Almost all lawyers write for a living – at least in part. Some lawyers write contracts and deeds, others write product disclaimers, some draft lawsuits, and some write legal briefs. Almost all of us write letters. That might not seem like a big thing, but not many people write letters these days. There is a talent to writing a good letter.
That makes me think of Andy Rooney who recently stepped down from his weekly commentary spot on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” He had a talent for observing and writing about little things. Although the most recent chapter in his storied career unfolded on television, he was simply a writer speaking his own words. It takes skill to verbalize your writings. If you sound like you are just reading them, people won’t be interested. Some lawyers are like that. You see, some lawyers are good writers, and some are good talkers. “Litigators” who spend a lot of time writing motions and briefs are often writing specialists.
When it comes to actual in-court trial lawyers, more often the reverse is true. I know trial lawyers who are terrible writers. I’ve read briefs that had run-on sentences and argued things that I couldn’t follow after several readings. If I couldn’t follow them – and I’m getting paid good money to do so – I don’t think any judge is likely to follow them either.
Being a good writer requires a different skill set than being a good trial lawyer. For example, I don’t think Andy Rooney would have made a very good trial lawyer. Trial lawyers aren’t usually that disheveled. In fact, there is a certain look and demeanor that trial lawyers try to project.
I’m afraid if Andy Rooney was arguing a motion, he might get distracted wondering why so many lawyers were wearing blue suits or red ties. He would probably start mumbling about how uncomfortable the chairs are in the jury box. If the court listened to an oral argument he made and said it would take it under submission, I can hear Rooney telling the court “Hey judge, it’s OK, you’ve heard the oral arguments and I’m a big boy, just rule now so I can tell my client where we stand.” I started writing after Andy Rooney, but it seems like a long time ago. I wrote for the law school newspaper and then the local bar association. The latter was a requirement because I was an officer. I found out I was really a writer one day when I wrote a column that I decided was too controversial. (I was concerned that my humor might have been misunderstood by the partners I was working for at the time.) I only had two hours before the deadline, so I looked around my office and found something else to write about.
In the past 25 years, I’ve written about lots of things in law offices, like furniture, pictures, things on the desks, or the coffee mugs we choose. At different times I wrote about what it’s like to be a new lawyer, what it’s like to be a young partner and what its like to get older. I even wrote a column about what it’s like to be a female lawyer. I had to imagine a few things. There are times I’ve written about winning cases and losing cases, about current events and now about anniversaries of events that were current when I wrote about them the first time. There are occasions when I’ve been critical of my fellow lawyers.
Sometimes we are arrogant, sometimes we don’t pay enough attention to our clients – like not returning calls – and sometimes we don’t accomplish a task by traveling the shortest route possible. That’s a mistake. More often than not though, I see good things in lawyers. We are a charitable group that usually works extremely hard. Some of us are smart enough to make more money in other ways, but we like advocating for our clients, and we find the law interesting. It’s certainly not easy to get a hold of, and is constantly changing.
As the years have gone by, law has become less of a profession and more of a business. That’s too bad. It would be nice if we could turn the clock back to more professional times, but we can’t. Still, we need to keep in mind that we are in the service business and that our job is servicing those who need us. There are still ways to find nobility in the law, but maybe it’s not as easy as it used to be. If Andy Rooney were a lawyer, I think he’d be complaining about that too. And it is true, the jurors’ chairs aren’t very comfortable.
©2011 Under Analysis LLC Mark Levison is a member of the law firm Lathrop & Gage LLP. You can reach Under Analysis LLC in care of this paper or by e-mail at comments@levisongroup.com.