f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

Call me resticalEsq or even lazyoldEsq, but I’m heading for any rocking chair, hammock, futon, or sofa I can readily find, for a couple of weeks or r’n’r.  (Sigh: Not too long ago, that would have meant rock’n’roll.)

I’ll be stopping by our cyber cafe to “listen” to the discussion on Lawyer Snobbery.  But, mostly, its mystery novels, personal correspondence, riverside strolls, and haiku appreciation that should be filling my non-napping moments.

Last month, we wondered whether ethics classes made lawyers less ethical.  Things might actually improve in the legal jungle while ethicalEsq? takes a break.   If you need a shot of Giacalone while I’m gone, please feel free to browse and linger.  However, if you break it, you bought it.   

Both her story and [Alex Wellen’s story in his book Barman] are worth reading, and their observations about the practice of law should not be something that only young lawyers are interested in.

David Giacalone: 

[T]he best way to deal with snobbery is to ignore it. Unless your goal is to achieve maximum prestige, power and/or income, the fact that there’s a lot of snobbery in the profession should invoke bemusement and not frustration. Let them play their little ego games. Be grateful that you don’t have to see these people everyday and work with them — with everyone having to keep up the facade of superiority, and visiting their shrinks weekly.

Scheherazade:

David, the point I’m trying to make is that our profession, through a pervasive worship of credentials, makes it very hard to explore honestly (or even to consider) careers away from BIGLAW. People tell us that’s where the “interesting work” is and imply, explicitly or implicitly, that “ordinary” legal work for small businesses or consumers is somehow beneath us if we have brains and decent legal writing skills. So asking young lawyers to make other choices is asking us to choose a path that has been deemed intellectually less worthwhile by most of those we look up to.

Another Dave:

But if you base your decisions on “what people tell you,” then you’re ingoring the most important voice–your own. Sure, there are going to be snobs in law firms. But there are snobs everywhere–in business, in charities–it pervades our culture. You just have to blissfully ignore those people. You’ll be much happier when you do.

Do work that is fulfilling to you, the rest be damned.

David Giacalone response:

Yes, Dave has it exactly right. It’s too bad that most people graduate from law school before they’re mature (experienced? confident?) enough to listen to that voice, or to even have a clear voice inside letting them know who they really are. Instead, they only hear a peer group and a society that puts prestige, power and profit above personal fulfillment — or, actually thinks that those 3Ps will give you personal fulfillment.

That’s all the better reason to live frugally while experimenting with big-time law practice — then, you won’t have those golden manacles when you discover who you really want to be.