Am I in the Right Profession

• Publication year: 1998
• Pages: 19

27 Colo.Law. 19 Colorado Lawyer 1998.

1998, December, Pg. 19. Am I in the Right Profession

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19

Vol. 27, No. 12, Pg. 19

The Colorado Lawyer
December 1998
Vol. 27, No. 12 [Page 19]

Features
CBA President's Message to Members
Am I in the Right Profession

by Ben S. Aisenberg

A few years ago, the Doyle Inn of Court put on a program in Denver in which we asked the members of the Inn whether they were satisfied with the practice of law, whether they desired to change professions, whether, if they had it to do all over again, they would go to law school, and questions of this nature. My fellow presenters and I were surprised, but by no means shocked, to discover that over 50 percent of the members stated that they would like to change professions or if they had it to do over again, would choose a different profession. The interesting, and somewhat disappointing aspect was that the response was fairly uniform in terms of age, i.e., as many younger lawyers were disenchanted by the practice as were older lawyers

The same program was put on in Boulder by the Boulder Inn of Court, wherein the results were somewhat mixed, i.e., there was less cynicism and unhappiness with the practice, but the outlook was by no means optimistic.

Our group repeated the program in Colorado Springs at the opening of the Colorado Springs Inn of Court. We were amazed by the overall satisfaction the attorneys had with the practice of law. One young woman, who had been in practice approximately eight years, actually said that the weekends couldn't go fast enough so that she could resume her practice on Monday.

On the way back from Colorado Springs, we discussed the difference in attitudes in the three cities. We decided that although the number of attorneys in a particular location is not the only factor leading to dissatisfaction, it was the predominating factor. At that time, Denver had between 6,000 and 7,000 attorneys, Boulder approximately 1,500, and Colorado Springs in the neighborhood of 800. Attorneys in smaller communities know each other, have more social and business contacts with each other, and realize that there is a likelihood that, in the future, they will have other matters with the other attorney or his or her firm. In Denver, the number of attorneys has grown to such an extent that, with the exception of limited specialty areas, there is less chance of having a...