The Atlanta Lawyer December/January 2020 | Page 11
IN THE PROFESSION
One day, you will get an assignment from
a partner and find yourself searching
through the keepsakes of a grandmother
who died, looking for some indication to
help you decide which of her two warring
children should get her small estate. Or, you
will be placed in charge of goats as part of a
bankruptcy. You might sit fifth chair at the
deposition of a person suffering from the
effects of asbestos poisoning, or have to tell
a tragically injured person that there is no
insurance to cover their injuries. This isn’t
the stuff of a textbook. These are real issues
that you will have to solve.
remedy you can find, grab your rolling
briefcase, and pray you make it through the
hearing.
You will miss family events and reschedule
vacations. In fact, law school should teach
an entire class on the appropriate excuses
for missing events. That would be a
practical addition to the curriculum. There
will be days when your needs simply will
not matter because you were retained to
help someone with a TPO, and you need to
arrange for the police to escort an abuser to
retrieve their belongings from the home, so
their spouse and children can feel safe that
night.
Also, expect weekend calls and texts. You
will get asked questions at cocktails parties,
at church, on your birthday, at the gym,
during karate class, or while you eat dinners
at restaurants. All. The. Time. This is the
reality of the calling that you are taking on
as an attorney.
Someday, you will call your friend and
mentor, offering to help with a tragedy, and
you will find yourself standing in the very
place where their daughter died, holding it
together for them, so you can do your job.
Or, you will hold secrets for your closest
friends and business contacts that they
would not tell a priest. You will be a vault
of hurts and losses, and you will have to be
a professional through all of it. People will
tell you things that they have done, and you
will know exactly why their life is falling
apart. You will have to remind yourself of
the true humanity of life and then force
your face to remain kind and calm. They do
not teach these skills in law school.
You are going to hold hands, pass tissues,
and provide insight and comfort. There are
times when someone will look at you and
ask for help, and you will have no idea what
to say or do, except tell them that you will
be there. You are going to find yourself
exhausted from a stomach virus, but you
have court the next day, and the judge
simply will not reschedule, and the other
side will not consent to a continuance. So,
you will take whatever over-the-counter
You need to know that you are a professional
and that means at times you will carry the
heavy burdens. You are the confidant and
confessor. You are the advocate and the
devil’s advocate. You will need to be more
honest with people and with yourself
than you ever imagined. You will need
to do all of this while marketing your
services, billing time, sending out invoices,
collecting your fees, and trying to get all
your CLE credits. Someday, no matter what
you do, an unreasonable client is going to
file a bar complaint against you or blast you
on social media, in spite of the long nights,
weekend calls, and unpaid invoices. Yet,
to maintain their confidences, you simply
cannot defend yourself publicly. This is the
actual practice of law.
Yes, you still get to argue about obscure
cases and points of law, especially if you go
into appellate work, but by and large, most
of us end up helping real people with real
problems.
When I was in law school, I never wanted
to own my own firm, but now, I could
do nothing else. The practice of law will
change you by challenging you to move
beyond the mental exercises that you learn
in law school. It will teach you how to serve
and if you do it right, you will love what you
do. I know I do. But, don’t forget to work
on yourself. Read. Take classes in other
areas. Learn about empathy and EQ. Get
into selfcare. Get a therapist. Be active in
your faith community. Just understand that
nothing in your career will turn out the way
that you thought it would in law school.
And, frankly, you will be the better for it.
HEATHER WRIGHT
The Wright Firm LLC
[email protected]
Wise Expectations
By Meghan Thomas
“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one
thing, and that is that I know nothing.”
- Socrates
(contines on page 13)
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