Law Students

Big Picture

By Andrea

Recently a couple other bloggers have written about the detail work they have to do in their law firm jobs. And last week my supervisor and I were talking about business immigration, something I've thought about learning at some point, and she said, "And I don't think anyone goes into the practice of law without enjoying high-detail work at some level, so putting all that information together was satisfying."

Really? Because I like being a lawyer a lot, but I am not by nature detail oriented. I love to plan and strategize, but I look at a pile of documents and I think, oof. Maybe it will sort itself?

Not that this means I shy away from what I need to do. I've sat on the floor and two-hole-punched, highlighted, and tabbed my brains out because in a small non-profit, "support staff" means "look in the mirror." But I have to imagine the end result. I'm going to hand a perfectly organized, in-depth packet to the court and that's going to make this case crystal clear and then my great client's going to win and then YAY! If I think about the big picture, I'm happy to support it even with small tasks.

This is only partially analogous, but Dan and I went to the Guggenheim this weekend and they had this exhibit of Asian-inspired art. A lot of it was super-deep Zen-inspired stuff where you were supposed to meditate on something bizarrely simple, like a neatly painted black square or a huge white paper polygon pasted on the wall and think about the materials for their own sake, or how the line between art and reality is blurred, etc. I shouldn't forget to mention the experimental video that was just projecting empty film leader on the wall.

I couldn't get into those, even if I got the idea. I needed a thing, an idea in the art itself to hang on to. Even if it were simple, like one that was a basic but lovely photograph of the ocean meeting the skyline. There was a real representation of infinity to look at. Or these paintings that were like Japanese calligraphy falling apart on itself. They were both pretty and thoughtful. I guess I'm just not a Minimalist or whatever. I need some there with my there.

Anyway, to try to badly tie things back together: I don't know where my career will take me, but I think as long as I'm always happy with the big picture the details will work themselves out. And if things go wrong, I can always try being an experimental video artist, right?

Full post as published by Peanut Butter Burrito on February 16, 2009 (boomark / email).