of practice, perfection, and patience

Twice since arriving at Tulane I've been told that it takes approximately 10,000 hours to "master" a skill. Apparently, that works out to about five years....

If that's true, I've already mastered the practice of law. I mean, sure I wasn't Licensed By The State, but I know from living in a law office day in and day out for five years what it takes to be a good lawyer. I've been there and done that every step of the way along with those who were duly licensed, with the exception of the Official Courtroom Proceedings...

I'm loving law school because it's school - challenging and rewarding - but I miss the actual practice of law. This is actually encouraging, however, because it has me totally convinced that I'm on the right path. If I find myself eager to find a law office job and again do Real Legal Work, then most certainly law school was, in spite of all the doubt and worry and difficulty of the past few weeks and months, really and truly a Good Idea.

For the time being, however, it's back to the books. School has been demanding lately (as if that's anything new), and the sorry part is that it's going to get much, much worse before it gets any better. For the past two weeks we were busy and distracted with the stress of practice exams. Although they were only practice and not for any kind of grade, to benefit from it one had to put forth something resembling the effort and time required to prepare for a Real Law School Exam. This week brought our first Real Research Writing Project Deadline, as well as the first session of a Career Development mini-course.

And all the while I'm still reading cases and learning doctrines, because practice makes perfect.

But what I miss is the day-to-day practice of law in the Real World. I'm caught up in the Ivory Tower in a way that I've never actually before been. (It used to be, in my previous scholastic endeavors, that my law office wage-earning work kept me firmly tethered to the Real World, but now I find myself steeped in the academy in a way that borders on suffocation.) What I'm doing now - right now - doesn't matter to anyone. No one is depending on me to do something with a piece of paper that will have a lasting, meaningful impact on someone's life course. I'm just reading cases long decided, and analyzing and writing about hypothetical legal problems. All the while there's Real Legal Problems happening, out there in the Real World, but they are wholly disconnected from my current endeavors.

So I'll continue diligently working, in eager anticipation of the day when the Law School Hazing is over and I can start taking baby-steps into the Real World as a Real Lawyer...