The concept of the Inveterate (at) Sea Lawyer felt entirely workable while we were halted in the Seychelles for Covid and otherwise, not sailing. While my firm leadership continues to hold the strong conviction that it would be “no problem at all” to have me set off to sea (these people are real optimists), I have misgivings as the time closes upon me to set off to sea again.
But, we can’t stay in the Seychelles forever!
(Can we? ...no.)
Our passage from Seychelles to Zanzibar (approximately 10 days) will be the first test of this crazy theory that one can indeed practice law while cuising the world on a sailboat. It begs the question:
How does a remote lawyer/litigator plan around a long sea passage?
Responsibilities of ThE Inveterate Sea Lawyer
At this firm, my responsibilities are different from my prior firm. I had worked my way up to holding my own book of business with clients who came directly to me for their work. I worked on my business partners’ cases, too, and for both sources I had the day-to-day responsibility for designing and implementing case strategy and for client communication. At this firm, the plan is for me to play a more supporting role. There are other attorneys bringing in the business, managing the clients, and designing the case strategy. All I am going to do is take on discrete projects when requested: case framework analysis, brief writing, deposition outline preparation for key witnesses, vetting experts and coordinating with them to prepare their reports...these are the discrete tasks that use my level of experience well but that can be paused while I go to sea if I manage my work-load correctly.
For the last few months, this is the kind of thing I’ve been working on. With this upcoming passage to Tanzania, I now have to contemplate the question: can I really push pause?
What Must I Do to Push Pause on LEgal Work?
When I jumped into this gig, I didn’t find much guidance in the legal world or the sailing world for how to practice law while sailing around the world. But, that doesn’t mean I am the first, and I’m sure I won't be the last try. In fact, Sonrisa’s owners two sets back were two lawyers who ended up running their very own law from from their boat during a time where snail-mail and fax machines were considered high-tech. This CAN be done!
If I was the attorney leading case strategy and utilizing the contributions of an inveterate sea lawyer, what would I expect from her before she sets off to sea?
Over-communication about the timing of plans.
Firm boundaries for taking on new work.
And, either a successful finish to all ongoing projects (Is this possible in litigation?) or a skillful “pass of the baton” to another team member with the necessary skill and time to complete the project.
As I laid out these requirements for myself, I knew this is going to require expert level time prediction in both sailing-passage making and legal work. Maybe I’m a drama queen, but for me the stakes feel really high! From the sailing perspective, we are talking about survival at sea for my husband, my home, my cat, and myself. From the legal perspective, we are talking about my professional responsibility and ethical obligations.
Question #1: How long will I be gone? and when? … It depends.
One complication is that for a sailing passage, the dates of my absence are fluid and a bit uncertain. Our departure day can move around quite substantially based on a number of factors: weather, the health of our sailors, the condition of the boat, our ability to find parts and pieces to fix any last-minute requests Sonrisa might make, and the whims of government authorities approving our port departures. These advances or delays in our departure schedule are often non-negotiable as they dictate whether or not we will survive at sea.
Not to be dramatic here, but the reality is that when we are in the middle of a BIG ocean there is no coast guard to come fetch us. There are no spare parts shops. There are no shipwrights or pinch-hit sailors to come in and solve our problems. It all comes down to our condition, our ship's condition, and the weather we choose to head out in. And so, if I am going to practice law and sail, we all have to work around the fact that my departure date will be squishy.
Likewise, the length of time we are out to sea can vary quite a bit as well. While we know Sonrisa’s average travel rate per hour (5.5 knots) and we know the mileage of the likely route we will take. But both of these components are weather-dependant as well. If the wind is very light and our passage is longer than the fuel-range we have to supplement with the motor, we have no choice but to sail slowly. If the wind and waves alter their angles, our route can shift off the layline (the most direct course from A to B) and we might have to tack (zigzag) or fall off our line and return to it later. This would add mileage and time. If the weather is very, very bad or if we experience a major illness or injury, we might have to “hove-to” which means setting our sails to the stopped position and ride the situation out until we can proceed again. Worst case scenario, if we break the mast or otherwise have some sort of catastrophic equipment failure, we might have to limp along for significantly longer than the planned passage.
These things happen. And so, one challenge I am facing is to figure out how to juggle time prediction on the sailing-side of this odd new career.
Question 2: How do I make sure I don’t drop the ball on a legal project?
Like my sailing schedule, the successful completion or passing of work is non-negotiable.
Courts and ethics boards often issue stark reminders in the form of disciplinary citations and fines that the law is not a job you walk away from at night, on the weekends, or when you wish to gallavant around at sea. It is a profession for which we bear the weight of our client’s most difficult challenges. In the world of complex commercial litigation, business owners rely on their lawyers to protect their businesses, their livlihoods, and the livlihoods of their employees. This often means fielding angst-filled phone calls and emails with ASAP challenges to protect an important invention, halt the theft of company funds, or defend themselves from a competitor trying to interfere with their customers or supply chains. Not always, but sometimes, business owners need immediate access to their lawyers. And we are professionally responsible to make sure their needs are met - one way or another.
Not only that, but we must do so competently. It isn’t enough for me to hustle through a project, pass it off in a less-than-high-quaility state of affairs, and bail out to sea. I either need to make sure it’s done correctly before I go, or I need to make sure that the person I am handing it off to has the time and the skill to take it on and bring it to successful completion without me.
Lawyers already live in a world where they cannot escape for a long weekend to the mountains without making sure they are checking their phone constantly and have their laptop at the ready to jump back in if something goes awry. With this being our industry-standard, how is it reasonable for me to think that I can disappear off all viable internet sources besides text-based satellite communication for anywhere between 10 days - an eternity?
My Plan? Write the “Hit By a Bus Report”
It’s morbid, it’s awful, and I truly plan to return after all of my passages. But, if I am going to succeed at this legal-sailing career, I think what I must do is set my departure date in my mind as the “date I get hit by a bus.” I have to communicate with the team about my projects as if I knew that day was coming. What would I do to prepare for that day?
First, I would raise the immediate likelihood of the passage coming up in the next several weeks and give them a full description of our likely departure date, any conditional circumstances that I foresee altering that date, and the likely length of the passage (in a range!) if all things go reasonably well.
Second, I would confirm who on the team was willing and able to take on whatever next steps are required flowing from my project list. Then, I would write my “Hit By a Bus Report.”
There, I would write down every thought that lives inside my head about the case I’m working on, to ensure that my brain can be shared with my colleagues; I would write down a very specific statement about the progress of everything I have completed; I would write down my assessment of the immediate follow on steps for this project, an estimate of when those next steps will hit, and the person who has committed to do the next thing.
And so, this is what I shall do.
Our weather window is coming up fast. I’d better get to writing my report.