When John Hale took to Twitter this month to criticize some in his profession’s habit of boasting about how busy they are at work, he wasn’t expecting it to spark an important conversation in the industry. 

Prompted by a tweet he saw from a peer about not having taken holiday in a long time, Canadian criminal defense barrister Hale wrote: “Lawyers who tweet that you haven’t had 4 days off since 2003, or that you’re working Saturday night, or on your way to the office at 4 AM: we get it, you’re an insanely hard worker. But you are creating anxiety in others (well, me); & you are giving new lawyers the wrong message.”