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: Magic Cookie

Thinking like a lawyer

A neighbor stopped by to talk about a town controversy involving poisoned pigeons. The gears in my brain started turning and I guess I wasn't reacting as much as she would like, because she said, "I can see your sympathies aren't with the pigeons. But imagine if a hawk ate the poison! Think of the hawks!" I nodded, still processing. "Your sympathies aren't with the hawks, either," she said.

"I have nothing against the hawks," I replied. "I just don't understand why there has to be a lawsuit. It seems like this could be resolved without one."

"Oh," she said. "You're being a lawyer."

She was right. I wasn't thinking about the pigeons, or the hawks, or the union, or who put the poison there. As soon as she got into the story, I started thinking about the best way to resolve the dispute.

I'm not surprised that law school has changed me. But the scary part is that I have no idea what I would have been thinking if I had heard this story four years ago.

Full post as published by Magic Cookie on September 27, 2008 (boomark / email).