Life as a Young Lawyer

Life as young lawyer definitely has its negative aspects.

I'll give you an example. It's a common misconception (by anyone not employed in the legal profession), that young lawyers "roll in dough" and are "rich". The way that some of my (non-lawyer) friends expect me to shout rounds of drinks at the pub, for example, puts the misconception into play. My friends think that I'm made of money, or that money grows out of my armpits/ bellybutton/ arse crack.

I used to think the same way when I was still in college studying law. I was so excited to graduate and start my job as a lawyer, naively thinking that my days of being a penniless student were going to be far behind me.

Oh how wrong I was.

Let me set the record straight. Young laywers are not rich. Far from it.

Considering the hefty college debt that I owe the government for studying law in the first place, coupled with reasonable daily living expenses, payment of weekly income tax and my seemingly endless list of debts that I owe my parents, I am, what you would call in layman's terms, broke.

That's right. Penniless, Lacking Dollar, Monetarily Challenged. However you want to put it.

I am actually staying home tonight - a Friday night! - because I currently have 74c to my name. (I suppose it doesn't help that the town that I live in only has a grand total of 3 night clubs/ pubs either).

My friends find it hard to believe that I can't afford to drink cocktails every night and that I can't indulge in whimsical purchases whenver I want. If I had a dollar for every time I've had to explain WHY I can't afford to do something, I'd be giving Donald Trump a run for his money by now.

Make no mistake, though. I like being broke. Reminiscent of my college student days, I'm always finding cheap yet creative ways to pass my time. For example - I now know of all the restaurants/ take-aways around town that sell $4.00 meals (not counting the happy meal!). And cheap Tuesdays - tried and tested by yours truly.

Not that I have much time to spend bucketloads of money anyway. Working 12 to 14 hour days, 5 days a week - I'd be lucky if I made it home with enough energy to cook dinner.

As a young lawyer, I'm constantly learning new things, and experiencing unique situations every day.

Having practised as a lawyer for almost 2 years now, I am getting better at assessing situations and sensing clients' unspoken instructions. I am also getting better at bullcrapping my way out of a "stickler" - so I guess some myths about lawyers are true.

I find that there are two kinds of clients: those that believe everything you say, and those that refuse to listen to anything at all. The latter kind of clients - the "Know-Its", as I fondly refer to them - can then be broken down to two further categories: 1. "Know-It's-True-But-I-Won't-Listen-To You"; and 2. "Know-I'm-Right-So-I-Won't-Listen-To-You".

Most "sticklers" occur when I see a "Know-It" client, however I have been known to bullcrap with the other sort of client too. Practice makes perfect, I say.

Don't get me wrong - I will only bullcrap if it is absolutely necessary. That is, when a client asks me a question that I don't know the answer to, and where I feel that the client will hit me with a club/ baton/ ironing board if I don't give them an answer straight away.

Speaking of clients, I might've mentioned before that I find it difficult to handle sensitive clients. I guess I failed to mention that I also find it awkward to deal with clients who are at least 40 years my senior. It kinda feels like telling your mom, dad, grandma or grandpa that you know better than them on how to handle certain situations - it's a really odd feeling.

I'm sure at one stage of our lives, we all thought that we knew the answers to life. Certainly, I thought the same in my younger days. I was adamant that I knew what to do with my life and how to go about living my life, that I barely heard the whispered cries of my parents telling me to slow down.

Now that I'm a little bit older, I can appreciate the wisdom of my elders.

And now that I can appreciate the wisdom of my elders, I find it ironically weird to tell my older clients what to do.

The ONLY up-side to being a young lawyer is that I sometimes get free lunches/ dinners/ drinks. Note the deliberate use of the word "sometimes".

Contrary to popular belief, lawyers don't always have 5-hour lunches and go interstate/ overseas/ across the border to stay in 5-star hotels at the cost of their clients. Well, not young lawyers anyway.

Hopefully, in 10 years' time I will be able to report that my work has taken me to Shangri-La Hotel in Hawai'i or the Flamingo Sheraton in Las Vegas. But I won't hold my breath.