Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

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Ten Things They Won’t Tell You Before You Enroll in Law School.

Posted By Cliff Tuttle | July 22, 2019

No. 1,635

DEDICATED TO MY COLLEAGUE AND FELLOW BLOGGER, ADRIAN BARON, ESQ.,THE NUTMEG LAWYER. WHO HAS EXPLAINED THE PRINCIPLES SET FORTH BELOW IN DEPTH.

  1. You probably won’t know for sure that you have chosen the wrong profession until you have tried and failed.
  2. Get ready for a lifetime of compromise, populated by second, third and fourth choices.
  3. Unless you are very lucky or very smart, get ready for a long climb out of a deep, deep financial hole.
  4. Get ready to be beaten up and humiliated by bullies, even on good days.
  5. If you are an in-house counsel, get ready to risk losing your only client and having to start all over again.
  6. Get ready to roll the dice on long shot risks because you don’t have a better choice.
  7. Get ready to spend a lot of time with people you really hate.
  8. As you climb the ladder to the top, get ready to be outsmarted by some of the people who are already there.
  9. Get ready to discover that you have fallen into multiple bad habits like alcoholism, addiction, wasting time and picking fights with your spouse.
  10. Get ready for the morning when you just don’t feel like getting out of bed anymore.

As my Tax Prof in Law school used to say: “Tough? Sure its tough!” And why do you think there are so few lawyers who have been canonized?

Lawyering isn’t for everybody. You must be resourceful. You must be persistent. You must be a survivor. The dilemma is that you probably don’t know yourself that well at 22.

But if doing the things lawyers do is so exciting that you cannot stay away, it just might be for you.

When I decided to hold my nose and take the plunge, exactly 50 years ago this month, I asked myself one question over and over:

“Fifty years from now, will I regret that I could have been a lawyer?”

CLT


Category: Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

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CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

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