I was listening to Shane Parrish’s pod today and they were talking about the value of people publishing stories of their own failures and how positively that can impact others—the experience of knowing you’re not alone in your struggles.
This is one of the reasons the practice of law is so difficult. Many of my ‘chosen’ profession’s perceived failures can often be interpreted as malpractice, or weaponized to justify the initiation of a malpractice suit if only to extract MP insurance proceeds from the lawyer by an unsatisfied client.
In fact, one reason lawyers almost never sue clients who fail to pay their bill is it almost inevitably invites a countersuit for malpractice even if its bullshit—because in America you can sue anyone for anything, doesn’t mean you can prevail but lawfare is real.
So, lawyers are often very alone with their struggles in their own work. When we fail to accomplish everything we set out to do in a case, or forget a critical document, or forget an important argument, or even fail to identify the right argument in an ocean of potential arguments—we have to live with it in silence. tMore often than not we rise to the occasion but everyone is flawed, even your lawyer believe it or not.
And to those who have had bad experiences with lawyers or negative feelings toward the profession, keep in mind that in almost every circumstance where a lawyer is prosecuting some suit that you find reprehensible or immoral, there is a lawyer on the other side arguing for the opposite (read: “good”) side.