I remember that fateful night I arrived very late at the chosen hotel in Marble Arch, London, and saw that I was taken to the worst floor, the hotel room was a single bedroom whose window faced a narrow dark street in front of a church with a blackened façade. There was little room for anything else than the bed, in this poorly decorated dormitory with the bathroom door damaged by damp.

That night I called my wife and she told me that a relative had worsened his illness, I complained to the hotel reception about the assigned room and they told me that this was the one that my travel agency had chosen, but I could not call their agent in London because it was a Sunday night.

I slept the little I could because I had to wake up at half past five. But the new day was going to be different: I went jogging through Hyde Park and then to Euston station where I had arranged to meet the interpreter to travel to Manchester. We got on our train, it was a sunny day and the good news gradually arrived. First of all, my wife told me that our relative had improved and, between the conversation with the interpreter over a good breakfast and the review of documents for the meetings with the Manchester and the Birmingham solicitors, things began to get better.

An adverse sentence, a request for permission, a complicated case, a night leaving the office at twelve or a morning with the alarm clock ringing at five, a weekend in which we will not be able to accompany our family to the beach. And for those who work for someone else, when the promotion does not come, when you see that after several years in the firm you still earn two thousand euros, your supervisor does not value you, there are colleagues with whom you do not get along, the administrative staff do not help, they don't understand you.

When we find ourselves alone behind our desk, between four walls, surrounded by files, with pending calls, accumulated emails, unexpected WhatsApp messages, red notes on the agenda indicating due dates, a trial the day after tomorrow when those hours are necessary to finalize an appeal, the expert who must deliver his report and I must add some corrections, summer is approaching and I should finish my most urgent pending work: it cannot happen like last year. Will I have to pay for the dream vacation?

Why don’t my friends have these problems? I see other colleagues who don't even work some afternoons or enjoy the English schedule.

The next day, we get up, we practice our sport and as we progress we feel better and better, with strength to face the day thanks to our vocation, because we are lawyers, because we are privileged. Today I have no trial and I can come to the office whenever I want. But I will arrive early and I will begin to cross off that complaint, that resource, that lawsuit, because I will leave my cell phone out of reach and silent. In addition, I will tell my secretary not to put calls through to me and my colleagues not to call nor visit me in my office.

Today the day is mine, I do not want interruptions. I want and deserve a good summer, it has been a very hard year., the previous ones too, but this one…!

It wasn't as difficult as it seemed. Why have I taken so long? What a relief to be able to send those writings to the attorney!

Previous experiences and good moments lived in our professional career serve as a basis for us not to be defeated in a small battle. So far we have beaten doubts, laziness, tiredness, bad news offset by good news, those who told us to leave. Our clients deserve that we continue with them.

Our inclination, our call, our path is this: the sacred profession of law. If today is a bad day, tomorrow will be better. That call will come with a new case, a client who recommends us, a colleague who sends us a friend, an invitation to a conference, our son who announces good grades, your mother visiting at the firm, and going back to law school to find out companions are happy to see you again.

We arrive at noon on Friday: mission accomplished, we have finished the most important thing and we have absolute control of our affairs, I am not going to work at all on the weekend, I will go outside, I will look at the blue sky and I will allow myself to be carried away by rest, nothingness, contemplation. I have to disconnect.

I am the one who still reads about the lawyers in the Roman forum, the great orators, those who left their audience engrossed, those who triumphed in their career to the top. The one who saw the famous criminal lawyer in front of the jury addressing them, skilfully questioning the witnesses, the opposing expert. The one who dreamed of carrying the briefcase and showing his lawyer's card, like that friend of mine.

Let's look at the doctor, how he enjoys himself in his office! Tidying up his table, taking notes and above all, attending patients and filling in the prescriptions so they can get well.

I'm a lawyer. I give my clients my prescription so they can leave with peace of mind. You can leave with peace of mind, your case is in the hands of your lawyer!

The few really bad moments will be compensated by the many good moments. It's just like when in the best marriages there are some less memorable moments no matter how solid they are, and yet there are times when spouses can even think about breaking up. However, thinking about all the excellent moments and everything that is really worth it, keeps the couple together. Our love is the legal profession: let's take care of it.

And what keeps us there in our position, in our place, is the vocation, the illusion, the enthusiasm. It is that light, that call to something we had thought about many times. It is true that some did not have such vocation at the beginning and perhaps they came to it because someone recommended them to practice as lawyers.

Some came not because of a thoughtful decision but because someone suggested them to become lawyers or they saw an opportunity that they couldn't refuse, a good proposal that they wanted to accept. And once they proved what it was like to defend someone with the toga on and that by applying and invoking some precepts of a law, a court ruling, they could agree with their client and with that triumph before the client, before the firm of lawyers who had trusted him, were satisfactions that endure.

One sees those lawyers who have been practicing for decades happy, how cheerfully they go to court in the morning, how when meeting them on the street enthusiastically refer to a case they have defended. That colleague with whom we have met in the bookstore when we try to find a book, who encourages us by telling us about that trial he led and that we will surely know about, how he assumed the defence ex officio and got his client acquitted because the accusation of the prosecutor incurred many contradictions.