The Practice of Law, in General

In case I didn’t explicitly say it in my previous post, How I Accidentally Became a Family Law Attorney, I went to law school because I believed it was a noble profession through which I could affect positive change in the world, or at least in the lives of some of the world’s people. I stumbled into family law through a job at Women’s Law Center, a non-profit that provided free representation to victims of domestic violence (among other important work). Like most sane people, I’d always eschewed family law, but I thought I could do more good with a broader practice. Also, I’d seen up close how the legal system had helped a good friend of mine out of an abusive relationship and laid the way for him to raise his kids on his own, protecting them from the folly and poor decision-making of his multiply addicted wife. Seeing how fiercely he loved his kids and how he fought to keep them in a safe and healthy environment inspired me. How many other people were similarly situated, needing a lawyer to help them navigate the complicated legal system to do right by their family?

In my practice of family law, I met several outstanding attorneys. Good people who worked tirelessly to get just results for their clients. Honest, honorable people who sought to help families and who prioritized the welfare of children, even when it meant reminding their clients what was really most important in the long-run.

Though I have known a number of such lawyers, I’ve been meaning for months now to give a shout-out to one of my favorites. After I had my heart attack, I needed to find someone to take on a case I had been working before I took ill. The catch was that it was a pro bono case that had a number of things left to be done. It’s one thing to refer a case to an attorney if they are going to make money on it, but handing off a freebie is another matter completely.

I felt a bit awkward when I emailed Erika Slater because I don’t really know her well. She and I were opposing counsel on a rather ugly, drawn-out divorce, but it’s not like we hang out socially or anything. Nonetheless, I thought it was worth a try. In the long months we worked that case, I found her to not only be an exceptionally talented attorney, but also an uncommonly compassionate one. In her I saw a kindred spirit, a person who didn’t just do what was expedient, but who did what she thought was right. I’d struck out with people I felt I knew well enough to ask for such a favor, so I emailed Erika. Not only did she agree to take the case pro bono, she did so with such generous grace it made me teary. After expressing her concern about my health, she said, “Yes, I will help you out. Of course I will.” Erika rocks.

I guess I’d imagined when I was studying law that all lawyers would be like Erika. Or at least most of them. That wasn’t the reality I found. One could expect that opposing parties in litigation might be mean to each other, lie about things, break the rules, etc. Perhaps I was really naïve, but I never expected attorneys to behave that way. I’ve seen lawyers flat-out lie to the court; lie to other attorneys; yell at clients; yell at and berate opposing counsel; refuse to produce discovery; refuse to participate in negotiations; file frivolous motions just to thwart the litigation or cost their client or mine more money; show up to court not knowing who their client was or what kind of appearance we were having… not exactly the honorable actions of learned professionals. The more of these sort of disappointing acts I witnessed, the more disillusioned I became with my profession as a whole.

I also started thinking that whole system is kind of a set-up. Lawyers make the laws and the rules that have created a system so complicated that they are ensured job security. The fees for these services are so astronomical that wealthy litigants have a serious advantage over poor ones. Pretty much any time a lawyer files something with the court, the opposing side needs to file a response. People of modest means who manage to retain an attorney are forced to pay for the time it takes their counsel to respond every time something is filed. Those who can’t afford an attorney don’t even know the rules of when they need to respond to things and often are penalized for failing to do so. Expert witnesses cost thousands of dollars. An economically superior spouse can call any number of experts; a spouse who was a stay at home parent or financially dependent in general is unlikely to have the resources to hire experts to counter that testimony. It’s not a level playing field.

And there are just way too many lawyers. Even the American Bar Association is discouraging people from enrolling. Law schools have been cranking out class after class of JDs who have little chance of finding employment in the field. Even if they do find work, the bulk of their salary will be devoured by student loan payments. One of the factors in the ranking of law schools is how many of their graduates are employed within a year of matriculating. The higher ranked a school, the “better” it is and the more it can charge its students. What the rank listings don’t mention is that the schools are reporting any kind of employment, not just law jobs. A graduate who takes a job as a barista at Starbucks to pay his or her student loans counts as an employed graduate. It is irresponsible and wrong to mislead prospective law students into thinking they will find ready, lucrative employment when what they are more likely to find is the unmitigated joy of moving back in with their parents to save on rent money.

~~~~~

Being the worst for-profit law firm owner ever, growing to hate the area of law I worked, and becoming disillusioned with the legal system and its practitioners eventually combined to lead me out of the practice of law. My heart attack sealed the deal. I obviously don’t have the capacity for the amount of stress I was carrying in my life.

Yet, despite my disappointment with the way things went and the bitterness I often feel about the legal system, I nonetheless continue to remit my Client Protection Fund payments and do my IOLTA reporting to keep my license active on the Maryland roll of attorneys. I suspect that underneath my disillusionment, I harbor some hope that things can get better. I once believed in justice so strongly it was like a religion. I believed that there were more Erika Slaters out there than there were unethical and incompetent lawyers. I wanted to work within the system to affect change in people’s lives. There are definitely things I miss about it. Perhaps with the passage of time, I will decide to give the law another shot. But if I do, I don’t think it will be as a family law practitioner. I’m old enough now to start learning from my past experiences, right?