I remember my first day of 1L orientation, when people voiced concerns about how law school would change who they are and their feelings about why they were here. I scoffed at those folks, who apparently lacked the solid plan that I had in place. I had entered law school, fresh off a nasty estate fight for a family farm. My goal was to use my previous experience in customer service to help create a better environment for estate planning. I suffered through my first semester Legal Writing class; just teach me how to use a book of forms, and I will be golden.
But, then, the summer after my first year, I got offered one of those great law clerk jobs you can’t really say no to. My first assignment was an appellate brief, not exactly the stuff dreams are made of. But, then, I was asked to research some case law on a motion for summary judgment for a tort case. This motion was ludicrous, this woman was left disabled. Suddenly, I found myself getting angry and wanting to win. Advocacy was no longer about synthesizing law and analogizing cases. Advocacy was about winning for this client. I found myself dragging back out my Legal writing textbooks and notes. I wanted to become the legal writer I should have been back in class. The goal had become different, it was not about a grade, it was about winning for our clients.
The passion I felt that day has shaped my law school experience since. My view on what it means “to think like a lawyer” has changed – how can we read the law and make our client’s position fit? My disgust for legal writing has changed to a great passion for the adversarial writing that comes with litigation. And, perhaps most importantly, I am no longer concerned with a future as a transactional lawyer, and now find myself interested in pursuing a career in a courtroom, advocating for others.
