From the PowerBook
of
Thane J. Messinger
Re: A truly cool book.
Dear Law Student, Bar Torturee, and/or/but New Lawyer :
I've been asked to write a quick note to you about The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book...the main purpose being to force you to pry loose change from your wallets so that the publisher can live a life of luxury utterly unconcerned with the agonies of the little people. My main purpose is to appease the gods of publishing, and live the life of a medium-sized person. So, if you'll bear with me, I'll make it brief: This is the best book ever written.*
! ! ! Sarcasm Alert ! ! !
for the
! ! ! Sarcastically Challenged ! ! !
* I'm not sure of the connection, but I noticed something odd when I finished the final chapter: I looked out the window to see the seas parting, a bolt of blinding light shooting from the sky onto my desk, and a magnificent voice that boomed: "Gosh, this is a truly cool book!"
But seriously, folks, what is taught in law school is only the beginning for a lawyer. Just as in law school, most lawyers find out (too late) that the secret to success in law lies as much in how knowledge is wielded as in the knowledge itself. (...And it's *assumed* that you're responsible for gathering that knowledge very, very quickly...and on your own.) This may be unfair to many, but that doesn't change the reality: you need help.
Law practice is occasionally rewarding, but it is also ceaselessly exhausting, constantly frustrating, and potentially treacherous. And, sadly, in most law jobs today you will have little room for error; you must get it right -- almost all of it -- immediately. Yet, believe it or not, most of you will receive little guidance about those million details of law office life or assumed professional behavior. Instead, you're expected to already know (or pick up by osmosis)...just about all of it.If this sounds a little alarmist (and self-interested)...well, though it may be the latter, it is not the former. I spoke a while ago with a law firm consultant, who stated in not-so-gentle words a response to my comment that law firms have much to gain by paying just a *little* more attention to junior associates: "Yeah, that may be true, but they really don't care." For many firms, sadly, it's a numbers game. Though the economics are odd (and short-sighted), that doesn't change the reality: your survival is not-at-all assured, and you must fight to stay on track. (And you must know where the track is.) Anything that potentially sets you up for a fall is deadly, and there's not much out there to help you. (I didn't begin this book out of any grand design -- it started more on a whim -- but I've been been surprised at the vacuum it's filling.)
I don't mean, by the way, to be disparaging of law firm managers...and neither should you. They have an exceedingly difficult job, in which you, initially, play only the most minor supporting role. The history of law firm management provides the backdrop: law firms were partnerships among trusted, known, almost always upper-class attorneys...who managed themselves. New blood came from old blood: most new lawyers were the sons (yup, sons) of *very* established partners. Fast-forward a few decades, and firms are still catching up to the dramatic change in our business world...while inexorably stuck partly in the old. Though you may not yet appreciate it, you should appreciate them, sincerely, for the pressures they face in that cold, cruel real world. As a tycoon once said, "Someday, this'll all be yours."
In an extra helping of immodesty, this book is worth much more than its price. Were you and I to sit down for a one-on-one session, you'd rack up the same cost in, oh, about six minutes. In a great victory for lawkind, I convinced the evil publisher to market this as a book, not as a fancy-schmancy self-help kit. The kit would have been several multiples the price, which I thought unfair to the majority of you who are in enough debt already.
Perhaps most importantly, reading about how to be a lawyer will enable you to correct yourself...before you make a mistake. Every new lawyer should be given the opportunity to learn, without (excessive) embarrassment, how to actually practice law. You need only imagine sitting in a senior attorney's office trying to explain away one of your ignorant mistakes...when you're not even sure what it is you've done wrong. Just as in law school, you must learn not only the substance of the law, you must learn the style, as well. And you must learn it before you're tested. The more quickly you get things right, the more quickly (and smoothly) you'll climb.
Thank you for your time, I hope you enjoy the book, and good luck.Thane.
PS: Did I mention the publisher's starving kids? ..Oh, wait...he's unconcerned with little people. Never mind.. = : )
GUIDED SAFARI
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