I realize I haven’t posted on here in a little while.  The reason I haven’t is because I didn’t feel I had been thinking about forming the perfect practice.  I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I was wrong.

What I’ve been thinking about recently is the practice of law in general, and more specifically my role in the system.  When I talk about my role, I mean whether or not I should have one.

I don’t really know what drove me to become a lawyer — it wasn’t the money or glory.  It wasn’t really to help people (though that was always in the back of my mind as a side benefit).  I think it was really for the academic challenge the practice of law posed.

To this end, I loved being a law clerk.  95% of what I did was the research and writing of briefs for my employer.  Even when the issue was similar to one I had done before, I prided myself on coming up with new arguments, new perspectives and new ways to win.

Since becoming a lawyer, I do less of that and deal more with the legal process.  The basic motions/discovery/legal wrangling provide little in the way of that valued academic exercise.  I deal with clients who don’t understand the way the legal process works, don’t understand how the rules of evidence work and can’t seem to understand that they can’t have the perfect resolution to every issue they put before us.  I deal with clients who tell me they do understand these things, work with me to come up with a mutually agreeable settlement to their issue, agree to settle the case, sign the settlement agreement with the other side, and then complain that they settled the case.

All these things tend to be frustrating, and frankly disillusioning.  While I do understand that this is part of the practice of law — the nitty-gritty parts of litigation go hand-in-hand with the vaunted academic exercise of research and writing — it makes me wonder if the practice of law is really for me.

I’ve realized that these thoughts, these doubts, are part of my thinking about the perfect practice.  If your heart is not in it, no practice can be perfect.  After all, you cannot serve your clients fully and effectively if you’re just not into what you’re doing.

So this is an issue I need to work out as I try to develop my plans for the perfect practice.  I have decided, however, that I will continue posting my other thoughts on developing the perfect practice — even if my thoughts help one other person develop a better practice then writing this is worthwhile.  Indeed, even if I don’t help another person improve their practice, then perhaps writing this blog can simply be cathartic.  That may simply be all I need, and if so, then that’s perfect…