Whatever you do, don't fall in....

I have been reading a lot of articles lately on choosing an area of law to practice. I guess I should back up. I have been practicing family law for almost three years. I think I hate it. I think. I'm not sure why exactly but I could name a few dozen reasons. Recently, I have moved to a new city. This was my chance to try a new practice area. However, practicality and reality have me still practicing family law. Every so often, an older more experienced attorney and I get to talking. There is a lot of stand around time in court, waiting for scheduling or judges etc., and sometimes this older attorney engages me in a discussion about the wonders of practicing family law. The fights about couches, the families where the husband is not the father and now mom wants to prevent the only father the child has ever known from having custody or visitation, you know the usual. Anyway, every so often, and almost as a passing question they will ask me, "Do you like family law?" And I never know how to answer. Should I be honest? Should I lie? I usually say something like, some days more than others. Because after all that is the truth.
Today I am annoyed that I am spending my time going to court about trying to force people to file a joint tax return. I see a very simple solution to this problem and don't understand why we are getting to the point of having to go to court. But here we are. Oh and tomorrow, tomorrow I will continue a now three day trial about cutting grass. Yes, my client allegedly did not cut it and the other party is willing to spend thousands of dollars to show that the grass was allegedly many inches over grown and she should be held in contempt. (I am over simplifying this a bit, but you get the idea) Please! But then there are the days where someone calls you on their worst of days, crying and desperate to see their child, their spouse is preventing them and the police won't help. I can. That is a good day. So, what is this ranting all about? Well, back to my recent readings about different areas of law. You see, I am trying to find an area that will be interesting but won't require me to constantly feel like I am sprinting or preparing for a final exam. That is how I feel about trial. Family law involves a lot of hearings and trials. Some feel like a pop quiz, taking you by surprise and you do your best in the situation. Others are like a mid-term. You know it is coming and for weeks you think about how you should prepare and you do, but in the end you are cramming the night before. The worst are the trials, like a final exam, requiring you to put together years worth of information into a neat little package for the judge to grade. Well that is the part of it I hate. I hated that about school and I hate that now. So I have been reading whatever information I can get my hands on about practicing different areas of law. And I really mean practicing. I want to know, practically, what will your day be like? What is the worst part about it, what is the best part about it? Do your client's hate you? Do they pay you? Do you feel like you are barely treading water with your case load in order to make a living? The article I read last night, a somewhat tong in cheek discussion about choosing a practice area, went through how you should really research a practice area. Look into it with great detail before you choose your area. Oh, I am sorry, in the recession like economy of my graduating year I didn't realize that I should turn down a decent paying job because the practice area wasn't my first choice. Well I should have. No really, I should have. The article was right because it warned against "falling in." You know, starting a practice in one area - particularly a specialized area and before you realize it three years have gone by and you only know one area of law and you hate it. Well shoot. I fell in. The bigger question now is, how do I climb out? That will have to be for another time. I have some last minute cramming to do before my "quiz" this morning.

Not Ally McBeal

I recently started re-watching the great lady lawyer show of the nineties: Ally McBeal. Why? Well frankly, I needed a reminder of why I went to law school. Yes, you read that right, I think I went to law school because of Ally McBeal.
I was young and impressionable when I watched the show. I remember being in high school and on Monday nights, after Melrose Place, my mom, my brother and I would enjoy Jiffy Brownie sundaes' and watch Ally McBeal. Now this wasn't the first lawyer show I fell in love with. Before I coveted the life of Ally McBeal, I was intrigued by Perry Mason. His riveting trials and ability to always discover that the witness was actually the one who did it! How amazing. So, you see when I graduated from a mid-western Big Ten University and discovered that my education qualified me for a pay grade less than I had hoped, law school seemed the answer. After all, what fun Ally had wearing short skirts and trying cases with seemingly no legal merit! Although, at the time, I had no idea that the cases were not the norm in court rooms. In fact, my second view of Ally McBeal, I'm on season two, disc 5, has been very eye opening. I now see why law school had such an appeal! What could be more fun then hanging out with your friends during the day, having two lawyers on each case, having only one case at a time and going to the bar with a lounge singer each evening!! But as it turns out, and not surprising to anyone, the actual practice of law is not the short skirt wearing, cocktail drinking, one case at a time, fun experience. So, what is the point? So I will use this blog to vent a little about the frustrations of my day, comment on the parallels and contrasts of Ally McBeal and most of all, do what people love to do most of all.... talk about myself!