Page 47 - Social Media Musings

Social Media Musings – Part III My Reflections on the Practice and Life
gone to higher ranked schools and paid tuition - paid a lot of tuition - but I didn’t, and I turned out fine, and importantly, without student debt. Be more concerned about the piece of paper you’ll get each month to pay off your student loans than the pieces of paper you’ll put on your wall.
Whether you are plaintiff or defense counsel, you can dictate the forward progress of your case. Always be pushing your cases forward on your terms, according to your case theory and themes.
You’re a young lawyer and you’re considering walking away from the practice. I know the feeling. I’ve been there. Before you do, before you walk away, think through three things:
1) You attended law school, passed the bar exam and have been practicing law. That was a huge sacrifice. Why did you make that sacrifice? Does that rationale still apply?
2) Are you dissatisfied with the practice because of your current employer or recent employers or is it a larger issue?
3) What’s Plan B? If you’re leaving the practice, what will be your new career? What will life be like with that new career? What are the positives and negatives, ups and downs of that career?
Look your opponent, the judge, the witness, life - in the eye.
No one talks to us more than ourselves. Listen to what you’re telling yourself and reject the negative comments.
Every day is an opportunity to press forward on your goals. On days you don’t do anything
you don’t maintain the status quo. You fall back.
If you want to pursue a project, a side hustle, treat it like a job, not a hobby. You can ignore hobbies. You can’t ignore your job.
Always look for patterns. In cases, in life, there are no coincidences. No happenstance. No chance events.
I get asked a lot by students considering law school which ones they should attend. I tell everyone the same thing - attend your local state law school and avoid the debt. It may not be as highly ranked as other schools you’re considering, but if you go there, and work your butt off, and graduate with top grades and get involved, you’ll be better off than graduating from a more highly ranked school from which you will graduate with huge student loan debt.
I’ve been practicing 23 years. No one asks me what law school I attended, or what college, much less my grades at either institution. At some point in your career, folks lose interest in your school and measure you by your work product. For those of you who didn’t do great at school, those grades may follow you for a season, but they won’t follow you forever. Put poor grades in the rear view, and look out the windshield at the work ahead.
Make discipline your default setting. You’re not going to want to pursue your goals every day. Sometimes, motivation and inspiration won’t be enough. When you don’t want to, when you don’t feel like it, when you’re tired, fall back on discipline.
©2021 Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel
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