I am running short on ideas of things to write about.  Well, that’s not entirely true, there are lots of posts I start and then stop because I run out of steam.  It seems there is so much injustice everywhere I turn, so many long Supreme Court decisions, and so much drama on the interwebz that I am suffering from blogging related ADD.  So I asked rising 2L Laura McWilliams (you can find her on my blogroll) what I should write about.  She said “tell us law students what it’s like to really be a lawyer.” Seems simple enough, right?  I can run through a typical day and say here’s what I thought it would be like and here’s what it is really like.  Here’s why law school doesn’t prepare you and here’s where being a real lawyer isn’t so glamorous and not what it’s cracked up to be.  But, all of this is tough to write because, well,  it’s hard to be objective when you are in love.  It’s impossible to be objective when you are smack dab in the middle of something and when it is so much a part of who you are that you can’t see the forest for the trees, and you forget about the trees because the forest is so dense.

I am also not an ideal judge because I did a lot in law school that prepared me for the ‘real’ world.  I wasn’t on law review because I compared it to being a janitor.  If you told people that you had to be in Mensa in order to be a janitor, it would seem like a highly esteemed position and people would be vying for it.  There didn’t seem anything glamorous to me about editing other people’s boring law review articles, or writing my own boring law review articles.  But probably I watched too much Perry Mason growing up and I wondered what all that editing had to do with practicing law.  (Caveat – I’m not saying you shouldn’t be on law review.  In fact, I think you SHOULD because why not have as many options open to you as possible?)

I  had a friend who had graduated from law school and was working at the DA’s office.  He said he would get me an internship at the office in the Appeals Bureau and he did.  I started there the winter of my first year, something we weren’t supposed to do.  I didn’t get school credit that first year, but I got to learn to write appeals and I hung out with criminal lawyers in the courthouse and at the local watering holes. I went to see arguments at the Appellate Division and the Court of Appeals, I wore fancy dresses to the Court of Appeals dinners.  I met the judges and their clerks.  I got paid whenever Sol Greenberg wanted to cut me a check, which he did often enough  It wouldn’t be much, but back then, when I wasn’t even supposed to be there, 400 bucks at Christmas was all the acknowledgment I needed.

I tried my first case when I was a 2L.  It was a misdemeanor assault jury trial.  I had the book I was telling you all about: The First Trial- Where do I sit?  What do I say?  I remember the victim in the case was a young kid of 15 with a tattoo on his arm.  During a pre-trial interview I asked him about his gang affiliation, he said “I’m not in a gang ma’am” so I asked about the tattoo.  He said “It’s not for a gang, it’s for my family.  They took care of me inside.  The Latin Kings, you know?  My family.”  I remember wondering how that would come out and what it would do for my poor kid victim.  I remember standing in front of the jury during voir dire and saying “I would bring my pen up here to write down your answers, members of the jury, but I’m afraid it would slip out of my hand, its sweating so much.”

I think I won the case, but I don’t remember.

So law school, for me, was about going to class, getting the grades, and getting out.  I graduated with honors and worked at the DA’s office the entire time.  No one ever asked me for a transcript.  I didn’t even need a resume.  One day, December of my 3L, Sol walked in, puffing away on his pipe, and said “kid, you want a job, right?”  And that was it.  While all of my law review friends were signing up for on campus interviews (I never even got a single one of those interviews even though I tried) I had a job. A full time real job doing real law stuff.  I graduated with decent grades and guaranteed paycheck.

What’s the lesson here?  That I had an awesome law school career and did everything right and you should do what I did?  No, not at all.  In fact, there are probably a million better ways of doing law school than the way I did it.  But, here’s the part in this post where I tell you what’s different about being a real lawyer and what I wish I had known in law school.  Because despite the fact that I was playing lawyer in law school, reality still hit like a ton of bricks.  Ready for it?  Here’s what was different: 

The people. The responsibility for the people.  Your clients. Their families.  It is, sometimes, overwhelming.  When you sign up for this, you sign up for a fight each and every day of your life, whatever side you are on.  People, these people, they look to you.  You are their soldier. 

When you are a law student you work under someone else.   Someone else signs the papers, someone else tells the clients the awful truth about the potential outcomes of their cases.  Yes, dear victim, the cross-examination will be tough, but I will be there with you.  Yes, witness, the perpetrator will be in the room, but I will be there to protect you the best I can.  Yes, dear defendant, your rights were violated and I will do my best to set the government straight.

You, as a student, stand by with legal pad (maybe laptop now) and nod your head in agreement.  And you feel bad.  And, it probably feels crushing to you standing there.  How can this injustice go on?  How can I live in a world where these terrible things happen to people every day?  You think it’s bad now.  Just wait.

Your clients will break your heart.  They will expect you to work miracles.  Your victories will make you swell with pride and want to dance in the street.  You will wonder how you can capture that magic so you can use it next time.  Next time, you will wonder where the magic went.  Your losses will hurt more than when your 8th grade boyfriend dumped you for Heather Lansing.  They will hurt more than every dumping you’ve ever had, plus every paper cut.

And wait, there’s more.

 Jails smell bad.  Especially during lunch.  There are some people you really can’t help no matter what.
You think the law is supposed to make sense, but it doesn’t.
There are days when judges will yell at you and you will think it was the best thing ever.
There are days when judges will yell at you and you will think it was the worst thing ever.
Older lawyers will try to take advantage of you in court no matter how long you’ve been at the game.
There is always someone who has been at this game longer than you.  (I tried a case against TLK wherein he got a judge to overrule a hearsay objection I made based on the ‘federal forms exception’.)
Clients don’t understand what “business hours” means.  You are always on call.  Always.
The more you know, the more you realize that there is so much more to know.
 

The list could go on, but why not let you youngsters figure out some of this stuff on your own? It’s like when people say ‘having kids will change your life’.  While you know what each of those words means, the reality is something that is ineffable and the statement fails to convey all that it needs to.

Law school is a wonderful means of learning the law.  The lawyer part comes after, and that is entirely up to you.