The Sustainable Lawyers has been waiting for warm weather before calling upon lawyers to ride their bikes to work. In point of fact, when we connected with Mina Makarious, an environmental and municipal law associate at the venerable Cambridge law firm of Anderson & Kreiger, we stood corrected. Makarious rides his bike to work mostly in warm weather, but enjoys it so much that he tries to ride his bike a good eight months a year.
Aside from the very obvious benefit of reducing his carbon footprint and reducing his dependence on gasoline at a time when it’s costing close to $4 per gallon, Makarious cites a number of collateral benefits:
- For a busy, time starved lawyer, biking is faster than waiting for a bus or sitting in traffic;
- Biking offers him the flexibility of stopping to do errands or grab a bite to eat both to and from work;
- The health benefits are great, and again biking saves time that might otherwise need to be spent in a gym;
- Spending the commute outdoors is just plain fun.
According to Makarious, at least five lawyers at Anderson & Kreiger bike to work regularly, including co-founder Art Kreiger. While Markarious has the shortest commute, living in Cambridge, others bike in from Brookline, Belmont and Winchester.
The firm creates a hospitable environment for those commuting via bike. In addition to bike racks around the building, the individual offices for lawyers are spacious enough to accommodate a bike. Of course the firm also provides showers.
One more thing. . . Just because you bike to work doesn’t mean you need to invest in one of those fancy carbon fiber models. “I ride an old mountain bike,” said Makarious. “It’s the same bike I got for my birthday in seventh grade.”
The Sustainable Lawyer 
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