What it's like to be a lawyer

So, how can one judge the behavior of a man or predict the mechanisms of the human mind?

Often, I get asked about what I do at work and whether I knew I wanted to be a lawyer since I was young. The answer to the second questions is no. I struggled for a while with the decision of what I wanted to be. In fact, it was not until I got accepted into law school that I was sure I wanted to become a lawyer. The answer to the first question is a bit more complex.

Although most people understand that lawyers solve legal issues, many still don’t understand what a lawyer does on a day to day basis. Most folks think that being a lawyer is as exciting as the TV shows dealing with lawyers portray it. Many overlook the complexity, demands and mundane repetition of the legal job.

Moreover, there is no such thing as a "typical lawyer." Most lawyers are highly specialized professionals in a very narrow field. To name some of the more recognized specialists, there are prosecutors, criminal defense lawyers, family lawyers, personal injury or defective product litigation attorneys, trust and estate attorneys, business transactions specialists, tax lawyers, employment or labor law specialists, environmental lawyers, patent and trademark lawyers, and litigators. In other words, there are numerous highly specialized "professionals" within the profession of law.

Each attorney specialist handles different amounts of workload and clients. Each lawyer works in a very different environment from other lawyers and receives different levels of compensation. Most people mistakenly assume that all lawyers make a lot of money. That is not true. A typical salary of a graduating lawyer ranges from $50K to $100K a year, with the former being the norm. The quality of life of a lawyer depends greatly upon his or her specialty field and the hours of work he puts in.

Despite these differences, most lawyers also share some similarities. Whether an attorney is defending a lawsuit, preparing a will, negotiating a contract, litigating a lawsuit, or settling a divorce, he must always remain an advocate to the individual needs, desires, and goals of his client. Every attorney gives advice and counsel that impacts other people’s lives. This is why many attorneys put the words “attorney and counselor at law” on their business cards.

In addition, every lawyer must not only solve problems, but also convince others of the correctness of his analysis. Another thing a lawyer must do is be able to understand both sides of the coin and argue them with equal conviction. This ability enables attorneys to examine all possible alternatives with a client, to avoid difficult cases and prevent thorny situations.

Yet, many people wonder why they need a lawyer at all and try to do their own research on the internet. What they fail to understand is that, despite the availability of the information on the World Wide Web, the complexity of technological development has resulted in many very stringent laws, which prohibit or require following specific protocol and filing of specific documents, which a lay person will not be able to understand. Specific rules and procedure must necessarily be followed in order to comply with the requirements of the law. This is something a lay person cannot do without the assistance of a trained professional. Most people don’t operate on themselves and seek surgical intervention, but many people file lawsuits themselves and use forms to draft and file divorce pleadings.

As a litigation attorney, my responsibilities include representation of defendants in civil cases and managing all phases of the litigation process, from investigation, pleadings and discovery to pre-trial, trial, settlement and appeal. Sometimes I work on dozens of cases; at other times, on hundreds. I have worked on commercial disputes, contract disputes, family law cases, personal injury claims, medical malpractice cases, toxic tort cases, professional liability disputes, real estate transactions, employment issues, environmental coverage issues, securities litigation and many other types of case.

As you can imagine, each case is different and the science, technology and regulations behind each area involved in a dispute varies. As such, with each new case I have to become an expert not only in the area of the law, but also in the scientific evidence behind the cases. For example, in defending doctors, I had to learn a lot about medicine, which required using a medical dictionary, reading the labels and packaging of medications, and studying medical texts and journals. With each medical malpractice case, I learn about medical standards in a various areas of medicine in order to refute the allegations of medical malpractice. The areas of medicine ranged from psychiatric illness to cardiac arrest, so you can imagine the scope of information I consumed over the years in order to prepare each case for trial.

Despite the great amount of medical information I learned, I do not consider myself a medical expert and neither would you. Just because I know something about medicine does not mean that you would come to me asking for a cure to a physical ailment.

If, on the other hand, you are sued or threatened with a lawsuit, then I am your expert. In order to defend each lawsuit, I investigate all of my cases to determine what the facts are and what evidence exists for defending a lawsuit. After initial investigation, I prepare cases for either a settlement discussion or trial. Trial preparation entails drafting detailed pleadings and motions, exchanging relevant documents and information with opposing counsel, inspecting physical evidence and collecting information and research in order to file protective orders and summary judgment motions.

If cases get into pre-trial stage, I retain expert witnesses, conduct scientific and legal research, attend pre-trial conferences and develop a solid trial strategy based on the facts and evidence I uncovered. I must also attend and conduct depositions of experts and key witnesses, prepare trial exhibits, draft and argue pre-trial motions. Although the majority of the cases on which I work settle, some cases do go to trial. If they do, I stay up for days and work long hours presenting the case before the judge and or a jury, and then prepare for the next day in court. And sometimes I have to work on post-trial motions, preserving issues for appeal, developing appellate strategies and gathering evidence for the appellate record.

On top of this work, I have to continue taking legal education courses to keep abreast of the new statutes, rules, regulations, court decisions and the ever evolving ethical parameters of the Code of Professional Responsibility. As such, every attorney you meet will never stop learning and reading the law. The process of education never stops for an attorney and with each new area of specialty lawyers will learn new science behind very specific issues.

If you are thinking about a career in law, ask yourself if you are willing to put in the long hours, while thinking all day without taking a break. And then ask yourself if you are willing to do it for $50,000 because unless you graduate from an accredited law school with high honors, that's how much you will make your first year out of school, while paying for your student loans.

What separates lawyers from non lawyers is a special set of skills, which they continue to develop until they become proficient and competent in a particular area of law. One either thinks like a lawyer or does not.

The test designed to measure one’s analytical ability is called the LSAT. Any one can take it to see if law is something they could do, but not everyone will do well on this test. LSAT helps to determine one’s ability to identify, analyze and solve a problem – something a lawyer has to do on the regular basis. If you lack the necessary analytical skills, you will not be able to identify the potential legal issues or formulate a plan of action that suits the desires of your clients and meets the requirements of the law.

The practice of law requires constant attention, leaving no room for sloppiness or laziness. Being a lawyer requires a lot of tact, patience and perseverance, as well as the ability to speak and write in a clear and articulate manner. (Sometimes after working long hours, eloquence does not come easy outside of work.)

When people think of lawyers, they automatically think about money, but they never think about the sacrifices a lawyer has to make in order to maintain his or her practice. First and foremost, lawyers work with people, serve people, and help them. Despite their efforts, lawyers are highly under appreciated and nowadays underpaid. Being a lawyer is demanding, challenging, exhausting and stressful, but it is also exciting and meaningful. To me, it is most rewarding when I am able to solve my clients’ problems or to provide a benefit to people from my knowledge and advice.

The end of men or the end of future for professional men and women?

In a recent Atlantic Monthly article entitled "The End of Men -- How Women are Taking Control of Everything," Hanna Rosin applied some fresh statistics towards a projection that men have become obsolete. Although I found her observations interesting, I do not agree with her logic. Men have not become outdated; rather, women have become more powerful and demanding, resulting in a distorted societal vision of gender roles and confused female/male identity.

Specifically, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women are taking over fifty percent of all professional jobs in the US. Specifically, they now hold 51.4 percent of managerial and professional jobs, make up 54 percent of accountants, and hold about 50 percent of all banking and insurance jobs. About thirty percent of US physicians are female and about 45 percent are associates in law firms. The only professions in which women continue to make up a minority of new worker are engineering and hard-science fields.

In the debris of the recession, three-quarters of the 8 million jobs lost were lost by men, with a majority of industries consisting of construction, manufacturing, and high finance. In the mean time, the jobs women used to do, like caring for the children, cooking, and cleaning have been replaced by other women of lower social economic standing. This economic elimination of men creates a larger percent of women in the work force, accelerating an economic shift away from jobs that require physical strength towards jobs requiring greater social intelligence, multitasking, and communication skills.

In addition, for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. There are more female politicians and judges than ever before. And with biological advances, men are gradually becoming obsolete in child rearing, while more and more women decide to become single mothers.

With all these changes in the modern society, women are becoming better suited to succeed than men, resulting in an unprecedented role reversal. As women become better educated, more independent and powerful, they also become more confused about their identity, bending traditional gender roles and taking on masculine qualities such as strength, assertiveness, confidence, energy, determination, leadership and reason.

This should be exciting news for women, but in reality, women are becoming more frustrated with their inability to find a responsible male partner, while men find women more and more intimidating and unappealing. Women are starting to wear the pants and are suddenly realizing that they can do it all with or without a man. This results in women feeling entitled to a lot more than they used to in the past and men feeling emasculated.

As women become more educated, better traveled and more successful, their demands for a suitable mate escalate. Women don’t just want a manly man with a job, they want a tall, dark and handsome, fit, mature, well traveled and well educated man. They are still operating under the outdated stereotypes and expect a man to have a job that pays nearly double of what a well educated successful woman makes. But how can a young professional female meet a highly successful man, if according to the recent statistics, the only jobs in which well educated men will excel better than women will be in the engineering and hard-science fields? A female executive, banker, or doctor will always make more money than an engineer or a scientist.

Because of these outdated stereotypes, men who earn less than women begin to feel inferior and suffer from diminished self esteem issues. Some of them become bitter and take it out on women, while women become bitter about not being able to meet men who earn more than they do.

Some may wonder why financial security is so important to young professional women? Because most of them want to have children and having children is becoming more and more expensive. In fact, according to the recent article in Times magazine, many people opt out for only having one child simply because they cannot afford to have more than one. This leads young professional women to thinking as follows: "if I am to give up my career to making a child and taking care of it, my husband must be able to support us and our child, while maintaining the same standard of living we are accustomed to." And professional men and women are accustomed to a lot. They travel for work all over the country, sometimes world, on the company dollar. But when professional women give up their jobs, they still expect to travel, only they will not be able to afford it if their husbands' salaries will be smaller than theirs.

Thus, some professional women choose to stay single and continue traveling. Others settle for men with less money, but continue to work, while taking care of a child and a man. Eventually, they get tired and file for divorce because they don't feel like working to support a child and having to deal with a man child who cannot provide for the family.

This results in a surplus of professional women with great jobs and no men. These women think they can do it all, but in reality they are only human and can’t do everything on their own. So they hire maids, nannies, secretaries, while continuing to spend money on clothes for work, travel expenses, etc, all of which diminishes finances and either drives women to work harder or pushes them harder to search for a very rich husband, who also must be young, fit and attractive (which is completely unrealistic in the real world.)

So, where does this leave educated men, who make less money than their professional female friends? They do different things. Some adapt to unrealistic demands of professional women by pretending to have money. They go out and buy cars, toys and clothes that make them look like they have money, while investing little time in trying to meet the increasing expectations of successful women. (But most women can see through the façade and quickly figure out when men cover up their lack of financial security with flashy possessions.)

Other men date and marry girls who are less concerned about money or they marry pretty girls who are less educated than their professional friends. Then these couples move to the suburbs and have children. Or they live happily ever after inside the city without children because they cannot afford to have any. Only this does not always work. For instance, some men become bored with their undereducated wives and take on intellectual female lovers.

And, of course, there are plenty of men, who don't get married at all. Quite a few professional men with little money enjoy untroubled life of economic independence and sexual freedom, avoiding marriage and responsibility all together.

So, the problem with the rise of professional women lies not only with women being too demanding, but also with men being highly resistant to change. Many men find women who make more money than they do unappealing. And as they get rejected, these men become increasingly frustrated with their inability to offer women financial security while also retaining their masculinity.

In the mean time, men with money imagine that they can buy any woman that comes their way, regardless of the size of their scotch belly or the acne scars on their face. (This is not to say that all rich men fit this description). To make matters worse, older men preach to young girls that their only chance for happiness is to settle down with an older millionaire.

All the while, all men, old or young, tell women that they expect too much and should settle for less. Some women acquiesce and do settle for less, while many successful, intelligent and beautiful young women take on young, fit, and attractive lovers.

All of this, leaves professional men and women fewer chances of finding a mate. Hence there is a greater market of young professional singles, who remain single well into their thirties and sometimes forties.

Inevitably, the rise of women in power leads to a dystopian society filled with older men dating really hot dumb girls, male players who avoid marriage, male drones who suffer from insecurity issues, smart girls with young hot lovers, and a bunch of lonely female workers busy taking care of themselves and their young. Basically, fewer and fewer happily married people and more and more single young professionals. None of this looks encouraging.

All that said, with the end of something there is always a beginning of something new. So, the real problem is not the "end of men" as Rosin calls it, but the future of professional men and women in America.

The way I see it is as follows: everyone needs to readjust their expectations. Women need to do a reality check and accept the fact that they will not find a hot young rich husband, who makes more money than they do. Men should get used to the reality of making the same amount of money as professional women, while remaining secure about their masculinity by doing things men know how to do best and women don’t know how to do, like fixing things around the house, etc.

At the end of the day, success is not measured by the leadership positions men and women hold at work or by their unrealistic expectations, but by one’s ability to open their heart and adapt to the ever changing environment.

In this sink or swim world, only the fittest and most adaptable will make it ahead. That means that people should not only keep themselves physically fit, but should also become mentally, emotionally and spiritually stable. When competition becomes too cut throat, it is not due to accomplishments, but due to inability to open one's heart.

Sometimes, it is wiser to take a step back in order to move ahead with balance and grace.

The culture of narcissism

With the rise of social networking and online dating, the epidemic of narcissism is climbing.  Online dating sites like match.com and networking sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Myspace feed the egos of young people altering the increasing display of their narcissistic traits. The message is simple: “I am as awesome as it gets, and you better be just as great to date me or to be my friend.”

Virtual resumes and bragging seem to be the norm in the 21st century. Exaggerative personal internet marketing (manifested via boastful online profile descriptions and dazzling picture displays) give certain creative individuals a seeming edge on their competition by dramatically increasing their online exposure. Pretty packaging is easy on the eyes, but is not as important as the consistency of internal values, yet its easy to fall for the outward appearance and overlook the things that really matter. 

The narcissistic tendencies in our society have caused a rise of disposable relationships that do not require much attention or emotional investment. Hence, the recent trend of focusing on oneself, instead of establishing a meaningful relationship with others. Texts, chats, and one-night stands have become the norm. Young people often do not bother picking up the phone to have a meaningful conversation because texting is easier. Hence, the rise of open relationships. Everything that does not fulfill one’s version of personal happiness becomes disposable.

When it comes to serious romantic relationships, humility is frequently replaced by cockiness and self obsession, changing the road map of a courtship ritual. Young women still not only want to be dined and covered in jewelry, but they also expect their partners to have high paying jobs and executive positions. Men, on the other hand, are looking for young, fit, successful models. People seem to care less about virtues than they do about cosmetically altered appearance. No one wants the second best anymore, when crème of the crop seems to be one click away.

 Social networking and blogging become vehicles for those who wish to project their importance through attending glamorous events. Having one’s picture taken for a glitzy magazine sometimes seems more important than work ethic, demonstrating a shift in focus towards individualistic traits vs responsibilities.The real danger of narcissism is that it is taking over our lives, replacing what is real with what seems “cool”.  I love Facebook as much as anyone, but I think it's time we  applied ourselves towards building a society of caring individuals who are subtle in their online messages. 

What is the future of Russian Intelligentsia?

In understanding the future of the Russian Intelligentsia, it is important to trace its origins and the height of its influence in the nineteen and twentieth century. Unlike the early European men of letters, who were independently engaged professionally in disseminating ideas, early Russian intelligentsia was a phenomenally single-minded class of people frustrated with the notion of being born in Russia. As Pushkin wrote: "it was the devil himself who had me born, intelligent and talented, in Russia". Pushkin, like many other intellectuals of his day, struggled under the constant stress of the national pride and Russian identity. He romanticized Russian traditions and reinvented folk customs in his writings to justify the value of the Russian soul. Such struggle with embracing the Russian origins led Russian intellectuals to form a social group that shared a unique social identity.

This group originally emerged from the dissident members of the nobility, such as Radischchev (one of the first Russian authors to criticize socio-economic conditions in Russia at the time of Catherine the Great, which earned him an exile to Siberia). The group grew and solidified in the later years to criticize the inhumanities of serfdom and to oppose the fundamental iniquities and barbarities of tsarism. Scientists, painters, authors, professionals, teachers and lawyers in particular, represented the critical Russian intelligentsia. The intensity of their criticism evolved over time from subtle remarks of Turgenev in the “Fathers and Sons” and reproduction of the pain and suffering of the lower society by Repin in his painting “The Barge Haulers”, to the stern sermons of Tolstoy, followed by fervent anti tsar movement of the emotionally committed Decembrists, to a final militant action of Lenin that ultimately lead to political violence and assassination of the tsar and his government officials.

Ironically, the new Bolshevik government had an intolerant policy against the articulate, intellectual criticism. It began enforcing such policy by suppressing newspapers (initially as a temporary measure that later became permanent). Lenin considered the Constitutional Democrats the center of a conspiracy against the Bolshevik rule and, soon after the October revolution, began mass arrests of professors and scientists, deporting the very Socialist Revolutionaries in an attempt to eliminate Russia’s past in order to build the future on a clean slate. This new policy quickly alienated a large number of the intellectuals who had originally supported the overthrow of the tsarist order. The suppression of democracy resulted in a strong opposition from academics and artists, who felt betrayed in their beliefs that revolution would bring a free society. Many Russian intellectuals emigrated shortly after the revolution, publishing attacks on the new government from abroad. This resulted in government denying any further exit permits to artists and other creative minds, who wished to leave Russia. Lenin saw the old Russian intelligentsia as a rival to his party’s goal to bring revolutionary consciousness to the working class. In his view, intellectuals generally came from nobility and served bourgeois interests, unfit for the communist society. This notion was carried out by the communist party by persecution of intellectuals throughout the Soviet period, reaching the height of its limits under Joseph Stalin.

Stalin tightened the reigns of the government, making controlled decisions at the top party levels, with little, if any, input from below. Thereby, the communist party formed its own elite class, which determined the state objectives and carried them out in dictatorial isolation. The government inflicted a police terror upon the population, resulting in million casualties of innocent people. The secret police efforts were especially concentrated on the members of the old Russian intelligentsia, whose creative efforts were strictly censored, deporting many to Siberia.

During the World War II, members of the Russian intelligentsia, who fought to defeat Hitler, returned home as veterans to confront the repression of the Stalinist society. As a result, a new generation of intellectuals was born that resembled the nineteenth-century Russian intelligentsia. This new group was ignited by the Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalinism in 1956.

In the early 1970s and late 1980s, the soviet government temporarily opened its borders to those wishing to leave and, not surprisingly, many disenchanted Russian intellectuals immigrated to the countries with democratic governments. Those, who stayed behind, pursued their dream of a democratic socialist society, devoting their lives to defending ‘socialism with a human face’ and ultimately contributing to the political disintegration of the communist regime under the Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika program. By then, it was too late to hold the soviet society together. Interestingly, after the fall of the Soviet Union, many members of the Russian intelligentsia have forsaken their commitment to democracy to support Boris Yeltsin, who introduced militant action and economic reforms which impoverished a large part of Russia.

And now, with Putin in charge of the Russian government, it remains unclear whether the Russian intelligentsia will rise again to pursue their dream of democracy in Russia. The traditions of the Russian intelligentsia are dying out. It almost seems as though it is no longer fashionable in Russian to take an active part in the opposition movement. They are also not embracing the traditions of the Western intellectuals in keeping their distance from authorities and the government. Rather, the new Russian intelligentsia is embracing the authorities, leaning on them for success. As an incentive for their support, the United Russia party has given party membership cards to famous actors and musicians. It may very well be that the Russian intelligentsia no longer considers it an option to criticize, especially when any criticism or opposition is likely to be suppressed with an iron hand.


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Sources:
Inna Kotchetkova, The Myth of the Russian Intelligentsia, Old Intellectuals in the New Russia, October 2009.
Stalin And Putin: Have Times Changed Now?; CDI Russian Weekly, March 4, 2003
Marc Raeff, Origins of the Russian Intelligentsia: The Eighteenth-Century Nobility, 1966.
N.G.O. Pereira, The Nineteenth-Century Russian Intelligentsia and The Future Of Russia, June 1974.

For more information on  the slow decay of intellectual culture in Russia, go to: http://www.unlv.edu/centers/cdclv/archives/nc1/shalin_intellectual.html

Another interesting read on this topic is a book by Vladimir C. Nahirny - The Russian Intelligentsia: From Torment to Silence.