Leap Year comes every four years because our calendar is out of whack with the way the universe actually works. Thus, we have to add a day every four years to keep close to reality.
Adding a day should be fun, kind of like the extra hour of sleep we get every once in a while when we go off (or is it on?) Daylight Saving Time — though I’ve never really much thought it about it before. If I were billing at current rates some lawyers make, that would probably be worth something in the range of $9,600 to almost $20,000, depending on who is doing the work. Even at a hundred or so per hour it’s nothing to sniff at.
So what should we do with this extra day if it’s worth so much? Here are some ideas:
- Divide it up evenly, say by 24, and give an hour to someone you love. If you really love them, divide it by two or maybe not at all.
- Divide it up and call a friend.
- Divide it up and sleep in a little later some day.
- Divide it up and put it in a time bank to be used in case of emergency.
- Use all 24 hours to think of something fun to do with the rest of the year.
- Use some part of the windfall we are discussing to help your favorite candidate get elected.
- Invest the time. We have financial advisors. Wouldn’t it be great if we had time advisors too, now that we know we are richer than we thought we were?
- Add 24 billable hours to the firm’s required number of hours to impress the senior partners.
- Write an article for the Bar Bulletin (your editor would love that!).
- Invent your own calendar, and have the gall to live by it, out of sync with everyone else. After all, we’re independent thinkers, right?
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John Shaffer is an experienced litigator and trial lawyer now serving as mediator, arbitrator, discussion and negotiation facilitator, and a student (including candidate for an LL.M. in dispute resolution) of conflict and its resolutions. He can be reached at jcslaw1@aol.com.
