What happens when a boy who spent his first ten years in Soviet Moscow — learning from a very early age which thoughts he could not say out loud, watching his parents stand in winter lines without knowing what was being sold because if there was a long line something worth having must be there, absorbing survival as the organizing principle of daily life — watches his parents risk everything to emigrate, arrives in the United States, discovers speed, becomes a competitive race car driver, goes to Amherst College magna cum laude, then to the University of Virginia School of Law, practices in California In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Roman Lifson, a partner at Christian & Barton in Richmond, Virginia, a thirty-four-year trial lawyer, championship race car driver, and co-founder of Mythic Adventure Travel, about why lawyers have the highest rate of depression and suicidal ideation of any profession, Roman explains the two causes he believes are driving lawyer depression: excessive adversariness that makes litigation more combative than clients need it to be, and a loneliness epidemic where lawyers are surrounded by people they cannot actually confide in — the difference between sharing the Facebook and Instagram version of your life where everything is brilliant and your dogs are beautiful and sharing what actually troubles you, what you are ashamed of, what you are afraid of. They also discuss the day-long program Roman and his wife Hallie developed for lawyers and their romantic partners — the morning ritual that takes five to ten minutes and asks what are the three things that matter to you today and how can I support you in them, the gratitude ritual where you speak what you want to accomplish as if it has already happened, and the ten guiding principles of couple relating built on the premise that there is me, there is you, and there is a third entity which is the relationship itself and it deserves its own consideration in every decision. Roman also tells the story of the man in his mid-forties who came to him having internalized a full year of childhood sexual abuse by a middle school teacher, used alcohol to numb himself for decades, finally disclosed to a criminal defense attorney after a third DUI, and arrived in Roman's office extremely fragile with a history of recent suicide attempts — and what happened when the judge who dismissed the case on statute of limitations grounds was humble enough to reverse himself on the only motion for reconsideration Roman has had granted in thirty-four years. Roman Lifson is a partner at Christian & Barton, LLP in Richmond, Virginia, a firm celebrating its hundredth anniversary, practicing products liability, commercial litigation, First Amendment and defamation, medical malpractice, motorsports law, and international law. He is a graduate of Amherst College and the University of Virginia School of Law, a Super Lawyer selected continuously since 2013, AV Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell, a former Chair of the Virginia Bar Association Civil Litigation Section, a championship race car driver, outside general counsel to Virginia International Raceway, and the co-founder of Mythic Adventure Travel with his wife Hallie. Connect with Roman Lifson: cblaw.com/roman-lifson Mythic Adventure Travel: mythicadventuretravel.com Phone: 843-377-4747 Christian & Barton, LLP — 901 E. Cary St., Suite 1800, Richmond, VA 23219 Chapters 00:00 Growing up in Soviet Moscow — knowing from early childhood which thoughts could not be said out loud 00:39 Long lines in the winter, the focus on survival, and parents who risked everything to leave 01:40 Arriving in America, a decade at the racing track, and the arc of a thirty-four-year trial career 00:01 (Part 1) What the guest calls his linear first career — wife Hallie as the catalyst for everything that changed 00:12 Sixteen years married, eighteen together — and why she became his entry into personal development 01:52 Mythic Adventure Travel — layering couples work onto trips to Santorini, Croatia, Italy, France 03:22 Thirty-four years of trial work — product liability, commercial litigation, First Amendment, medical malpractice, both sides 04:45 The advantage of variety — why doing both plaintiff and defense work makes him better at both 05:17 Being at a mid-sized firm for a century — how Christian & Barton approaches the generalist trial practice 06:29 My spouse says I bring cases home every night — how do I actually stop doing that 07:00 Rather than avoiding it, find balance — the cases that kept him up at night and what that actually looks like 07:40 Lawyers as problem solvers who too often become problem escalators — and what clients actually need 08:30 The loneliness epidemic and what the Surgeon General said about the lack of authentic human connection #RomanLifson #ChristianBarton #TrustcastShow #LawyerWellness #TrialLawyer #RichmondVirginia #MythicAdventureTravel #MotorsportsLaw
