This year I decided to take a sabbatical. After 15 years of practicing law as a BigLaw partner and senior counsel at Apple, I left my job. When I shared the news, I heard from many attorneys and their desire for a break of their own. Even more concerning, 15 close colleagues between the ages of 35 and 50 in the practice opened up about their experiences with serious health scares —including heart attacks, diabetes, and mini-strokes. Then, a former litigation colleague of mine died at age 62 of a heart attack soon after he finally decided to “dial it down.”
I experienced my own scare in 2012. I was under pressure-cooker deadlines near the end of my 20-hour workday when the entire left half of my body went numb. It was not a heart attack or a stroke, but terrifying nonetheless. The incident catalyzed me to leave the law firm practice and go work as in-house counsel.
