David's Daily Diversions

Losing My Profession

I'm beginning to realise that I'm not a lawyer anymore. Tonight I was following a blog trail, starting at a comment link on Not for Sheep, or as it is currently known, Legislating Gremlins. I went from lawyer blog to lawyer blog (or occasionally law student blog) and was amazed at just how uninteresting I found the law-related bits to be.

I have no doubt I could still find my way around an American court room. I'm sure I could even negotiate a plea bargain here and split up a family there. I could probably even present the evidence on behalf of some slum lord to show why his tenants, who've managed to make his hovel even more delapidated, should be put out onto the street. The thing is, I don't want to.

With three years of law school, the bar exam, all those pieces of parchment rolled up in tubes, and one-sixth of my life scratching out an existence from it all, I can't escape it entirely. It has made me part of who I am. And I'm sure there are things I've done as a lawyer that I'm proud of - I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'm sure there's something.

It's been fourteen years since I sat through my first week of Torts, Contracts, Property, Civil Procedure, etc. Coincidentally, fourteen of the professors who were teaching when I was there are now emeriti, including some who didn't seem that old at the time. The scary thing is that some who did are still teaching.

When I entered law school, I had visions of a small town law practice in Kentucky and a seat in the state legislature. Never in a million years did I think that I would instead be teaching school half-way around the world. Half my students weren't even born then.