Lawyers and Legal Professionals
Your day is measured in tenths of an hour, and your body has learned to live that way.
For attorneys whose nervous systems run on the billable clock and whose adversarial work does not stay at the office. Confidentiality questions answered plainly, in the first session.
Overview
Where this usually starts
The billable hour is not just a way of getting paid. It is a schedule your nervous system has adopted. Time becomes a resource you are always slightly behind on, and rest becomes a category of loss. People in this work often tell me they cannot sit through a meal without feeling that something is being wasted. That is not a character flaw. It is a trained response, and it can be retrained.
The other half is what the work itself asks of you. You spend your days anticipating the strongest version of the other side's argument. That is a professional skill and it is also, at home, a way of being braced against people who are not opposing counsel. Partners notice it before you do. Therapy here is partly about putting the skill down when you walk through the door.
At a Glance
- Shelley Davidescu, LMFT, 17 years in practice
- In person in Bankers Hill, San Diego
- Telehealth Monday through Friday across California
- Free 15-minute consultation
Individual sessions are $210, or $325 for 90 minutes. Couples sessions are $225, or $345 for 90 minutes.
Full fees and policiesDoes This Sound Familiar?
The specifics, not a symptom list
Open any line to see how I would think about it with you.
Open any line that feels familiar.
Fit
Who this is for, and who it is not
It is worth knowing before you book, so neither of us spends four sessions finding out.
A Good Fit
- You are an attorney, judicial staff, or legal professional carrying strain you cannot show at work.
- You want a therapist who will not be intimidated by how you argue, and who will name it when you are doing it.
- You work downtown or in Bankers Hill and want a short drive, or you want telehealth from your office between matters.
- You want the confidentiality questions answered concretely rather than waved away.
Not the Right Fit
- I do not write letters, evaluations, or reports for employers, firms, courts, or licensing bodies, and I do not do forensic work. If you need documentation for a legal or employment process, you need a different clinician.
- If you need crisis or inpatient-level care, or care that requires psychiatric management, this is not the right setting and I will point you toward it.
- If what you want is a place to rehearse arguments rather than examine them, we will both be frustrated.
If you are in crisis, call or text 988. If I am not the right clinician for what you are carrying, I will say so and help you find someone who is.
What We Work On
Three things, in order
Confidentiality
What you say in session is confidential under California law. I do not report to the State Bar and I do not report to your firm. There are ordinary legal limits, including danger to self or others and the mandated reporting laws that apply to all California therapists, and I go through those with you in the first session so you know them before you need them.
Getting time back out of the clock
We work on the physical habit the billable hour created. Regulation practices that fit between matters, a genuine end to the workday, and a tolerance for unstructured time that is built gradually rather than declared.
The person you are at home
Attachment-focused work on what happens when the adversarial posture comes home with you.
Questions
Answered plainly
Anything not covered here is worth asking on the free 15-minute consult.
Will therapy show up anywhere that affects my license?
I do not report to the State Bar or to any licensing body, and seeking therapy is not something I disclose to anyone. Your records are protected under California law. The limits on confidentiality are the standard legal ones and I explain them in full in the first session.
Can you write a letter for my firm or for a court?
No. I do not provide letters, evaluations, or testimony for employers, firms, courts, or licensing boards, and I do not take forensic cases. Keeping the therapy separate from anything evaluative is what makes it useful.
Where is your office and how far is it from the courthouses?
The office is at 2560 First Ave, Suite 202, in Bankers Hill, a short drive from the downtown courthouses. In-person availability is limited, one Sunday a month. Telehealth runs Monday through Friday anywhere in California.
I travel and my schedule breaks constantly. Can this still work?
Telehealth helps, as long as you are physically in California during the session, which is a licensing requirement rather than a preference. Consistency matters more than perfection. You do not have to commit to an hour every week: what matters is keeping to a schedule that works for you, whether that is weekly or once every two weeks, and we set that together.
Do you work with lawyers on their relationships specifically?
Often. Couples sessions are $225, or $345 for 90 minutes, and I am Gottman Level 1 trained.
Free 15-Minute Consult
Fifteen minutes to find out whether this is the right work.
Tell me what is actually going on. I will tell you honestly how I would approach it, and whether I am the right person for it.
In person in San Diego, and by telehealth across California.