Vol. 30, No. 1 #3 (February 2007). FROM THE PRESIDENT.

• Author: By Joseph B. Bluemel

Wyoming Bar Journal

2007.

Vol. 30, No. 1 #3 (February 2007).

FROM THE PRESIDENT

WYOMING LAWYERFebruary 2007/Vol. 30, No. 1FROM THE PRESIDENT . . .By Joseph B. Bluemel

It seems that as a profession we lawyers take things seriously -- sometimes way too seriously. There is no doubt that we lawyers know our legal performance will be seen and evaluated by our clients, the judges before whom we practice, our communities and our colleagues. I can still see the plaque on the wall in the chambers of the first Circuit Court judge I practiced before with Lady Justice emblazoned thereon with the saying "Justice sharpens her sword on the hide of lawyers." With symbols like this seared into our brains setting the standard by which we live our lives, how can we attorneys not take things seriously? More importantly, when we ponder the fact that, depending on our practice, our clients come to us only when they have a problem that is so great they cannot solve it themselves or the issue they face has such significant consequences they need the assistance of a professional, it requires us to be serious.

How serious we lawyers are does not seem to be something we simply stumble upon and consciously decide to finely tune as our practice develops. It is probably part of our personalities. If this seriousness is not deep in our genes, we certainly had every opportunity and sometimes pressure to learn through our education and training to function in our lives with an appropriate dose of gravity. I recall many of my days in law school when life was not as serious as it is now. There was the golf course that was set up in the library, my fellow students who decided their artistic talents with a copy machine would enhance the art exhibited throughout the law school and library, and the first vestiges of advertising when the formation of the firm Dewey, Chetam and Howe (all law students at the time) was posted in the locker area. Ah, those were times to smile and laugh. It is the hope and intent of the editorial committee of the Wyoming...