By JODI SOKOLOWSKI
Buffalo Law Journal

How do Buffalo lawyers let their hair down? By smoking fine cigars, visiting prime skiing destinations and shopping to their hearts' content.

The lifestyle of a lawyer is typically stress-filled and time-limited, but with hard work comes high compensation that allows for luxurious pampering. Several area lawyers told us their preferred relaxation techniques grow out of a work hard, play hard philosophy.

A smokin' hobby

Phillips Lytle LLP partner John Schmidt Jr. finds that smoking a cigar on a long walk or just hanging out with fellow cigar connoisseurs does just the trick to help him wind down.

"It's meditative. It tastes good. It's enjoyable," he said. "Sometimes it's an excuse to just stop and relax for a half hour or 45 minutes."

Schmidt started smoking cigars during his second year of law school in 1992, when he was on the Buffalo Law Review.

"We were having a particularly productive day and someone walked in with a few cigars. We all lit up, and I loved it. We just continued it," he explained.

Schmidt's part of an informal cigar club of about 40, including about a dozen lawyers, that meets once a month. Popular venues in the warmer months include a member's backyard, on a restaurant patio or a waterfront site. In wintertime they meet at Alternative Brews, which has a smoking license, or the Buffalo Club's smoking room.

"It's a great opportunity to just take a break and unwind with a group of like-minded friends and colleagues," Schmidt said. "The camaraderie that exists among cigar smokers is second to none. There's an immediate connection."

Schmidt doesn't wait for his fellow cigar smokers; he'll enjoy a puff while walking his dog or sitting in his home study, which is equipped with an exhaust fan.

"I'll generally have a cigar once a day," he said.

Retail therapy

Anyone who knows Anne Adams, of the Law Offices of Anne Adams, knows that one of her favorite pastimes is shopping.

Not any old mall will do. Adams will regularly travel to Toronto and occasionally to New York City, by herself or with friends such as Hon. Penny Wolfgang, state Supreme Court justice, to shop.

"My favorite thing to do is to go to Toronto on a Friday afternoon or Saturday, because it's more European in terms of fashion," Adams said.

While she won't always buy something, because it's more about the hunt, she says, Adams finds shopping to be a form of "escapism" from the 24/7 lifestyle that lawyers live.

"It's totally relaxing," she said. "You totally decompress."

The Ultimate Men's Shop on Delaware Avenue caters to professional men, offering salon services - haircuts, facials and massages - and a retail department that sells both off-the-rack and custom-made clothes.

"Not only can you buy an outfit from casual to dressy, but we just started doing custom-made dress shirts and suits," said manager and buyer Siobhon Taylor, who counts many lawyers among her regulars.

If customers are too busy to come to the store for a fitting, staff will go to their offices to take a few measurements and determine a suit style and fabric.

"We take a couple of precise measurements and ask how many pockets, no pockets, spread collar," Taylor said. "We make it exactly how they want it."

Extreme skiing

A skier for 40 years, Phillips Lytle partner Morgan Graham goes skiing about 40 times a season. Each year he'll make a trip out West with his daughter, Virginia, or his friend Robert Glanville, also a Phillips Lytle partner.

This year, Graham and Glanville are taking it up a notch by going heliskiing - they'll be dropped off by helicopter at the top of a mountain and ski 5,000 feet down in Alaska this March.

"It's something I've always wanted to do," Graham said. He considers skiing both "exhilarating" and "incredibly relaxing."

"You're so focused on what you're doing that it requires your complete attention, so you don't think about work. You relax," Graham said.

Adams also goes downhill skiing for relaxation. She'll regularly ski locally but will also make trips out West and to Canada. She's planned trips to Lake Tahoe in Nevada and Tremblant, near Montreal, this season.

"Skiing is a wonderful rush. It works out the stresses," she said.

And in the summer, she jet skis. Adams, who lives on waterfront property in Evans, will come home, jump on the jet ski and ride "off into the sunset."

"It's just a completely different universe than the downtown hustle," she said.

Graham, also an avid windsurfer, said sports and hobbies - everything from fishing to painting - are great stress relievers for any busy professional.

"Whether you're buried in a great novel in front of the fireplace or jumping out of a helicopter skiing down 5,000 feet, it's a great relaxation of the mind," he said.

Adams, who practices matrimonial law, said lawyers must stay healthy, both physically and mentally, for the sake of their clients. She encourages lawyers to "unplug" on the weekends.

"In the long run, you make yourself weaker when you're in contact 24/7. Don't be afraid to disconnect," Adams said. "If you don't decompress, you just lose your mind."