Reading and Writing and .......

I am part of a family of teachers.  I used to say I was part of a family of lawyers.  No more.  My son is a high school teacher.  His lovely girlfriend is a high school teacher.  My brother-in-everything but the law is a high school teacher.  I'm a law school teacher.  When I think back on it, my father was a teacher too:  he would say his job was to teach and help his witnesses to teach the judge and the jury.  Whew!  That's a lot of teachers.  Even though we all teach different things, we have a lot in common. First, we put in A LOT of work behind the scenes.  It takes hours and hours to prepare for just one week of classes.  Students don't realize the amount of work it takes.  Second, we put in a lot of work outside of class, just because.  All those class and club sponsorships, mentoring, chaperoning, reference writing and receptions take time, and they are usually without pay.  We have to attend continuing education to keep our skills sharp.  Even if they are for pay, the pay is a pittance for the amount of time.  It really doesn't matter what we teach, as it takes a lot of effort to walk into a classroom and instruct students well.  As a student, I had no clue about all of this, and I bet our students now don't either.  They just think we're good teachers and everything else happens by magic.

Here in the Trenches, our work is a lot like teaching.  For every meeting we attend, every hearing at which we appear, every mediation in which we participate, there are hours and hours of preparation beforehand.  Most clients never see us poring through years' worth of emails and documents to find the ones that most help their case.  They don't see us spending hours preparing, editing and refining documents, letters, pleadings,  and questions for witnesses.  They don't know how many hours and days we spend reviewing updates in the law and attending classes to keep our skills up to snuff.  All they know is what they see when they meet with us and when we're "on," taking depositions, being part of collaborative meetings, participating in mediations, and appearing in court.  It looks so easy, except it's not.  They'll never really know or appreciate what it takes for us to do what we do.  So long as they think we're good lawyers, counselors and advocates, it's usually enough.  Here in the Trenches.