What's Not To Like?

Evan Schaeffer defends the practice of law against novelist Richard Ford's depiction of the profession. He asks "What better calling is there?"

Meanwhile, Transmogriflaw is struggling to write her 1L Moot Court brief in a class where the teacher has frankly stated opinions that the other side has the winning argument. I emailed Transmogriflaw (couldn't navigate the AOL comments gauntlet) that clarity for me doing my 1L appellate argument came from separating myself, and my personal feelings about the reasonableness of the different sides' positions, from my role, which was to advocate the respondent's legal position with as much clarity and articulateness as I could muster. It was unfamiliar and difficult to move away from, "What I'm saying here is...." to "What respondent contends here is that...." but turned out to be an invaluable paradigm shift (if you will excuse the use of the phrase).

When Evan asks the rhetorical question of what's not to like in this profession, that would be my answer. We stop being principals in the world and act instead as the agents of other people. We defend their positions, not our own. We look out for their interests, zealously. We articulate their arguments, not ours, even though it is we who are coming up with those arguments. It requires something that on one hand is pretty cool -- a precise ability to parse out arguments and set aside emotion, to be extremely clear about just who you represent at any moment and just what is and is not their (and therefore your) concern right now. It is the essence of that mysterious "thinking like a lawyer" phrase that sort of happens to you sometime late in 1L year. But on the other hand it is an abdication sometimes of our own agency, our own voice. And that is something I still struggle with sometimes.

I'm not sure I can articulate this very well. But I think it's one of the reasons I have this blog. It is reassuring to me that I can be a lawyer with my own distinctive voice, instead of using my mind and my tongue and my keyboard solely to speak out for the interests of my clients, which may diverge in some respects from my own. It's NOT that I work for people I don't like (I don't, and try very hard not to.). It's more that I spend my days being a voice for other people, instead of being a player, speaking for myself, out in the world directly. Something in my nature needs to do that. Without this blog, it's not a part of my professional life. I can see why that would wear some people down over time.

Comments

[Dave]

Couldn't have said it better. We're not called "advisors" for nothing.