A colleague of mine, Aimee Davis [Aimee B. Davis Law, PC] called last month and asked me why I titled my column for Solo Practice University® the Rezooming attorney?

I had never been asked that question before nor had I really written about the WHY in my column. I actually do know why I named the resuming attorney blog REZOOMING. I truly believed in what I was doing and have so from the very beginning. I was shooting for the stars as a solo practitioner. How could I do that? I would need a rocket ship to zoom me out into this new universe. That is why I felt Rezooming your practice was a far more positive way to describe what we do. It would also start a conversation quicker than resuming, a more correct yet ordinary word.

Google’s definition of resum[ing] is “to begin to do or pursue (something) again after a pause or interruption.” However, for we attorneys who are rezooming the practice of law there are so many other things we have to consider. Which was why using the simple word resume would never have adequately described what it takes to either resume, re-form or reconfigure your practice of law.

There are three reasons I used the term Rezoom instead of the verb Resume. First was to be catchy. If you want to write a blog that someone else will read it has to have a catchy title. Resuming is very bland. It’s what we all know we’re doing as resuming attorneys. However, Rezooming makes you take a second look.

Second, Rezooming is meant to have you think metaphorically of soaring, like a spaceship; ie, reaching for the stars as one re-enters the practice of law. Instead of thinking about what we didn’t do/haven’t done in the law, it helps us think about what we did do while away from practicing law that helps us rise above all that we might have done had we stayed in the law. If we are re-configuring our legal career, as Aimee Davis is doing, it also fits the bill for her kind of transition attorney as well. We are rezooming and thinking highly about our abilities and the successes we bring to the table.

Finally, I used the term Rezoom because we are adventurers at heart. We are zooming out there, making a new name for ourselves, in our own particular way. We are focused. We have clarity. We know exactly what we want to do. That’s what I want to project for the rezooming attorney. I don’t want to dwell on the things that make them worry if they are good enough or if they have the metal to get the job done. The things that bring us forward in our quest to resume our career are the things we focus on.

There are a lot of things going on when we are rezooming the practice of law or changing the kind of law we practice to something new. Nothing should stand in our way. Our vision should spur us on. We know what we want to do. We know why we are where we are right now. Rezooming attorneys know their magnificence.

Rezooming instead of Resuming. It makes so much sense to my rezooming colleagues and I because we are like rocket ships. We are at the controls of our future. We are looking at the stars and we are going to reach them like The New Horizons orbiter saw Pluto. There’s nothing standing in our way but our own self-limiting behaviors. Don’t let those voices or worldly colleagues, friends and family talk you out of doing what you know you truly want to do. Rezoom the practice of law. Now get out there. Make it happen.