Endurance Lessons for Lawyers: When Lawyering Is Like Everesting – Part Two

Most endurance events are not lost at the end. They’re lost in the first mile.

I’m training for an event that may take up to 36 hours. One of the first lessons is pacing. If you go out too fast, you pay for it later.
The same holds true in our practice of law. Early aggression feels productive. Argue every issue. Press every point. That can feel like control. But it’s often just impatience. And the overreach and effort it requires can become huge problems later in the case.

Energy is finite—physically, mentally, and emotionally. Spend too much early, and you don’t have it when it matters. Cases are shaped early. They are positioned in the middle. They are decided at the end. If you exhaust yourself before you get there, none of it matters. In trial practice and endurance events, pacing is not passive. It’s discipline.

The goal isn’t to win the hour.
It’s to perform over time.
More to come.