September 14, 2006
-
I started work last week. I'm really liking it so far. It's interesting because everyone talks about what type of lawyer they want to be -- employment law or patent law or bankruptcy law or whatever. But if you're doing any kind of civil litigation, much of what you doing is being a civil procedural lawyer. Even though I'm a patent lawyer, pretty much all the legal issues I've talked so far have been procedural. One cool development is that I got staffed on a trial team, for a trial in February. If that goes it would be awesome, because it's really easy to be a civil litigator for a lot of years without seeing the inside of a courtroom.
Unfortunately, I guess much of the day to day stuff that I've love to talk about is privileged. Or at least, it's probably better that I not talk about it on the web, even if technically I could.
One downside to being a litigator is that it's adversarial. I think a major reason I want to be a judge is that you can take a step back from the case and think about the "right" result -- one that makes sense in terms of the legal system as a whole. But when you're a litigator, your goal is to win the case for your client, and sometimes your client doesn't have a strong legal position or a victory on a particular issue would make bad law. That doesn't make losing an option though.
I have to say that I feel really lucky though. Everyone at my firm is great, and I've got a couple close friends that came in with me. I'm not sure how many people starting at big firms actually like their jobs or are going to places where they see themselves staying for many years. But I do feel like that.
San Diego is kind of lonely though. Pretty soon I need to find some activities to do outside the office. Like music or something. Maybe I'll meet some people that way. But my days at work are so long, and when I come home, I just want someone to come home too and snuggle up on the couch with and watch TV. I don't want have to search out someone. On the other hand, I think it would be hard to be in a relationship right now because I spend so much time at work... I could do it; but I'd feel guilty, feel like maybe I was neglecting the other person. So at least I don't have that concern. But sometimes I get bored.
Recent Comments