Legal Grounds | Mark Perkins On Sustainability Over Balance, the Power of Kindness in an Adversarial System, and Why Seeking Help Doesn’t Make You Less Competent

When discussing any task that was accomplishable but time-consuming, one of my old man’s goto phrases was, “Hell, you can stand on your head and gargle peanut butter for (insert amount of time), so you better get to it.”

It’s a phrase my son’s and I still use today, and while there is more jest than earnestness in its use, there are times in life - be they professional or personal - when we all have to gargle peanut butter.

And while in most professions, and hopefully all relationships, the goal is to get to a point where this ISN’T the case, when someone decides to become a trial attorney they are signing up for a job that guarantees there will be times when work cannot be ‘balanced’. 

But as my guest and I discussed this week, just because we know we’re going to have to “gargle peanut butter” at some point - say, when a major case goes to trial - that doesn’t mean we have to treat everything that crosses our desk like it’s a top-priority. 

As a former prosecutor and trial attorney whose firm just celebrated its 25th year in business, Mark Perkins shares how he had to learn these lessons the hard way. In his words, after powering through much of his career on adrenaline, he began to feel off. 

But the journey it would lead him on was filled with valuable lessons on kindness and the power of vulnerability when it comes to dealing with mental-health.

It was a wonderful and story-filled conversation that, if anything, has plenty of laughs. 

As always, enjoy the show.