What Do You Like Best About Being a Lawyer?

Last week, I was at the kitchen table making some notes when I came up with the title for this post. But I only had the title. I didn't know what else to write.

Andrea was in the kitchen too. "Hey," I said. "What do you like best about being a lawyer?"

She stood there looking at me. Clearly, she'd heard the question. But she wasn't speaking.

"You're drawing a blank, aren't you?" I said.  "So did I."

It might have been a turning point in our careers. In the days that have passed since that fateful moment, we've come up with a few ideas. Andrea's: "I like it when I'm able to help someone solve a difficult problem." And mine: "I like becoming involved in cases that require me to become an expert in something I previously knew nothing about."

But let's be honest: plenty of professions would allow Andrea to solve problems, and I could simply spend my time writing books.

What do you like best about being a lawyer? If you're a law student, what do you think you'll like best?

Are you drawing a blank too?

Comments

[SharkAttack]

Because a couple of people suggested that I might have been kidding in my earlier post, I just want to say that I was serious. The lawyers I have spoken with so far have been extremely bright. My classmates are amazing. I realize that not everyone with a law degree is interesting, but from my limited experience a great number of people entering the profession are great to talk to. Many are even fun.

I suspect that so many people are disenchanted with law because they entered the profession for the wrong reasons. Some of my classmates hate what they are doing already, but at the start of their second semester they are already $50K in debt and they feel like there's no turning back. I feel very bad for them.

There are others, though, who really enjoy law school. I imagine many of us will enjoy the profession as well.

[Yeoman]

It's interesting to read these comments.

It often strikes me, in reading comments of this type (which are quite common in this field) that they tend to become polarized. Those (a minority, it would seem) who truly love the law are baffled that so many of their fellows do not, or even hate it. They sometimes feel that those who declare a dislike for the law are off the mark, or even are suppressing a secret love it.

Those who dislike the profession tend to feel those who declare a love for it are themselves deluded.

Most folks who practice are probably somewhere in the middle. It would surprise a lot of younger lawyers to learn that those they look up to and admire often are not really all that keen on their profesions, but have resigned themselves to them. People work for a lot of reasons, and there are worse ways to put food on the table. There are better ones too, but at some point you are established and your options are all gone. But some people do actually love the law.

Those who hate the law probably feel about 99% of all lawyers hate it. Those who love it want to believe that 99% love it too. Probably about 99% put on their shirt and tie and go to work every day neither loving it or hating it. You can beat the stuffing out of an opponent in a trial and not really have your interest peaked that much, although it's hard to loose and not feel badly. The best trial lawyer I ever knew once told me that he did it as when he got out of the Air Force at the end of the Korean War, he needed to get a career quickly that would support his wife and two children he already had, and that was about it. I guess that's about it for a lot of people.

A lot of us go through stages. I had a lot of reservations about going to law school, but when I was in law school I liked it and did very well. I had reservations about what sort of practice I would want to do also, but when I clerked one summer I found I loved the projects I was working on. Everything was challenging and interesting. It surprised me, but I was pretty hopeful that not only did I like law school, but being a lawyer was going to be really interesting.

Practice, on the other hand, has seen a slow decline in my own attitude. I'm not sure if I ever liked it. I'm a busy tort lawyer. I have a lot of cases. I'm successful in my field, if success is defined by results.

I sure hope my kids don't take this up.

I'd get out in a heartbeat, but I can't. I'm stuck. Lots of us are. The more you get to know other lawyers, the more you realize that a lot them are stuck too.

But that doesn't mean that some folks don't think that this is the best career ever, and can't imagine doing anything else. Good for them. And good for those slogging along in the middle too. Right now, I'll settle for the few really good days where I win something I didn't think I would, and if that isn't justice in the larger sense, well, I don't expect that in any case so that's okay.

[Jim]

I like that the ladder of law has no top and no bottom. And that all's equal and the courts are on the level. And that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded. And that even the nobles get properly handled. Oh, wait.

[OLS]

I generally fall into the Andrea camp (I like helping people solve problems), but I agree with Evan that I could do that and not be a lawyer. In fact, I would probably say that my second choice of profession would have been to be a psychologist.

But what I love best about being a lawyer that I think is specific to this profession is being able to argue politely. Pitting my brains and abilities against a worthy opponent, fighting tooth and nail, and then heading out for a beer with them afterwards. I like to debate issues with people who know a lot about the area, but I don't like it when it turns into a fight. Whether it's negotiations or litigation, I think law can offer that in a way that no other profession can.

I also like that, at the end of the day, there is always a resolution. You debate and argue over the grey areas and the nitty gritty, but then you get someone who stands up and says that one of you is right and the other is wrong. Or at least that one of the parties wins.

Of course, I like best when my client is the party that wins. ;o)

- OLS

[Matt]

Maybe the difference between some of us and Shark is that while many of us love the practice of law, most of us don't love the business of practicing law.

[Angry Lawyer]

I hate being a lawyer. I would have been so much happier doing any number of other things. Oh, why does a hard-charger like me remain stuck in a rut? Uh, well, it's the law's fault!

You might also think that since I'm in a career I find unrewarding that other aspects of my life are in disarray. Well, that may be the case, but again, it's the law's fault!

If it weren't for the law, I would be in a rewarding profession, I would have a stable marriage and well-behaved children, and I would not be obese.

Just because I don't have the courage to make changes in my life says nothing about me. It does, however, say everything about the law. Just because I do everything possible to steal the joy of anyone who disagrees with me (you CHILDREN who enjoy the law don't know what you're talking about!) doesn't say anything about me.

The law is to blame.

[ctd]

As a 10yr+ litigator (another one), I agree with Yeoman - learning new stuff all the time is great.

I also like knowing much more than other people and have them come to me and me pontificating about things they dont understand. Or course, I could do that as a mechanic or stereo specialist or computer help desk person, but it just happens to be in law.

I also like, at least where I work, that I get a file and the partner says 'see me if you have any questions'. I have freedom (subject to the time sheet) to organise my day as I want or need. I can sit on the internet for 1/2 hour mid morning if my mind needs a break.

Its not an exhausting job, no risk of injuries, not much reptition (except discovery, of course), you get an office and a good wage. Keep in mind that the big firms pay a lot and expect a lot, but pretty much everywhere else pays less and expects less. Its really a different world.

[Evan]

ctd: The freedom that comes with having our own practice is something that Andrea and I both like. Even when I was working at a large firm, I had a large amount of personal freedom from day to day--as long as I was billing hours, it didn't matter when during any 24 hour period I was doing it. If I left for an hour at 1:30 p.m. to go across the street to the bookstore (this was in the days before the World Wide Web), no one asked me where I was going. It was far different from the job I had just after college (fund raising consulting) and before and during college (cooking in restaurants).

[Dave]

What I love about being a lawyer is that I give a voice to people that otherwise have no one to stand up for them. I am sometimes stunned when leaving a courtroom after a loss. I don't like losing. I don't do it often and I take it hard when it happens (and to the people who say they've never lost a case, I say that you aren't taking enough of the right cases). My clients often try to cheer *me* up. I don't get it.

But they tell me that they're used to taking lumps in life. At least this time, someone stood up and fought for them. Someone gave voice to their concerns and someone took them seriously.

Whoever said that lawyers are like hired mercenaries to fight either side without regard to justice was clearly not a plaintiff's attorney. While I know that the defense bar has many talented attorneys and many of the most talented plaintiff's attorneys started on the defense side, I could *never* work for an insurance company. I fight for my people.

I also like that this is one of the few fields where you can be in for 40+ years and keep growing the entire time. The social sciences are exploding with new information on how people learn, how they process information, how the mind works, how the unconscience mind interacts with the conscience mind.

I can't think of anything more fascinating than how the mind works. As a trial attorney, we deal with what it will take to convince a jury of the harms our client suffered.

Regardless of my opinions though, it always surprises me that there are so many people that don't like what they do. To those people I would tell them to listen to their heart and do what they love.

[Brian]

I just want to make $40-$60 an hour and have 4-6 weeks a year vacation. I am not going to law school to change the world or slave myself to a huge law firm that wants 2200+ billable hours a year. I'll trade the income for the time off any day.

God willing, I'll write appeals and argue them for a living. That part of the law I would enjoy immensely, as long as the appeal isn't something completely assinine like arguing that al-Qaeda members have the same constitutional rights I do, or that the Boy Scouts should be thrown off of land they have occupied for 50+ years on some B.S. 1st Amendment grounds.

The best part about going to a school chock full of far-left liberals is the lack of competition for the good paying summer associate jobs. They don't want to be seen by their fellow liberals as a "sell out" to the evil-corporate villans. Me, I only care about my family, so I plan to take the best offer that comes along, and I don't care who is paying it. I guarantee you most of those who tell you in law school that they don't care about money are lying through their teeth.

Nothing makes me laugh more than the hypocrisy of my fellow law students. For example, the leader of the Environmental Law Society drives a brand-new gas-guzzling SUV. The race-based student group leaders racially slur Condi Rice and Alberto Gonzales. The civil rights crowd goes to work for nothing, or next to nothing, for groups like the ACLU, who make a mint from legal settlements.

The laughs never end for me at law school, because the only free speech and honest debate that is allowed by so-called tolerant people is arguing whether Bush is the devil on earth, or merely evil.

[PaulNoonan]

So much negativity. I like to think about all of the things I could be instead, and that makes me feel better about my choice. One thing that I would tell law students is that if you're Poli-sci-minded or social science-minded, (and don't mind a great deal of debt) becoming a lawyer makes sense because 1. If you get a poli-sci degree, even an advanced degree, you're fairly locked into a field. If you're a lawyer and you don't like it (and have the presence of mind to escape) you can still be a politician, or a professor (if you're smart enough) or go into business, or teach, or do a number of other things. Of course most lawyers stay lawyers, although after reading the rest of the comments I'm starting to wonder why. But if you do like it (and I do, which I will come to shortly) more power to you.

I like being a lawyer because I enjoy politics. Law is intimately connected with politics because politics creates the rules which lawyers play by (or against). Poli-sci types see law in a vaccum. Lawyers see it in action. Quickly you realize that laws are not mere expressions of political ideas, but are in fact tools to be utilized for any conceivable purpose by those who know how to do so (Note: I don't necessarily think that this is a bad thing). Being a political scientist is like living in the Matrix. Being a lawyer is like living in the real world. It's not always pretty, but at least you know it's there, and you know what the rules are.

[Al Nye]

Lots of lawyers are wondering if they enjoy the profession: http://tinyurl.com/4p8xo

Al Nye

[the dark goddess of replevin]

I hated law school, but I love being a lawyer. Been one since 1983.

I relish being paid well to think, read, write, and talk for a living.

I enjoy putting factual fragments together from varying sources to solve the puzzles (more like double-crostics) of discovery.

I especially enjoy the blood sport of cross-examination.

[Yeoman]

"I just want to make $40-$60 an hour and have 4-6 weeks a year vacation. "

Whatever a person's motivation for being a lawyer is, if it's to take four to six weeks of vacation a year they're going to be very disappointed.

I haven't had four to six weeks cumulative vacation in the sixteen years I've been a lawyer. So I'd forget that.

"If you're a lawyer and you don't like it (and have the presence of mind to escape) you can still be a politician, or a professor (if you're smart enough) or go into business, or teach, or do a number of other things.Of course most lawyers stay lawyers, although after reading the rest of the comments I'm starting to wonder why."

Because after a while a person's options are very limited frankly. The idea that a person can just leap into politics, or another business career, is a false one. I've known several lawyers who have tried either, and general found that their options there were illusory. Indeed, one came away with the opinion that lawyers were "vocationally illiterate", as their skills do not really transfer well.

Also, you have to keep in mind, that people hate lawyers. They do not hate individual lawyers, as a rule, but they hate the class. That means that it is not easy for a lawyer to go into another field, as people tend to automatically distrust a lawyer who is trying to enter a new field. The public perception is that lawyers are rich, not trustworthy, and trouble makers. So any lawyer trying to abandon his rich trouble making career is not going to be met with automatic acceptance.

[PaulNoonan]

My point was not that it's simple to change careers on a whim, however if you only have a simple poli-sci degree, you have NO flexibility. Lawyers often do possess other skills. Running a firm gives you entrepreneurial skills (no time to spell check the e-word right now). Teaching is becoming a more viable option, especially in large cities where licensing restrictions are often relaxed. Moving into a more business oriented career is easiest if you work in-house. Politics is a pipe-dream for many, and not a realistic goal, but nearly all politicians (upper state level and federal level) are lawyers.

In the business world what I've encountered has been respect for lawyers, and I know of a few people who've made the transition very successfuly.

At any rate, you're correct that it's not easy. It will generally result in a pay cut, as well as the equivalent of a demotion. But you do not have the option of moving down unless you're above something.

[Dave!]

I think he meant to say "4-6 weeks of career vacation". Ten years as an associate, taking Christmas, Thanksgiving, and maybe one sick day ought to do the trick. ;)

[Geli]

I've been an achiever since I was five years old. But law school has put an end to that. Being a law student has made me come face to face with my weaknesses. I guess that's what being a lawyer is also like --- you just cannot win it all.

[Scheherazade]

You know what I miss most about not being a lawyer? It's strange, but true. I was in the supermarket the other day walking past the fancy cheeses. I had a pang. I used to buy fancy cheeses all the time, without thinking much about it. Now they are a luxury I don't feel I can afford. I miss fancy cheese.

Yes, there are other things I miss. And a lot that I don't. But when I walked past the cheese section I actually thought, geez, maybe I shouldn't have quit my law firm job after all....

[Evan]

Scheherazade: So what you liked best about being a lawyer was the cheese? Not exactly a ringing endorsement, though an interesting sentiment. I'm going to pay closer attention next time I'm walking through the dairy section on my way to the ice cream.

[nathan]

There is really nothing rewarding about the profession. Not in relation to the effort expended. Yes, maybe once in awhile we help someone or a client is happy, but most of the time we're just churning away on a file because x hours worked times y dollars per hour pays partner salaries and expensive overheads.

I used to be convinced I loved this job. I now realize that the only way one can love this job is if they keep finding material pleaures to pursue to justify working so many hours under so much pressure.

[Yeoman]

What's amazing here is that all the lawyers who are practicing, or have practiced, having nothing good to say about it. Yet this will be read by law students, who are rushing to join us like lemmings.

[Finishing_Law_School]

I am not a lawyer yet but I know from experience that many lawyers are egotistical jerks. Based on that reason, and a few others, I am hoping to eventually get out of practicing and into something else very soon. I am hoping to use the practice of law as a springboard into creating a business.

[Yeoman]

I'm not sure why people believe that a law degree will be a springboard to something else. In my experience, a law degree is a deterrant to anyone hiring you outside the law. People figure all lawyers are rich, they don't really work, and they know secrets that everyone else does not. Given that, they figure nobody really wants out, or if they do, they're a dangerous malcontent. When I was practicing for five years or so I applied for some jobs with no legal connection at all and got turned down. When I went to them and asked why, I was actually told that it was because I was a lwayer, so I would not like the work, the pay, etc.

[Mary Dumont]

What I like best is the clang of ideas. I love talking with smart people about stuff that counts. I love reframing an issue and trying to sell it. It is just a groovy profession.

[anonymous]

There is nothing good about being a lawyer. Long hours; low pay; burdensome student loans; horrible clients; unbearable stress; declining salaries; difficulties finding employment/clients;list continues on and on.

Getting my law degree was honestly the biggest mistake of my life. I wish I would have never decided to become a lawyer. There really isn't much to keep me from blowing my brains out.