Working Weekends by Zac Shaffer

Whenever the issue of working on weekends arises, everyone always thinks that
my viewpoint is different because I’m of a younger generation. However, much like
Chuck, I love working on weekends. To clarify, I love the idea of having free time.
Not that I have a social life, as my social circle of late is mostly a dog who has more
sass than a toddler, but being able to work with no distractions is a godsend.

While I don’t always like coming into the office, the weekends are some of the best
days to get work done. Like Chuck, I have tried blocking time off on my calendar
but… Murphy’s Law is a constant force of nature. Whether a call takes twice as
long as expected or if I’m trying to handle five different assignments at once, there
is never enough time in the day.

There is just something different about the amount and quality of work that can get
done on a weekend compared to during the week. Whether they are simple tasks
like prepping for a hearing or doing research, working in an office during business
hours can be diffcult. Saturday and Sunday feel like being in the eye of a hurricane.
Whether it is the calm before the storm or the calm following the prior week, it is a
different feeling.

Speaking with other attorneys who have experienced their own reasons and
practices, it is interesting to see different vantage points. While I am similar to
Attorney Boyk in enjoying the weekend work for myself, I was given a different
perspective when I asked Attorney Jerome Phillips why he works weekends. He
still does so for himself, but he also does it for his clients. Jerry Phillips practices
criminal law in Toledo, and when he first started practicing, he began working
weekends as another way of helping his clients. “There is a financial side to
working weekends,” says Phillips. “I am asking them to spend their money to
retain my services, but they also have to take time off work to meet me during
the week. A lot of people are working 9-to-5s, and I can show my appreciation
and better help them by meeting them on weekends.”