I have come to the conclusion that I, for better or for worse, think differently than just about everyone else in law school. Since my first year, I have felt that plaintiffs (now, please understand, this is a gross over-generalization and I accept that there are certainly exceptions to this) generally seek to obtain money to which they have little to no right. Who doesn't want to slip, trip and fall in Wal-Mart and sue them for millions upon millions of dollars in damages to your lower back? It's easy. (Haven't you heard the pumpkernickle joke? If not, I'll tell it at another time.) But it's wrong. I know that no one feels a tremendous amount of sympathy for the Wal-Marts of the world, but I do. At some point, though, someone at Wal-Mart made some smart business decisions somewhere along the way and they deserve to reap the benefits of their business savvy. Why should they lose their hard-earned money just because someone saw dollar signs reflecting brightly in the newly-mopped floor? It's ridiculous.
In the defense of people who think that sympathy is the best avenue, I guess I should probably say that originally I, too, thought that this was the best avenue for success. When I first started working, I thought that the best way to deal with clients w was to be extremely sympathetic and pretty much agree with everything they said. I didn't want to come across as confrontational or skeptical about their story. I thought it would help. I was wrong.
Last summer, though I worked for a lawyer, who practices by himself, back home and one of the first things he said to me was "Your tears don't win cases." He is so right! (It was worth doing all that copying and labeling and file-finding and phone calling just for that one little bit of world-changing wisdom.) Me feeling sorry for someone is NOT going to help them. Me boohooing over the terribleness of their terrible, horrible, no good, very bad lives is not going to do anything at all to make anything any better. I prefer to be no-nonsense and common sense. Your story is whatever it is, and I'm not going to sugar coat it or create a day and name is National Feel Sorry for (Your Name Here) Day. If I don't seem surprised or upset or overwhelmed, then I'm in control and I can handle things--it makes clients feel confidence in my abilities, rather than just exaggerating their fears and anxieties. Chip, my lawyer at home, also used to tell his clients all the time "Stop worrying. You came to see me, and it's my job now. We'll take care of this." And they all found it incredibly reassuring--you could literally see relief show on their faces. I would much rather be like that than stop an interview, saying "I just want to make sure you're okay, how are you coping?" It makes problems seem worse!
For the record, I am not hard-hearted, but it is definitely not in my nature to coddle. In general, I much prefer to make a plan. If I'm upset, I don't cry (for very long) and sit around feeling sorry for myself. I like to know what my next move is going to be. Still, I dont envision myself becoming a plaintiff's lawyer. I feel much more comfortable with the idea of working for the defense. Actually, what I really what to do is divorce. It probably sounds strange, but I would like to represent men. Generally speaking, I think that men get the short end of the stick when it comes to divorce, especially in regards to property division and child custody. Like my poor uncle, who married a heinous woman. He's afraid to divorce her because (1) she could get part of our family business and (2) he's afraid he would lose his kids. When he's the good guy in this scenario, that just doesn't sit right with me. It makes me want to change my job title from Katie, attorney, to become Katie, Official Crusader of Good Men With Heinous Wives Everywhere. In my law practice, I want to make the divide between women's settlements and men's settlements a little less like a canyon and a little more like a small brook. That is, if I ever make it to actual practice, which still remains to be seen.
Yesterday, I gave a deposition, and it was definitely not at all as good as I hoped it would be. For one thing, I talk too fast. Of course, that has been a critique that I have been getting all along. For another, the WAY I talk is kind of a problem. When I asked questions to my witness, I would then try to clarify, but while I was clarifying, the witness was trying to answer. So, a court reporter pretty much would have hated my guts. It was very choppy and generally frustrating. Afterward, my professor was like, "You just don't trust yourself." She's right. But how can I trust myself, when I keep hearing all the things that I'm doing wrong? How CAN I trust myself, when Professor Umbridge said to me that SHE knew what to do, SHE was right and literally everything I had done was wrong? Seriously, no joke, she did say that. No joking in her face, either.
But it should come as no surprise at this point that our personalities clash. She is liberal in the kind of way that she feels intensely sorry for the struggles of everyone and sees dollars and lawsuits after every client interview. In short, in essentially the kind of way that she doesn't actually end up ever helping anyone. She told my clinic partner and I that we might file a lawsuit against the school in this case we're working on now. Personally, I think that, when working with a school, it is better to try to figure out how to work together to resolve a problem, rather than getting the administrator's backs up right away by saying that we are considering a lawsuit. She's also a feminist--and I am not. I distinctly remember telling people that I had come to college to find a husband. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. But still, I am not opposed to married life, not opposed to the idea of staying at home to care for children full-time (although I know that with a law degree its probably an impossibility for me at this point), not opposed to doing cooking and cleaning and traditional "woman's" work. Traitor to my sex? Apparently. Hard-hearted bitch? I don't think so.
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