06/12/2026
Yesterday I did something I had not done in six years.
I argued in person, in a courtroom full of people.
A printed cause list. Colleagues in the hallway. The walk to the podium. The kind of exchange that only happens when everyone is in the same room, reading each other in real time.
For six years the profession ran on screens. It worked. It was convenient. And somewhere in the convenience, something quiet went missing.
I felt it the moment I stood up to argue.
The travel is real. The early start, the long drive, the hours away from the desk. I will carry it gladly.
Yes, you can argue it adds cost for the client and friction to access. But set the price of a lawyer’s travel against what sits on the table in these files, and it is a small number.
Advocacy was never meant to be comfortable.
This profession asks a great deal of us, and it should. Behind every file is a person whose livelihood, and sometimes their life’s work, sits in the balance. The stakes are what make the discomfort worth it.
I had forgotten how much I missed the room.
