Personal Reflection. How I do it

• Author: Jasmine Akbarali
• Pages: 313-319

313

R PERSONAL REFLECTION | SUMMER 2016

Hw I  it

JASMINE AKBARALI

ears ago, newly returned from a maternity leave, I was talk-

ing to a colleague about a book we had both read that was popular

among new parents. A hilarious Bridget Jones’s Diary–style story

of a professional woman trying to juggle kids and career, it was called I

Don’t Know How She Does It. Another woman joined our conversation and

asked the name of the book we were discussing. In what must have been

a Freudian moment, burdened by the pressures of just having returned

to work, I said, “It’s called I Don’t Know Why She Does It.”

Of course, I do know why I do it, and I knew back then too. But it isn’t

always easy. In addition to my appellate practice, I have four children,

ages ve to thirteen. My husband has a demanding tax practice. We are

both involved in our communities. It’s a full life, in a good way– and

sometimes in a bad way, too.

Like the protagonist of the book, I am often asked how I do it. I usually

say “inertia”– an object in motion (that’s me) stays in motion (I do).

Then Stephen Grant, the editor of the Journal, asked me how I do it.

And now I’m writing this article. He’s very persuasive.

Over my nearly 20 years at the bar, I’ve adopted a set of rules that

help to keep me sane. It’s not perfect. Most of the time, I feel there’s

something I’m not doing as well as I could be doing it. But I’m still here.

And that counts.