Osler's Razor

Thanks again for the endorsement, but I don't think either of us are qualified to judge who lives his values better (I would have said the opposite). Knowing you and myself, it's very easy for us to see our own faults and failings while it's very difficult to see our strengths and accomplishments.

-Craig
 

I chose law school because of my Uncle, who was a lawyer. The funny thing is that he wasn't a viruous lawyer, or even a very good guy, but I wanted to to do better than him-- I could see the potential for it, that he was squandering.
 

No high minded goals, no values, no desire to save/change/or in any other way effect the world...I needed something to do when I graduated from college, it pays well, and I need the money to support my rock band.
 

The shortest answer is that I read Richard Kluger's book, Simple Justice.
 

I was hanging out young woman that served in the same mission as I did and told her that I was going to follow my father's footsteps and go into business. She told me, "You're not a business man; you should study English and go to law school." The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. So I got an English degree and went to Baylor Law School.
 

I decided to go to lawschool because I wanted to do document review for the rest of my life.
 

job market sucks right now, and med school takes too long...should've just gone for the MBA in retrospect
 

I know the facts of how you ended up a lawyer, and what you did in between College and Law School, and I know where you've worked since then, but I don't think you ever told me the "Why."

And since many of us have never attended BLS, I think you should fill us in.

As for me, I graduated from College with NO CLUE as to what I wanted to do with myself. My parents had told me I should be a lawyer since an early age based upon my memory for random facts, my lack of fear of speaking in public and my occasionally amusing writing ability. Naturally I rejected that idea, partly because the only lawyers I knew did County Courthouse work like criminal law, divorce and small time real estate.

I realize many BLS lawyers end up doing criminal prosecution and then defense, or defense right away, but that was never something I was interested in. I never, I mean NEVER watched any of the lawyer show. Not Perry Mason nor any of the other shows from the 60's or 70's and not L.A. Law, Ally McBeal or any of the others.

Anyhow, I graduated from College with no clue, with a lousy GPA,in a bad economy, and a with a father who very much wanted me to come into the family business. So I took the first job I could find that would take me away from there, which was a political campaign. I hated it. But then I ended up on Capitol Hill in DC and that wasn't so bad. And I did entertain some dreams of running for political office.

But the pay was horrible, I wasn't moving up any sort of ladder and there was no job security. I realized that, yes, the real movers and shakers in DC were lawyers. So, what the heck, why not law school after all. I figured I could probably get rehired by my boss or hook up with some other Member of Congress. Or get a lobbying job or even a government agency job.

Heck, I was so clueless when I started law school, I didn't know the difference between State Courts and Federal Courts. I knew NOTHING about the law. Maybe I should have watched an episode or two of some lawyer show.


Because I was not at the top of my class, I was not getting a whole heckuva a lot of on campus interviews. In fact, I got maybe one or two. So I pestered every lawyer or friend of a lawyer I had ever met and made my own interviews.

The first summer I worked at a typical 6 person courthouse firm next to the Fairfax County Courthouse. They did real estate closings, divorces and family stuff and criminal defense. I had thought maybe being a prosecutor would be OK, but all the criminal defense guys were former prosecuting attorneys -- there was no where else for them to go. It was a very clubby little circle, and very much a macho thing. Lots of former high school jocks-- not my style at all.

So the next summer I lined up a job, thanks to my Mom, with a small IP shop in downtown DC. Mom was friends with the wife of a Sr. Partner.

And it turned out that IP law is lots of fun, constantly developing and often amusing. I have had cases involving cowboy boots, hotel room safes, chocolates, cleaning solutions, sewing machines, cajun spices, anti-fungal cream, whisky, truck stops and more. And I have worked on non litigation matters for all kinds of different clients.

If I could go back and change things, I would do something different in my 20's -- something more adventurous. Definitely travel more. But then again, in my 20's I was way too naive and inexperienced. Perhaps travel and adventure would have toughened me up quick, but I might have also been too scared and clueless to catch on.

But, for a "grown up" job, what I do is pretty cool. But there was no planned path. It all just kind of happened.
 

Osler - how/why did you become a lawyer? Please share for those of us in the dark.
 

IP Law Guy,

How did you get into yale if you were such a lousy student?
 

I went to College with the Prof., not law school. I was an A student in high school - never studied, breezed through. That method didn't didn't work so well at William & Mary.

Yes, I wish I had worked harder and applied myself in College, but on the other hand, I got lots out of the classes I enjoyed - knowledge and skills I use today.

More importantly, I made life long friends like the Prof. and TallTenor and others. I also managed to obtain leadership positions in two important, albeit non-academic organizations.

So did the Prof. -- same organizations in fact. But he wasn't socially inept when he started College, unlike me. And he managed to get stellar grades too. On the other hand, no one ever took pity on my clothes in College.

If I had to trade away the social lessons I learned for better grades, I wouldn't do it.

I did visit the Prof when he was at Yale. We went bowling one time and also went to see Barrence Whitfield and the Savages. The opening Act was the Del Crandalls.

Perhaps Poseur knows the reference.
 

The Del Crandalls! It's true-- it was at some club in Naugatuck, Connecticut. I remember that one of their songs was "Seven Sirens Over Dorchester." And that you, IPLG, actually knew who Del Crandall was.
 

I was a paralegal for 18 months, and I'll never forget a case where we represented the wife in a divorce from an abusive husband. I remember asking my boss once how lawyers can go to sleep at night defending wife-beaters and fighting to get them custody. She replied that those are the ones, especially those, who need someone to stand up and fight for them. Not because they can't defend themselves, but because nobody else ever has. Nobody ever believed in these people, invested in their lives and expected a return. The legal system works for the most part, and real justice will be done most of the time.

I realized that I'm not a great leader. I can't motivate the masses or develop programs to empower the poor. But I can believe in one guy or one girl everybody else has given up on. After all, the preachers remind us, "while we were yet sinners . . . "
 

When I was 19 I dropped out of school and moved to the Rocky Mountains. While there, I met a large and unexpected population of migrant workers living in deplorable conditions. I had always been a do-gooder I guess, but for the first time I felt overwhelemed, exhausted and in many ways unsuccessful.

Being so far from home and feeling so helpless gave me a reason to return to Texas and complete my degree, but finally, I remember just breaking down and praying about the direction God wanted me to go, and asking that he put me where I could make the most difference. I believe that is what He is doing, day by day.
 

Mine is not nearly so dramatic (man how can you follow Ginger's?), but I have two reasons. First and less importantly, I like security and the freedom to take care of myself well even if something should happen to my husband.

But second and more importantly, I had a death in my immediate family and an accompanying truly evil and horrendously bad faith-ish denial of insurance for the health care that immediately preceded the death. I had heard horror stories about insurance and law suits, and my family braced itself for the worst in the face of our grief as we tried to resolve the situation.

I called a local attorney who I had done some work for in high school to just begin the process of seeing what we needed to do over the next few years. He said he would "make a few calls." He called back in 20 minutes to relay that there would be no problems. At all. We soon got a letter from the insurance company to confirm with a pseudo-apology.

I was an opera major at the time, but wanted something else - I didn't know what. Because of that attorney, I decided I wanted to "make a few calls" for a living. While a lot of people disparage personal injury lawyers, I feel honored to be a part of that lot because we are an part of the healing process for families facing the loss of a loved one or facing their own mortality because of an injury. Some people do a really bad job of that and form the basis for lawyer jokes, and some make the road of grief a little easier to walk. I think that while I am privileged by any standard (despite my Jasper heritage!), I have some experiences that make me a better attorney to deal with loss.

I chose a firm that I think for the most part cares about this, and I chose a group within that firm with a senior partner (my immediate supervisor) who calls every plaintiff's family on the anniversary of their loved one's death to let them know he is thinking about them. My family had Sunday School teachers that did less. So I feel passionately about the role a personal injury lawyer can hold for a family, and we'll see how I do at it (if I pass the bar instead of posting ramblings on Osler's blog).
 

JJS--

That's not a rambling. That's a great statement of vocation. I'm saving that one.