Today MJ and I went to a fancy vegan restaurant for MJ's birthday, and it was delightful! Fancy ambience, fancy "mocktails," fancy descriptions of dishes like "sous vide" (under vacuum in French) type of cooking. What struck me more intensely, though, was parking at the nearby parking lot, beneath a building that housed various top-level law firms like Reed Smith and Davis Wright and Tremaine, as well as directions to a branch of the Washington Post in the "West Tower." It's these type of fancy downtown big-law firms that drew me to the law in the first place (unfortunately, because it's not a great reason), was the feeling of getting in that fancy elevator up to the (insert 30+ number here) floor of a law firm with equally fancy office amenities and a receptionist asking me whether I need some water or coffee before I meet for my appointment. I've been in a ton of these big law offices over the years, in many different states and cities.... and they never fail to impress me the first time I arrive at one. All have some view of the surrounding city from on top, and I've always stopped by the large windows to look out onto the city; it's that thrilling "I've made it" feeling that most ambitious people crave, and what you see on TV shows like "Suits" or "The Social Network" depicting law offices. Not going to lie, living the big law life is pretty fancy too on a day-to-day basis (I've had some samples of it): cozy offices, getting an assistant to help out, conference rooms where bagels/fruit platters are set waiting long before the meeting is even going to start, happy hours on Thursdays where other partners attend, and most importantly (for me, I guess, because I'm a status seeker)... your name in front of your office. I had that once at a big law firm in New York City, although I didn't make it onto the website or get the professional-looking picture they take of all associates wearing their best suits.
All those things about being a big law attorney (I'm not talking about public defenders, pro bono attorneys, solo practioners, etc) are real, but that's just the surface level of being an associate at a big firm; then the actual work actually starts. Responding to partners' demands, answering emails, meeting with clients, writing long briefs and motions, working long hours to finish a case because the case will not wait for you (it's not a 40-hour per week job! Or if it is, you might not be doing a good job or billing enough hours). And the thing I don't see many high school/college students asking as much but should be the number 1 question (it definitely wasn't me!) was, "am I going to be good as a lawyer?" or "am I going to be good as a doctor?" I kind of talked myself into being a lawyer optimistically (like Pollyanna) thinking I would be good at it "because I'm smart" or "because I like to argue," but that's really not what makes good lawyers.....good lawyers know the law but also can apply it to facts quickly, and write good arguments on paper to submit to the judges to argue their positions, and counter the oppositions' arguments effectively, with evidence/law. Often they have to be ruthless about it; and everyone has the basic levels of intelligence needed, it's that special kind of analysis and knowledge that a certain argument will win the day that lawyers need. Not everyone can cut it, and just because one likes the lifestyle and importance of dressing up in suits and going to work at tall downtown office buildings (and this was all before the pandemic happened!) doesn't mean one can do the work required.
Speaking of which, MJ got me into watching a Korean drama show called "The Extraordinary Attorney Woo" about an autistic lawyer on the spectrum in Korea, but she's really good at being an attorney. Well done show, but I think what attracts both of us is the lifestyle it depicts of being a lawyer......"the good life." All TV shows tend to just magically blot out the grinding part of law of researching the law, writing long briefs, and hours and hours of sitting at the office. The characters seem to just show up to work, get in a 3-minute strategy meeting, gather facts on-site, argue in front of judges, and have a satisfactory ending within the hour. That's a really misleading depction of what lawyers, as I'm sure it is for most jobs shown on television (cops have to solve murders every day, according to TV), but especially so because of the glamorous lifestyle that they show.
If I ever do a slice-of-life painting like George Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grand Jatte," I might consider "Saturday Night at the Target in the Suburban Strip Mall." THAT is the practical depiction of Saturday night in America, not the one seen on social media and elsewhere of partying, booze, and "I'm on a boat."...it's where consumerism meets drab suburban life meets common everyday items meets nothing glitzy about buying groceries plus Brita water filters on Saturday night. Yet there are still a LOT of people at Target on Saturday nights at 9:30PM; that's real life.
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