“You must not abandon the ship in a storm because you cannot control the winds. ... What you cannot turn to good, you must at least make as little bad as you can.” —St. Thomas More
Across the country, criminal justice policy is undergoing yet another pendulum swing. After over a decade of reform efforts focused on decarceration and diversion, states are now reembracing the all-too-familiar tough-on-crime approaches.
Benjamin Franklin said, "By failing to prepare, you're preparing to fail." Sounds wise, but I doubt Benjamin Franklin carried on a busy litigation practice.
Hunched over my desk, surrounded by markups and a neglected dinner gone cold, I pressed on. It was almost sunrise, but despite my blurry vision and aching back, I was determined to power through. I had to perfect the agreement before the partner arrived in a few hours.
Lawyers are frequently stereotyped as being "bad at math." The stereotype is inaccurate. Lawyers must employ mathematics regularly in both litigation and transactional work; they cannot be innumerate and practice competently. The “lawyers are bad at math” stereotype excuses otherwise unacceptable practices and must not be perpetuated.
Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing, left behind a principle that has outlived him: Always insist on a margin of safety. Buy only when there is a cushion between price and true worth. That buffer is not greed; it is protection against volatility, error and unforeseen storms.
Before I was pregnant, I judged colleagues who were. If they arrived late to court, looked disheveled, or weren’t as sharp as I was, I thought, “Pull it together. Women’s bodies were ‘designed for it,’ weren’t they?” I cringe now, but I admit it: I rolled my eyes. I was ignorant. Then I got pregnant.
As an attorney, I was trained to live inside documents: case files, depositions, transcripts, contracts and endless emails. As a novelist, I now live inside fictional worlds. At first, those roles may seem miles apart. Yet when I sit down to draft a chapter or a legal argument, I’m reminded that both are ultimately about storytelling.
In the early 1990s, I was a young attorney in Chicago fresh out of law school, still learning how to balance the weight of a big-firm briefcase with my own naive ambitions.
The ABA Journal wants to host and facilitate conversations among lawyers about their profession. We are now accepting thoughtful, non-promotional articles and commentary by unpaid contributors.
