Expectations about the Practice of Law

Studying is going well, but I felt the urge to comment on what appears to me to be a quest on the part of some ex-lawyers to "out" current or aspiring attorneys as not really interested in the practice of law and lawyering.

I have heard all the arguments. There is a high defect rate. There are more than a few whispers about dissatisfaction in the legal profession. Many law graduates went to law school because of the prestige and not because they really wanted to be lawyers.

I went to law school knowing that I was not passionately in love with the law, but because I wanted to have a solid, profitable career for myself. I figured the need for lawyers is not going out of style anytime soon. I came to realize during and after law school that the practice of law is a trade, much like accounting or any other specialized field with its own language and concepts. So I went to law school to learn a trade. My expectations were not unrealistic when I entered law school. After law school I came to think about other careers in which I could have pursued an advanced degree that would have promised a comfortable income and solid career path. But the things that would have made me unhappy about those careers would make me unhappy about a legal career, so what's the difference? For example, long hours working for someone else and office politics. I always knew I wanted to be self-employed. Of course, I could have been self-employed in non-lawyer jobs too which for me would have been something related to Human Resources. But if I work with employment law matters, I will deal with human resource issues as part of my law practice, either in due course or as I intentionally incorporate them in. As for sustaining excitement or passion over a long period of time with ANY profession related to business (e.g. law, HR, etc), I had to pursue a solid income regardless. It was just too risky for me assume that I could build an income-sustaining career on, say, making crafts or karaoke or blogging, and certainly not a leap I would venture out on in my early 20's which is when many of us made the decision to go to law school. We all have hobbies that we find fun and interesting, but the question is whether they can support me. If not, they have to remain hobbies.

Sure, I had a bunch of disappointments in law school and beyond. My first law school graded on a C curve and that was exactly the grade that more than half the class received. I had law professors early on who did not care to monitor their students level of comprehension but instead went forward using legal terms with a first-year first-semester group of law students. Did they want to confuse us so that some would drop out? Who knows. They plunged into legal concepts without giving students a framework in which to understand how these concepts fit into the lawyer-client relationship. Some would argue that we get this perspective later on in, say, a Legal Writing course or clinical program, but to sustain the interest of any group of students one must give them relevant context in which students may envision themselves as engaged in the actual practice of law as lawyers. I am not suggesting that "thinking like a lawyer" take a pedagological backburner. When one emphathizes with the perspective (level of experience, etc) of one's students, then my message becomes clear. This framework that I am describing could have been incorporated easily into my legal education, upfront. Next, because of my grades, I knew certain job prospects were closed to me but I knew I wanted to be self-employed anyway. And last but not least, I had terrible problems with the bar exam.

But I am not going to leap from a frying pan into a fire. The profession of lawyering is just as interesting as any other business related profession. As for job scarcity as a factor in deciding whether to go to law school, that is not the reason why a number of ex-lawyers are encouraging current or aspiring lawyers to leave the profession. One should investigate all factors that impact their decision to pursue a certain type of education including: what you see yourself doing all day, whether you want to self-employed or not, job market for your geographic region, expected income, etc. Only the lucky few get careers as actors, motivational speakers, internet gurus or rock stars. The reality is that most of us cannot count on a living doing these things.