--{ a random law-related confession }------
When I first got to law school, I never wanted to be a litigator. No, I wanted to do policy. It was the best way, I thought, to work my environmental science background into something legally and politically meaningful---not that science ain't great, just that I wasn't as fab as I needed to be to really make a difference.
Even in my first and second year of law school, I still didn't consider being a litigator. Lobbying, policy, that was more my style. Or so I thought.
Then I worked a summer at the Department of Justice, and I loved it. Sure, I sound like an ad for this place, and yes, I've been in an ad for this place. But it really does rock, litigating. Even though the hours suck. Even though there's wrangling.
Even when I knew I wanted to litigate, though, I thought what I was doing it for was the writing. It turns out I like legal writing, you see. Not the legalese---that stuff is terrible. But figuring out how to take complex technical things and make them understandable and, more importantly, persuasive---that's what it's all about. I do enjoy that.
But it turns out I'm starting to enjoy the arguments as well. Even though I'm still not tremendously great at them. But it feels really amazing to be able to get up there before the judges and present my cases. As a friend of mine once said (and this was probably the best framing of appellate oral arguments ever), it's like having a conversation with three really smart people.
And when you think about them in that way, they're really not so terrible. In fact, they seem in that light more of a welcome opportunity than anything negative.
Anyway, that's my confession. That I really do like being an appellate litigator. Now if they'll only lighten up on my hours...
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