Lizzie (excuse me, Lizzy) is mentioned briefly in this article from Legal Humour. She’s everywhere, she’s everywhere!
The Practice » Serious Look at Humour and Law
A “Serious” look at Humour and Law
By Marcel Strigberge
Stress buster
Humour is a major stress buster. It will allow you to detach yourself from a situation for long enough to interrupt the negative pattern before you nose dive and it will enable you to think clearly and recover the situation. Dr. Viktor Frankl, noted psychiatrist who spent time in concentration camps during WW2 credits a sense of humour with saving not only himself but others who regularly deployed it. He in fact discusses a favourite device of his, logotherapy. If for example if you are afraid of sweating in public, he suggests that instead of telling yourself “I won’t sweat, I won’t sweat”, do the opposite. Tell yourself, “This time in front of that CBA crowd as I address them I’ll sweat 10 litres worth.” This has worked for many of his patients who were afraid of screwing up one way or another.
I find many uses of this approach in family law practice. Sometimes I feel terrorized by a certain counsel. I had a lawyer opposing me once whom my office staff called “Dr. Fax”. A day did not go by without him sending me a fax, or two, or three. This guy confirmed anything and everything. We’d chat about our case on Monday morning when he would tell me my client returned the kids 7:15 rather that 7:00 the night before. I’d say something like, “OK, my client is a rogue and a knave.” Ten minutes later I’d get a fax from the good doctor confirming that I agreed that my client was a rogue and a knave.
Initially these faxes bothered me, a lot. It felt like that Chinese water torture. Drip…drip…bong. Eventually I decided to do something about it and have fun. We started an unofficial fax pool or lottery. People were to guess when Dr. Fax’s next fax was to come. Our receptionist would say on Friday afternoon, “I’ll take Monday morning at 9:01”. This was usually a safe bet.
I similarly find it useful to use humour when some other Attila’s presence puts me off. Rather than minimizing the terror, I rephrase it. I do indeed see a monster, with smoke snorting out of his or her nostrils. I imagine Lizzy Borden in a robe and tabs coming after my client and me with a cleaver. Seen this way it don’t look so bad. Or as cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn would say, “Ah say, it don’t look so bad”.
You will note in the above examples that humour was used both in dealing with others and with myself.
