on conflict. And while stress can be useful, it can easily lead to serious problems, including substance abuse and poor mental health. Indeed, the ABA has documented an alarming degree of “lawyer impairment” in the profession. In 2015, the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP), in conjunction with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, facilitated national research on lawyer impairment. The results of this study reveal the disturbing incidence of substance abuse and mental health issues among U.S. lawyers, judges, and law students: •

21 percent of licensed, employed attorneys qualify as problem drinkers

•

28 percent struggle with some level of depression

•

19 percent demonstrate symptoms of anxiety

•

11.5 percent admitted to having suicidal thoughts at some time during their career

•

Younger attorneys in the first 10 years of practice exhibit the highest incidence of these problems.

All of these numbers are far higher than for the general population. For those who attended MCBA’s annual gala, you heard a compelling first-hand story of mental health struggles from one of our very own scholarship recipients. No wonder thirty percent of lawyers would choose a different profession if they could start over and law has the highest rate of dissatisfaction of any profession. Of course, many lawyers, mediators, and judges have found ways not only to cope with stress in the profession but to thrive. Below we share a few of the ways that we and several colleagues here in Marin not only

cope with stress but seek to improve the practice of law for ourselves, our clients and our colleagues. Joy in the Law Marin County employment and privacy law attorney Diana Maier and several other Marin County women attorneys (who were already meeting monthly to network) put together a conference in 2016 on Joy in the Law that was so successful that they [put] it on again on September 28, 2018. Since the original conference, the attorneys group has changed its name to the Joy in the Law group, and one of its members, Brittny Bottorff, started a San Francisco Joy in the Law group. Both groups' mission is to increase personal satisfaction and fulfillment in the legal profession. They do this, in part, through sharing work and life practices that generate happiness and discussing how to ethically and professionally address challenging situations that arise in the workplace. The women provide support and friendship to one another and also serve as a networking group. They generally meet on the first Thursday of the month from 7:30 to 9:00 AM at II Fornaio restaurant in Corte Madera. They occasionally have special events, dinners, and presentations. For more information, visit their site or contact Diana. For information on the SF group, contact Brittny. Mindful Lawyering: A Meditation Retreat for Lawyers This five-day retreat takes place at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre. It provides lawyers with an opportunity to meditate, to build community with fellow lawyer-meditators, and to explore the particular importance of mindfulness to lawyers in a time of social change. This retreat includes evening talks and other presentations on the principles of mindfulness and on applying mindfulness to strengthening lawyering

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skills, enhancing well-being, and building resilience. It offers MCLE credits for Recognition and Elimination of Bias, Competence Issues, and Legal Ethics. Held every other year, this retreat most recently took place in the fall of 2017 and is planned for the fall of 2019. You can sign up for Spirit Rock's email announcements, including retreat information, here. Marin Meditation Group This group was started several years ago by Marin lawyers who wanted to create a supportive environment for lawyers to get together at lunchtime to meditate. Both of your authors attend the twice-a-month noontime sessions as often as they can, which take place in the second-floor conference room (No. 285) at 1000 Fourth Street in San Rafael. We begin by meditating for 25 minutes and then we take turns talking about how we’re doing, sharing anything from professional concerns to personal issues to questions about meditation practice itself. To get on our email list or for a copy of the current schedule, contact Andy Wolfe. iRest Meditation The Editor-in-Chief of this very publication both practices and teaches (to lawyers especially) an easy and effective type of meditation called iRest®. When Rob first came across it, he was impressed that the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are two of the biggest consumers of the practice. “They use it to help treat PTSD very effectively. For me, the fact that you can get a bunch of soldiers to sit around and meditate and then talk about how helpful it is was a great testimonial.” He notes that there are a number of short films and videos of soldiers talking about how helpful it is, such as this inspiring video on YouTube. iRest is a research-based, westernized version of yoga nidra, an ancient type of meditation. Its accessibility and flexibility appealed to him: “Unlike many other types of meditation, iRest takes the mind through a number of different activities and you don’t have to do each one every time. You can take five minutes at

lunch to recharge with one or two steps and you can take twenty or thirty minutes before bed to go into deep relaxation. I liked how instead of years of practice to feel like you were getting somewhere, my very first practice was deeply relaxing.” Rob is now a certified iRest teacher and in addition to corporate teaching, he leads a weekly meditation at San Francisco’s Integral Yoga Institute. “I love how even when I am leading a class, I can feel the benefits of iRest myself, not to mention the reward of helping others experience them.” [Editor’s Note: You can read more about iRest in Rob’s Marin Lawyer article on page 14] Tips From an ABA Insider Francine Ward serves on the ABA’s Commission on Lawyers Assistance Programs, which helped develop the grim statistics at the beginning of this article. We asked her for advice on coping with stress in the profession. The first thing she said struck us as a critical observation: “As much as I want to blame external forces, much of my stress is self-imposed. It’s about the choices I make. Once I accepted that harsh truth, I was able to make some necessary changes.” She says that the steps she has taken fall into three general categories: health, work, relationships. In her own words, here are the top ten very practical steps she has taken to reduce stress: 1. I recognize that my life is about MY choices. I am no longer a victim of circumstances. 2. Thirty-eight years ago, I got help for my substance abuse problem. Addiction is itself a stressor. 3. Two years ago, I stopped eating sweets. I had a deadly sweet tooth, which kept me hyped up all the time. 4. I exercise most days. Running helps me reduce tension and manage my weight. 5. I drink three to four quarts of water every day. Staying hydrated keeps me regular. 6. My stress dropped exponentially when I stopped working for a New York law firm.

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7. I charge a flat rate for most of my legal work and I get paid up front, reducing the need to worry about getting paid. 8. I learned that “NO” is a complete sentence all by itself. I am responsible for protecting my boundaries. 9. I make time for my girlfriends. Every week I have a meal or a walk with a gal pal. 10. Finally, I have interests other than law. Forgiveness in the Law

Managing stress can also very much be about how you approach your cases and your clients. One of your authors—Barbara Monty—found that many of her litigation and mediation clients became blocked by holding on to resentments and pain from past harm. Several years ago, she began studying the psychological benefits of forgiving: "I was astonished to learn how forgiving lowers blood pressure, aids clear thinking and reduces stress." Gradually she has incorporated principles of forgiveness into her litigation and mediation practice and has become certified as one of the few lawyers who is also a forgiveness coach. This ongoing practice of letting go helps her to relieve her own stress, understand others and is helping clients make more informed decisions about their own lawsuits and their lives. Along with Judge Roy Chernus, Stanford Forgiveness Project founder Fred Luskin, and forgiveness coach Eileen Barker, Barbara provides training for lawyers and mediators wishing to learn more about the process of forgiveness and incorporate it into their lives and practices. For more information see this site or contact Barbara Monty. The Center for Understanding In Conflict Based in Mill Valley, the Center is led by renowned mediators Gary Friedman and Catherine Connor and offers another approach to conflict that reduces stress in parties and lawyers. Simply put, their programs teach how to resolve conflicts by coming to a better understanding of the interests and emotions that have result-

ed in the conflict. Put even more simply, their programs cultivate compassion for the parties to the conflict. As stated on the Center’s website, “It’s never just about the money, or the issues on the agenda. Conflict is filled with difficult—even volatile—emotion, which often goes unacknowledged in the legal system and other professional or work settings. We teach lawyers, mediators, psychotherapists and other professionals who work with conflict to see, acknowledge and use the emotions in themselves and their clients to achieve a deeper understanding of the issues, and to find solutions that will genuinely satisfy the parties.” This is a profoundly humane approach to conflict resolution and, as both of your authors can attest, really does reduce stress. The Center’s programs are usually not presented exclusively for lawyers but are attended by a large number of lawyers. The basic 40-hour training program provides MCLE credits for the full 40 hours. Find more information here.

No doubt other programs and groups right here in Marin help lawyers, mediators and our clients reduce stress, become better lawyers and enjoy work and life more. If you know of such resources, we encourage you to contact either Andy Wolfe or Barbara Monty and we will share an updated list of opportunities. We are committed to helping our profession, our clients and all of us lead healthy lives. This article was originally published in the February 2018 issue of the Marin Lawyer. Andy Wolfe and Barbara Monty are Marin lawyers at Monty White LLP. Monty White LLP provides assertive, professional, responsive legal services. Monty White attorneys, many of whom have practiced for over 30 years each, have expertise in a wide variety of practice areas, including personal injury, immigration, criminal defense, commercial, employment, estate planning, elder law, business, intellectual property, construction and family law. This experience allows Monty White to provide clients with early evaluation, efficient litigation and successful results. WEBSITE

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UPDATE FROM A POLITICAL JUNKIE GREG BROCKBANK

Election Post-Mortem — What Happened Locally, Statewide, and Nationally

OCAL NONPARTISAN OFFICES

DISTRICT ATTORNEY Winning just under 49% of the vote in the June primary to Anna Pletcher’s 30%, Lori Frugoli was a comfortable frontrunner as the November runoff kicked off. But when the polls closed election night and the advance mail-in ballots were counted, Frugoli’s lead was only about 10% and at the end of the night, after counting election-day voters, her lead had shrunk to 4%. With the later mail-in ballots still being counted as of Nov. 21, Frugoli’s lead shrank to less than half a percent and that's where it finally ended in late November—a shockingly close finish, and a crushing blow to progressives, who'd hoped for an upset, especially in the final weeks and days. MARIN HEALTHCARE DISTRICT As expected, long-time incumbents Jennifer Rienks and Larry Bedard were the highest vote-getters; the final spot was considered a race between two newcomer surgeons: Brian Su had the edge, having served on hospital committees, and took out filing papers early, but he inexcusably neglected to write and submit a ballot statement (arguably the most important part of any campaign). The other surgeon, Edward Alfrey, filed late, was less known and less favored, but I still thought he’d win because he had a ballot statement. I was apparently wrong, and while the final few votes are still being counted, Su has a narrow lead – did word get around that he was the “inside” candidate or was his

campaign more convincing or visible? WATER DISTRICTS The two incumbents on the Marin Municipal Water District board easily won re-election (Jack Gibson 2-1 over well-known and well-financed school board member Greg Knell, and Cynthia Koehler over little-known Joby Tapia, in separate races), as did the two from the North Marin Water District (Rick Fraites and Jim Grossi, over Tina McMillan, in one at-large race). SCHOOL BOARD RACES There were eight school board races, but two were in tiny West Marin districts. All incumbents running won re-election, but nine incumbents had stepped down, a high number, making for more contests than usual and more new faces arriving on the boards. College of Marin incumbents Wanden Treanor and Diana Conti won, along with new candidate Suzanne Brown Crow. Kentfield had five good candidates; the winning three were incumbent Heather Sridharan and new candidates Sarah Killingsworth and Davina Goldwasser. Dixie incumbent Brad Honsberger won, along with new candidates Megan Hutchinson and Brooks Nguyen. Novato incumbents Derek Knell and Maria Aguila won, along with newcomer Diane Gasson. San Rafael incumbents Natu Tuatagaloa and Rachel Kertz won re-election. In the Tamalpais Union High district, no incumbents ran for re-election, and the three new candidates elected (although the third is now leading by only a hair) are Dan Oppenheim, Cynthia Roenisch, and Kevin Saavedra. The Sausalito-Marin City school board race

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featured slates of two and three candidates – the socalled “Willow Creek” slate (named after the charter school in the district, although they don’t like to be called that), featuring incumbent Josh Barrow and two slate-mates, and the other slate, and the other slate, featuring incumbent Ida Green and one slate-mate -- who were seen as being more supportive of the so-called “public” school, Bayside-MLK. Voters chose Green and Barrow, and the third seat was won by seven votes by Green slate-mate Bonnie Hough. SANITARY AND FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT RACES In the four contested sanitary district races, each featuring a lone challenger running against all that district’s incumbents, the incumbents prevailed in three of the four. However, challenger Crystal Yezman won in the Las Gallinas Valley District, along with two of the three incumbents, leaving long-time incumbent Russ Greenfield out in the cold. There were races in two fire protection districts: Novato had two seats open, which were won by incumbent Bill Davis and new candidate Bruce Goines. In Stinson Beach, neither of the two incumbents filed a ballot statement, perhaps because they hadn’t been challenged in many years. Enter a challenger with a ballot statement, Will Mitchell, who won one of the seats, leaving incumbent Peter Sandmann out of office.

LOCAL PARTISAN RACES Congressman Jared Huffman, State Senator Mike McGuire, and Assemblyman Marc Levine all cruised easily to re-election. Their challengers (one Republican and two Democrats) were all woefully underfunded compared to the incumbents, who always collect hundreds of thousands of dollars (millions in high-profile close races) without breaking a sweat, or, in this case, needing to campaign much. They are well-known incumbents who are seemingly doing a good enough job that they are not attracting the caliber of opponent who can beat them.

STATEWIDE RACES GOVERNOR To no one’s surprise, Gavin Newsom won by just over 20 points. No surprise because he is extremely well known, going from the SF Board of Supervisors to seven years as SF Mayor and on to eight years as Lt. Governor. His Republican opponent was a wealthy businessman who’d run for high office several times before (from Chicago) and only became a California resident relatively recently. Newsom is more progressive than the somewhat moderate Jerry Brown, so we may see some exciting initiatives from him, especially since yet another multi-billion-dollar budget surplus (this time $15B) is looming next year. (Jerry Brown put most of the recent ones away in the relatively new rainy-day fund.) LT. GOVERNOR Despite the fact that State Senator Ed Hernandez had the “usual” qualifications (primarily, being termed out of the Legislature), he was beaten by fellow Democrat Eleni Kounalakis, whose path was unusual. She is a long-time Democratic activist and fundraiser and under Obama was Ambassador to Hungary. She’s a hard worker and a hard campaigner and convincing and progressive, and people (including me) just liked her (unlike, e.g., Hernandez). And oh yes, she had plenty of money because her father, who went from being a penniless Greek immigrant to being an extremely rich real estate magnate in the Sacramento area, was a big Democratic donor. In fact, he was the primary funder of Kounalakis’ campaign (although she’s earned money herself working for Dad). What a loving present from a loving father to a loving daughter. STATE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER This promised to be a close one, and it was (Lara won by 3%), as Democratic candidate State Senator Ricardo Lara was little known (although he was the author of the single-payer bill this session, SB 562), and at the

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end of election night was trailing Steve Poizner, who held the office for a four-year term starting 12 years ago. Poizner was a Republican then and ran this time as an “independent” (technically, “No Party Preference”). But Poizner, at the end of his one term eight years ago, ran for governor to the right of Meg Whitman, saying horribly right-wing things, and lost. So his claims to being a moderate, re-argued in this campaign, were damaged by that gubernatorial campaign eight years ago. STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION This was the other one that we knew would be close, and it was. Richmond State Assemblyman Tony Thurmond was behind on election night but took a narrow lead as the vote count continued after election day, and he finally won by under 1%, besting fellow Democrat Marshall Tuck -- who ran four years ago against nowtermed-out incumbent Tom Torlakson. Tuck was funded by billionaires and known as a champion of charter schools. Candidates don’t often go from the State Assembly (especially after only a short time there), to statewide office, but Thurmond was knowledgeable and charismatic, if little known, and he was overwhelmingly endorsed over Tuck by the State Democratic Party. SECRETARY OF STATE, CONTROLLER, ATTORNEY GENERAL, AND TREASURER The Democrats easily won these four constitutional statewide offices, all with over 60% of the vote. The Republicans generally were unknown and underfunded, and California is a very blue state. Winners were Secretary of State Alex Padilla, Controller Betty Yee, (appointed) Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and current Board of Equalization member and now Treasurer -Elect Fiona Ma. U.S. SENATE

was always sort of a snoozer. Many across the political spectrum said Dianne Feinstein was too old at age 85 and should have stepped down, and in fact her approval numbers were shockingly low for such a long-time incumbent. Plus, the State Democratic Party endorsed her Democratic opponent, former State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon (he narrowly missed getting that endorsement at the state convention in the spring but got it overwhelmingly at the Executive Board meeting in the summer. Remember that the state delegates at the convention are more progressive than rank-and-file Democratic voters, and the Executive Board members are even more progressive). But the unknown and underfunded De Leon, progressive as he is, didn’t have much of a chance with the voters against the universally known and generally liked (if not always approved of) incumbent, who is even respected across the aisle. And oh yes, she had $10M in campaign funds – 20 times what de Leon had – which she didn’t really need, because she always led handily in the polls and glided easily in to another six-year term.

THE STATE BALLOT MEASURES PROP 1 – AUTHORIZES BONDS TO FUND HOUSING ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS NIMBYism is worse in Marin than most or all of the rest of the state, but still, I was surprised and pleased that most of the voters recognized our state housing crisis and voted for this crucial funding measure by over 55%. PROP 2 – AUTHORIZES BONDS TO FUND EXISTING HOUSING PROGRAM FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS Similarly, this “authorization” to previously approved bond funds for the mentally ill (“the millionaire’s tax”), can now include housing for veterans, passing with nearly 63%.

The Senate seat is extremely important, but the race THE MARIN LAWYER An Official Publication of the Marin County Bar Association

PROP 3 – THE WATER BOND

and bridge fixes, some already under way.

This close loss (48.5%) was a pleasant surprise to me, because the bond had no formal (funded) opposition (although significant informal opposition from important groups such as the League of Women Voters and the Sierra Club). Although water bond measures usually win, and are in fact usually are put on the ballot by the Legislature, this one was written by an individual (Gerald Meral of Inverness), and was a typical “Christmas Tree” (ornaments for every special interest group), and had a bunch of bad things in it.

PROP 7 – PERMANENT DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME

PROP 4 – THE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL BOND Although I had concerns about too much of the funding being distributed to a “private” (nonprofit) group of children’s hospitals, I wasn’t surprised that most people (62%) would be sympathetic to and vote for more funding for children’s medical care.

PROP 5 – PROPERTY TAX TRANSFER Usually “fixes” to the original 40-year-old Prop 13 pass easily because more and more people want to save more and more money, even at the expense of local government funding. But miraculously, many people apparently realized that this “fix,” (read, “expansion”), by allowing seniors to keep their low property tax bases under almost any kind of move, would inflict too much economic loss on local governments. Only about 40.5% voted yes.

Many people thought “who cares” and “this shouldn’t be on the ballot,” and perhaps both those groups are correct. Perhaps it was just a referendum on whether people like daylight savings time (and apparently they do, by about 60%), but that doesn’t mean Congress will allow the permanent change, or that the legislature (to whom this was an advisory measure) will pass it even if Congress allows it. PROP 8 – LIMITS ON DIALYSIS CLINICS’ REVENUE & REQUIRED REFUNDS This one came before our Marin Democratic Party governing board about a year ago (and we supported it), as an appropriate limitation on profits of (primarily ) two greedy dialysis chains that have been overcharging certain patients – a cost we all pay for. I was horrified (although not surprised) to see a record $111M from the dialysis chains to beat it (61%-49%); if they could spend that kind for money to protect their profits, those profits probably are in fact too high, and should be regulated, as in Obamacare. I also resented the corporate chains making the race about how important dialysis is, instead of patient safety, gouging, and excess profits, which is what the measure was really about. PROP 10 – THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING ACT (REPEALS THE COSTA-HAWKINS ACT)

PROP 6 – THE GAS TAX REPEAL This was originally meant to be a get-out-the-vote measure for Republicans (repealing a tax, especially a gas tax, is very popular among them), but it failed to gain sufficient traction and as it was losing in the polls before the election, it was abandoned by the state GOP (although not by the GOP gubernatorial candidate). In the end, about 43% of people voted for it, as the majority realized that it would halt crucial funding to road

A few decades ago, a few brave California cities (mostly large and old) risked being called socialists and interfered with free market rental rates by enacting limited rent control in their cities. The Legislature limited such rent control shortly thereafter, applying those limitations to all California cities, and it was those legislative limitations that the Prop. 10 proponents were trying to repeal, but failed, by about 60-40%. This is the start, not the end, of the housing (“tenants’ rights”) wars.

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PROP 11 – AMBULANCE EMPLOYEES PAID ON-CALL BREAKS, TRAINING AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES This one, like Prop. 8 (dialysis regulation), distressed me. Both involved obviously excessive corporate profits used against an attempt to curb their excessive profits. It shouldn’t have passed, because in it the proponents were carving out an exception to labor law. The ambulance dispatching companies made it about the importance of ambulances, when the issue was the dispatching company’s profits. PROP 12 – FARM ANIMAL CONFINEMENT STANDARDS Some people say we give too much money (public and private) to animal causes and protection organizations and agencies, beyond all reason and proportion to human children, for example. I am not one of those, and sympathize greatly with animals both wild and domesticated, including and especially factory farm animals, who lead miserable lives. Fortunately, 61% of voters agreed that we should try to alleviate a little bit of that misery a little tiny bit, at least for now.

CONTROL OF CONGRESS SENATE As predicted, the Republicans not only maintained their control of the Senate, but increased their majority by what looks like two seats (if the Republican beats the Democrat in Mississippi in a November 28 runoff), making it a likely 53-47, instead of the current 51-49. What happened to the party out of power in the White House gaining seats in both houses of Congress during mid-term elections, especially when the incumbent president is unpopular (as Trump is)? At any rate, the “moderate blue wave” saved most of the seats of the ten endangered Democratic Senate incumbents running for re-election in states Trump won two years ago. However, Republicans beat Democratic incumbents in North Dakota (Heidi Heitkamp), Indiana (Joe Donnel-

ly), Missouri (Claire McCaskill), and Florida (Bill Nelson), making four flipped states for the GOP, to only two for the Dems (Nevada, an expected squeaker) and Arizona (in a surprise squeaker), which meant the Democrats could have done worse. Looking ahead to 2020, usually Democrats do better in presidential years (when their turnout increases more than that of Republicans), and the senators up for reelection will be mostly Republican (instead of Democratic, as they were this year). However, there are not many bluish or purple states with Republican incumbents who can easily be knocked off -- maybe Colorado, Iowa, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, and Maine? Still, if strong Democrats run and the Republican brand continues to fade with the ever-more-scandal-ridden Trump leading the way, the Dems conceivably could take the Senate. The big long-term Democratic problem is that there are far more (usually small) Republican states than there are (often larger) blue states, but each of them get exactly two senators.

HOUSE Also as predicted, Democrats took back majority control of the House, which will change things dramatically for the Trump Administration (and feature dozens of investigations of Trump and his administration, and perhaps impeachment, but only if the Republicans join in), as will the soon-expected Mueller report. Postelection ballot counting brought the total number of flipped seats up to nearly 40 -- well in excess of the 23 needed to form a majority in the biggest number of Democratic seats flipped since ’74 (but not as big as some Republican waves as recently as 2010). Republican gerrymandering over the past decade has made it harder. In the House, the Kavanaugh confirmation helped the Dems, even as it hurt them in some Senate races, because a realignment is occurring, involving college-educated suburban women moving in larger than expected numbers to the Dems, just as a smaller movement of Midwest non-college-degree blue-collar men have moved to the GOP. And a very large number of swing House districts are in the suburbs (the cities

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remain firmly Democratic, and the rural areas and small towns Republican), and thus a good number flipped to the Dems this year. Maybe nearly all of them will stay Democratic in 2020, and the Dems could well even flip a few more Republican seats they came close to this time, but didn’t quite win. Looking ahead to 2020 and beyond, I predict a Democratic President (I plan on writing an article listing the leading dozen (?) candidates’ brief pros and cons, and their odds of winning in betting parlors where that is legal), a slightly increased Democratic margin in the House, and just maybe picking up two to three Senate seats (“surprises,” like Arizona was this year). And then watch out for the usual backlash in 2022, when the Democrats will be doubly hurt by the usual midterm election low-Democratic turnout; plus we should have a Democrat in the White House, so the Republicans could do well for that reason as well. However, in this year’s election (and hopefully 2020’s as well), the Dems

had many significant gains in gubernatorial elections and also gained control of some states’ legislative chambers, making partisan gerrymanders in 2021 impossible in many previously all-red states. So there is the possibility that in 2022, the Democrats will pick up even more seats in the House, or at least offset the otherwise expected losses. Note: The views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and are not intended to reflect those of MCBA nor is this column an endorsement of any candidate. Greg Brockbank is a 30+ year attorney and civic and political activist, having served for 22 years on the College of Marin Board of Trustees and then on the San Rafael City Council. He is the senior member and immediate past chair of the Marin Democratic Party governing board and has attended 30+ state Democratic conventions. For over 20 years, he has provided numerous groups with detailed lists of the contact info for all candidates for Marin’s local offices, and he appears as a commentator and election-night co-host on public access television. EMAIL WEBSITE

Lawyers in the Library is a collaboration between the Marin County Law Library and the Marin County Bar Association, offering free legal advice for self-help litigants.

Volunteer MCBA lawyers meet with litigants in 20 minute intervals in the areas of family law, probate, civil and small claims, and landlord tenant matters. The clinic is held the second and fourth Thursday of each month with the exception of holidays. VOLUNTEER SIGN UP Thank you for your service to the community!

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FIRE RESOURCE GUIDE MORRISON & FOERSTER

The Fall 2018 California Wildfires Helping Handbook: A Resource for Individuals, Families, and Small Businesses

evastating wildfires covering more than 400 square miles in northern and southern California over the past few weeks have left scores of people dead, hundreds missing and thousands displaced. Authorities announced that the fires are fully contained—including Camp Fire, the most deadly and destructive fire in the state’s history—but in the immediate aftermath, survivors are left dealing with pressing concerns around shelter, healthcare, insurance, employment and income, federal assistance, and immigration. To help provide practical assistance for those affected, law firm Morrison & Foerster has compiled a resource guide around those topics. The Fall 2018 California Wildfires Helping Handbook: A Resource for Individuals, Families, and Small Businesses is available free here. The 90-page handbook provides individuals and small businesses with information on a cross-section of subjects in an accessible format. The book focuses on Butte, Ventura, and Los Angeles Counties, where the president has issued a major disaster declaration, triggering certain assistance to individuals.

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Lawyers and staff across multiple offices at Morrison & Foerster worked on the book, which has also been distributed in print to affected areas. The Handbook is available online in English and a Spanish version is forthcoming. Organizations may request print copies in bulk by sending a request to Firehandbook@mofo.com. The following topics are covered: •

Housing – Temporary housing, housing payments,

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renters, replacement of possessions, demolition and cleanup, repair and rebuilding, purchase and sale of damaged property, and property taxes Employment and related benefits – Getting paid, time off and the right to return, health benefits, other benefits, losing your job, unemployment benefits, finding work Insurance – Understanding your insurance coverage, notifying your carrier and navigating the claims process, accessing resources and key contacts Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) – Overview, eligibility and application questions, state supplemental grant program information Small Business Administration (SBA) loan assistance – Overview, home and personal property loans, business physical disaster loans, economic injury disaster loans for small businesses Business interruption – Contracts, real estate, tax relief, employment/treatment of employees Personal finances and taxes – Dealing with creditors, banks and cash needs, other considerations, taxes Government program benefit payments – Social security, unemployment, CalFresh, EBT cards, CalWorks, Veterans’ benefits Immigration – Eligibility for relief, lost documentation, interaction with USCIS Document and record replacement Consumer tips and fraud prevention Loss of life – General support and resources, property transfers, will and probate, guardianship of minors and incompetent adults, taxes for missing or deceased family members Healthcare Pets and animals Lawyer referral services and legal aid Disaster help centers State/federal agency quick phone list Additional resources

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2019 MCBA MEMBERSHIP IT'S TIME TO RENEW. NOT AN MCBA MEMBER? JOIN TODAY! Enrollment for 2019 Marin County Bar Association membership is now open to attorneys and professionals. MORE INFORMATION

RENEW TODAY Deadline to be listed in the printed 2019 Membership Directory is January 31, 2019. Thank you for your continued participation. RENEW ONLINE

JOIN NOW Join by December 31, 2018 and save 50% on the January general membership meeting. We look forward to having you. APPLY ONLINE

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NEW MEMBERS Welcome to the Marin County Bar Association! Loren Altura lorenaltura@gmail.com 415 637 8362 Attorney Membership

Derek Howard Derek G. Howard Law Firm Inc. derek@derekhowardlaw.com 415 432 7192 Attorney Membership

Mia Robertshaw Marin Community College District mrobertshaw@marin.edu 415 485 9304 Non-Profit

Brittny Bottorff Maier Law Group brittny@maierlawgroup.com 415 413 8099 Attorney Membership

David Lovejoy david.lovejoy@sbcglobal.net 415 612 4047 Attorney Membership

Evan Rosenbaum rosenbaum.evan@gmail.com 925 408 2427 Attorney Membership

Ambar Chavez Marin County District Attorney's Office achavez@marincounty.org 415 473 6495 Government

Daniel Madow Marin County District Attorney's Office dmadow@marincounty.org 415 473 6450 Government

Elaina Serotte Parallel Advisors elaina.serotte@paralleladvisors.com 415 783 9993 Affiliate Non-Attorney Member

Michael Ellis The Ellis Law Group michaelellis@ellislg.com 415 785 4547 Attorney Membership Raymond Erlach rerlach@rayerlach.com 415 788 3322 Attorney Membership Robert Green Green & Noblin PC rsg@classcounsel.com 415 477 6700 Attorney Membership Chelsea Ellen Heaney Vance Family Law cheaney@vancefamilylaw.com 415 785 7881 Attorney Membership

Peter Maier John Brockway Huntington Foundation pmaier@pwpart.com 415 464 2126 Non-Profit Esfand Nafisi Law Offices of Esfand Nafisi esfand.nafisi@gmail.com 415 747 7466 Attorney Membership

Karthik Raju Marin County Public Defender's Office kraju@marincounty.org 415 473 6450 Government

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Glen Smith First Amendment Coalition gsmith@firstamendmentcoalition.org 415 460 5060 Non-Profit Louis Weller Weller Partners LLP lweller@wellerpartnersllp.com 415 324 4501 Attorney Membership Linda Witong lwitong@gmail.com 415 298 5099 Attorney Membership

UPCOMING EVENTS THU | DEC 13 | 5-8P GENERAL MCBA Member Holiday Mixer: Celebrate a Wonderful Year of Membership Join us for the 2018 Annual MCBA Holiday Member Mixer Nosh, nibble, and sip with your MCBA colleagues. The holiday mixer is one of our best social events and a memorable time to chat and connect. Share a story or celebrate a success â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it's all about our membership community. Free for MCBA Members. INFO & REGISTRATION

SAT | FEB 2 | 6-10P GENERAL 2019 Installation Dinner & Scholarship Fundraiser Join us as we induct our 2019 MCBA Officers and Board members, and raise funds for the MCBA Legal Scholarship. SAVE THE DATE. MORE INFORMATION

THE MARKETPLACE Office Space, Employment Opportunities, Services and More...

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Thank you to our

LEADERSHIP CIRCLE MEMBERS COBLENTZ PATCH DUFFY & BASS LLP ROBERT F. EPSTEIN, ESQ. SUSAN FEDER MEDIATION THE FREITAS LAW FIRM GREEN AND GREEN MONTY WHITE LLP NARDELL CHITSAZ & ASSOCIATES LLP STEVEN NIELSEN, ESQ. GARY RAGGHIANTI, ESQ. STRICK SCHNASSE LAWYERS RICHARD WATSON & GERSHON

The Leadership Circle is an elite group committed to and acknowledged for the vitality of our Bar Association. Leadership Circle contributions permit MCBA to better address and expand community programs such as Teens in the Law and Marin Countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mock Trial Program, among others. Leadership Circle contributions also provide much needed capital to underwrite our MCLE initiatives and keep current with technology advances. Leadership Circle members receive expanded visibility throughout the year at Membership Meetings, monthly email newsletter, and at special events. Contact MCBA to join the Annual Leadership Circle. sponsorship@marinbar.org 415-499-1314 THE MARIN LAWYER An Official Publication of the Marin County Bar Association

THE MARIN LAWYER An Official Publication of the Marin County Bar Association

MISSION STATEMENT To involve, encourage and support Bar Association members, to serve as a liaison to the Marin County courts, and to educate the community and enhance access to legal services.

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