Practice Management

It is an interesting question, and it is one that Lisa Solomom shared with an student with whom she was communicating.  She shared it with me.  I would like to share my preliminary thoughts with you.

I really did not have much knowledge of how a law firm operated or how law was actually practice before I went to law school.  The strange thing is neither did my wife before she went to law school and her father is and was a practicing lawyer.  Hanging out at daddy's office to learn how law should be practice was not what girls typically did in the 60s and 70s, unless it was to stuff a few envelopes or something.

When I was in law school I remember my Dean asking me once how I liked law school.  I told him I did not like it much.  He just smiled and said from his experience that people who enjoy law school typically do not much enjoy the practice of law and visa versa.  I do not know if that is true, but it does now concern me that I have a daughter that really likes (loves) law school.  Who ever heard of such a thing?  And, what does that mean for her future enjoyment of the law?  I am not sure of that either.

These are just my experiences, but it is really only from this vantage point that I can comment.

I was a mixed blessing, I am sure, for any law school admission person.  I had a lot of political and legislative experience at a very young age.  I certainly knew a lot of lawyers.  Most of the kids that I hung out with in college went to law school because that is what political science majors did back then.  Or, you worked as a political advance person, which is both a wonderful job for a young person and a terrible experience from the standpoint of one's financial and personal life.  I understood that the prospect of opening a political science store in the mall were slim.  However, I did not graduate from high school, partly because I was gaining that experience and because I found a loophole to skip my senior year and enroll in college.

My wife was a public school teacher and coach, and probably had a more traditional, stable and well centered background.

In hindsight I think it might have been a good thing to have had actual law firm experience, but it might have also been a souring experience.  I did not think during law school or after law school that most law firms were operating in the fashion they should.  In fact, it was frustrating for me until tech became cheap and reliable starting in the mid 90s.  I have not always been as successful as I would have like, and maybe part of this is because I did not know more precisely what I was getting into.  But, then if I knew what I was getting into, I might have just done something else.

This is not to say that I do not enjoy what I am doing now.  I very much do.  I have not quite revolutionized the practice of law as much as I would have liked, but I have revolutionized it for me.  If I could not change the World, at least I have changed the World around me.

I guess my point is that lawyers and law firms have some many differing styles and methods and personalities, I am not sure what you will get with pre-law school law experience.  If you get a good experience, will you find law school disappointing?  If you get a disappointing experience would it alter your desire to go to law school?  I think it depend as much about your personality.

The other thing is that I find law students either have no idea what type of law they want to practice when they start law school, or they change their minds during law school.  No law firm is going to introduce you to all of the pathology that you will find at law school.

I can say this, I think.  Law school in no way resembles the practice of law.  People that say otherwise are law school professors.  Some desirable law firm experience before you go to law school will probably help you look past your law school experiences and focus on the ultimate prize.  That would be good.

I tend to think that good law students (and good lawyers and judges and government officials) are intellectually curious people.  They are into philosophy and the argument at hand, even if they do not recognize it as such.  It is thought, and twists, and new experiences that drive them.  And, if that is you, and that is how you approach it, then law firm experience, LSATs, GPAs, and background be damned.  Go for it.  After all, law training is really just a broad education in logical reasoning.  Do you need to think logically in order to practice law?  Yes.  But, it is not the same thing because the practice of law is just as much about logistics as it is about philosophy.

Since I work at home, my oldest daughter, who is now in law school, got to see me work, but I do not think she really zoomed in on law firm work.  I cannot say she really has much law firm experience.  But, she has a knack for foreign languages, she is studious and intellectually curious, and is attracted to mind bending game shows and board games.  If that is not preparation, I do not know what is.

So, if you are interested in the prospect of law school and you do not have law firm experience, go to law school anyway.  If you want law firm experience before hand, there is certainly nothing wrong with that.