Geeking out on being a law geek
As much experience as I have in my little area of the law, I'm always sort of flattered when someone calls me for advice on how to do what it is I do.
My friend Smash is a professor in a health related field, and one of her students is thinking about going to law school. She had him call me, and I spent about twenty minutes rambling about what I do and what I see my little practice area doing in the next five to ten years.
I forget that I've been a lawyer for nearly ten years now, and that I've been doing the particular job that I do--rather well, if I do say so myself--for six. I know, more or less, about this as well as anyone else that does my job.
I forget about that sometimes. I forget that not everyone else in the world is mired in this crap as much as I am, so when someone totally ignorant of the subject matter talks to me about it, I'm reminded that whoa, I know a hell of a lot.
I do know one thing: In addition to my "regular" job, I'm one of a handful of lawyers in the US that advise clients on one teeny tiny area of the law that I think is really, really cool. I'm immensely proud of that fact.
Usually, I try to talk people out of going to law school. I've had some success in that, but also some failure. I think that this guy, though, is wanting to go to law school for the right reasons, and I don't think that because he wants to be me when he grows up is the reason that I didn't try to talk him out of it.
My friend Smash is a professor in a health related field, and one of her students is thinking about going to law school. She had him call me, and I spent about twenty minutes rambling about what I do and what I see my little practice area doing in the next five to ten years.
I forget that I've been a lawyer for nearly ten years now, and that I've been doing the particular job that I do--rather well, if I do say so myself--for six. I know, more or less, about this as well as anyone else that does my job.
I forget about that sometimes. I forget that not everyone else in the world is mired in this crap as much as I am, so when someone totally ignorant of the subject matter talks to me about it, I'm reminded that whoa, I know a hell of a lot.
I do know one thing: In addition to my "regular" job, I'm one of a handful of lawyers in the US that advise clients on one teeny tiny area of the law that I think is really, really cool. I'm immensely proud of that fact.
Usually, I try to talk people out of going to law school. I've had some success in that, but also some failure. I think that this guy, though, is wanting to go to law school for the right reasons, and I don't think that because he wants to be me when he grows up is the reason that I didn't try to talk him out of it.