The land of law and lawyers
I have lived in the land of the law and lawyers officially for 28 years and unofficially for 22 years before that when I married a law student and suffered the pontificating law students are prone to do with their little bit of knowledge. I left his world of law after a few years and did not officially begin my own metamorphosis from layman to lawyer until at age 48 I started my first year of law school. I was hooked and every task I have attempted lo these many years has been in the legal field, weeds and all.
I found, much to my pleased surprise, that I enjoyed the company of lawyers. We are a highly intelligent, tolerant, and funny bunch. We take on tasks that would destroy the lesser beings, representing folks from all levels of society at their worst and sometimes at their best. We joyously take on each new client that comes in the door, wanting to believe what they tell us while knowing that a little doubt is in order. After all, truth, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder.
When the toils of battle wore me down and I found my patience wanting, I retired from active practice. I joined the ranks of the volunteers roaming around the world assisting lawyers from other cultures with whatever they needed assisting with. Sometimes they didn’t even know that they needed the help we offered but they accepted it graciously and probably cast it aside when we left to assist others who didn’t know what they needed. I spent a year in the Republic of Moldova doing what I could to ‘save the world for democracy.’ I like to think I left something behind. I know I brought a lot back with me.
Now I spend my time writing for, about, and with lawyers. I attend legal functions, writing about them for a legal newspaper. I write essays about us, trying to help others understand our strange world. I take the words others write for their blogs, websites, and newsletters translating them into plain English that clients can understand and act upon.
