According to a 1990 ABA survey, 40% of lawyers chose law for the intellectual challenge. This makes sense to me. Good reason for a career choice.
Social service was the next highest cited reason at 17%. Again, very reasonable decision making.
Now for the scary one. 14% chose law because they had no attractive alternative. Clearly not a strong and compelling reason for a profession.
I can only hope that the people who chose it because they saw no attractive alternative have come to find that there is something interesting that ignites their passion over their years of practice.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Things That Suck About Being a Lawyer: 1. Challenges of Moral Development
You may remember Kohlberg’s Moral Development theory from Psychology 101. Simply stated, our evaluation of the relative good or bad of a situation adjusts over time. Our evaluative process grows as we grow. Children make decisions based on external rules which eventually give way to internalized value structures based on the common good. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlberg; http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/kohlberg.htm)
Consider that in light of your work. You push yourself to see all angles of the situation. You push yourself to consider all aspects that might be addressed. Constantly you find yourself representing people whose moral processing and reasoning is somewhere far from yours. Their judgment is often poor. Their reasoning is faulty.
The gap between your clients’ processing and judgment and your own can create a moral disconnect within you. Of course there is a higher good in the process (at least conceptually). Of course everyone deserves good representation. As your own moral processing and development proceeds the gap between you and your clients enlarges. The internal discomfort and disconnect between what you believe in and what you have to do grows. No wonder the mental strain gets to lawyers.
Consider that in light of your work. You push yourself to see all angles of the situation. You push yourself to consider all aspects that might be addressed. Constantly you find yourself representing people whose moral processing and reasoning is somewhere far from yours. Their judgment is often poor. Their reasoning is faulty.
The gap between your clients’ processing and judgment and your own can create a moral disconnect within you. Of course there is a higher good in the process (at least conceptually). Of course everyone deserves good representation. As your own moral processing and development proceeds the gap between you and your clients enlarges. The internal discomfort and disconnect between what you believe in and what you have to do grows. No wonder the mental strain gets to lawyers.
Golden Handcuffs
Golden handcuffs: far too attractive, far too painful. We know how you get into them. The lure of the salary siren song draws you near the billable hours flame.
The real issue is how to loosen or release them.
Steps to release:
1. Risk hoping that you could possibly have less stress.
2. Let someone help you. Ever try to unlock handcuffs while trapped in them? It's a little difficult. Much easier to let someone else help you.
3. Take the first step to addressing the issue - face the fact that your career is causing you pain and decide that you want it to be better now.
4. Email me.
The real issue is how to loosen or release them.
Steps to release:
1. Risk hoping that you could possibly have less stress.
2. Let someone help you. Ever try to unlock handcuffs while trapped in them? It's a little difficult. Much easier to let someone else help you.
3. Take the first step to addressing the issue - face the fact that your career is causing you pain and decide that you want it to be better now.
4. Email me.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
When is the right time to call a career consultant?
When is the right time to call a career consultant?
1. BEFORE you think you need to. Biggest mistake people make is waiting. They think that they're doing fine in the decision making process. Remaining in a problematic job situation is evidence enough that you are too good at ignoring what bothers you. You will not be an adequate judge of when you need help with this.
Listen to the people who care. When they tell you to do something about the problem, you've got to listen because you can't be an accurate reviewer of your own situation.
2. The first time you consider it. OK, let's be honest. You won't do anything the first time you think about it. You're a lawyer. You need time to review, consider, research, research more, ponder, fret, analyze, research more, and worry more. Do something when you're midway through the first round of consideration. Don't drag out the process of making a decision about hiring someone to help you make a decision what to do. Better you should spend your energy figuring out what you want to do.
3. When you realize that you don't have the answers, call. Seriously, this is a given. You don't have the answers. Helping people make career choices isn't your gift in life. If it was, you'd be doing my job instead of reading about it. Even if you had this drive to help people, you still wouldn't be able to do by yourself. No one can.
Should people read a book or talk to their friend who works next door to a lawyer then decide they can write their own wills? No, because they don't know how to consider all aspects. It's the same with your career. My job is to listen to the things you're saying that you don't know you think, believe, or feel. My job is to consider the aspects that you don't even realize play in.
4. If you are part of the layoff scene, call me now. (OK, possibly not right now, because the phone would wake my family. But you can email me now.)
Again, people wait too long. They think their next position will fall into place. They think their choices will fall into place. They think that a good chat with a friend or colleague or family member will miraculously answer the half-asked questions. Your family can't see you objectively. Your colleagues bring their own baggage to the conversation. Your friends have their own agendas. You need someone who can be objective.
You need an objective look quickly, because if you've been laid off the clock is ticking. You probably know how many months of living expenses you have available.
What you don't realize is that you have a limited amount of available psychological resources. The clock is ticking on how you deal with this transition. As you wait your psychological resources dwindle making the decision-making process that much harder.
5. When you know you want to be happier and just don't know how to get there. There are far too many unhappy lawyers. It doesn't have to be that way. You may want to escape the law. You may feel there is no escape. Either way, you can be happier, far happier than you ever considered. Just do something toward that end.
6. When you're willing to take a chance to find a happier future. Enough said.
1. BEFORE you think you need to. Biggest mistake people make is waiting. They think that they're doing fine in the decision making process. Remaining in a problematic job situation is evidence enough that you are too good at ignoring what bothers you. You will not be an adequate judge of when you need help with this.
Listen to the people who care. When they tell you to do something about the problem, you've got to listen because you can't be an accurate reviewer of your own situation.
2. The first time you consider it. OK, let's be honest. You won't do anything the first time you think about it. You're a lawyer. You need time to review, consider, research, research more, ponder, fret, analyze, research more, and worry more. Do something when you're midway through the first round of consideration. Don't drag out the process of making a decision about hiring someone to help you make a decision what to do. Better you should spend your energy figuring out what you want to do.
3. When you realize that you don't have the answers, call. Seriously, this is a given. You don't have the answers. Helping people make career choices isn't your gift in life. If it was, you'd be doing my job instead of reading about it. Even if you had this drive to help people, you still wouldn't be able to do by yourself. No one can.
Should people read a book or talk to their friend who works next door to a lawyer then decide they can write their own wills? No, because they don't know how to consider all aspects. It's the same with your career. My job is to listen to the things you're saying that you don't know you think, believe, or feel. My job is to consider the aspects that you don't even realize play in.
4. If you are part of the layoff scene, call me now. (OK, possibly not right now, because the phone would wake my family. But you can email me now.)
Again, people wait too long. They think their next position will fall into place. They think their choices will fall into place. They think that a good chat with a friend or colleague or family member will miraculously answer the half-asked questions. Your family can't see you objectively. Your colleagues bring their own baggage to the conversation. Your friends have their own agendas. You need someone who can be objective.
You need an objective look quickly, because if you've been laid off the clock is ticking. You probably know how many months of living expenses you have available.
What you don't realize is that you have a limited amount of available psychological resources. The clock is ticking on how you deal with this transition. As you wait your psychological resources dwindle making the decision-making process that much harder.
5. When you know you want to be happier and just don't know how to get there. There are far too many unhappy lawyers. It doesn't have to be that way. You may want to escape the law. You may feel there is no escape. Either way, you can be happier, far happier than you ever considered. Just do something toward that end.
6. When you're willing to take a chance to find a happier future. Enough said.
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