From the President, 0617 WYBJ, Vol. 40 No. 3. 10
| Author | John A. Masterson Welborn Sullivan Meck & Tooley P.C. Casper, Wyoming |
Eight Questions to Determine Whether or Not You Belong in the Law
John A. Masterson Welborn Sullivan Meck & Tooley P.C. Casper, Wyoming
Perhaps you're young and considering a career in law. (In which case I wonder how you got this magazine, but that's a different issue.) Perhaps you're in college and considering whether you should go to law school (your friends and family wondering why), you're in law school (and wondering why) or practicing law (and wondering why).
Well, here at the Wyoming State Bar we're here to help. Through the application of rigid, highly scientific studies, we have composed the following questions to ask yourself if you're wondering whether you should become involved in the law.
1. Can you handle the stress of deadlines?
Not the deadlines like on a milk carton. I mean a deadline that if you miss, your client loses, the other side yells "Gotcha," and you're soon living out of your car and hoping desperately to find a new malpractice carrier.
2. Can you think on your feet?
Probably only relevant for those of you who will be dabbling in litigation, right? Wrong!! You'll be talking to friends at a party when a law-related question will come at you. Everyone will turn towards you expectantly, waiting for what must certainly be a clear and conclusive legal answer. You'll have two seconds to come up with an articulate answer in an area of the law about which you know nothing. (Unsolicited advice? "It depends" is always good.)
3. Do you mind that you'll never get a definitive answer to what you're working on?
Speaking of answers, do you enjoy working on factual situations to which you will never know the "right" answer? We're not math, you know. Our work is subject to the interpretation of others. Regardless of what we research or argue, if someone in a black robe thinks we're wrong, we're wrong. Unless of course the person in the black robe is wrong, in which case the five people in black robes will tell them they're wrong, then the one black robe will tell us that we were right all along.
4. Do you function well being sleep-deprived?
Intertwined with deadlines, you must be able to read, write, walk talk and look confident and assured while having a negative balance in your sleep bank. Despite the years you may accumulate practicing law, you will always end up cramming on projects...
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