For a seasoned attorney, it’s just another summer, but for a law student fortunate enough to land one of the prestigious positions, it’s a leap into the unknown.
I’ll share my perspective of the leap and how I managed to find my footing.
My first day as a summer associate began a week after finishing my 1L year at the University of Florida. I quickly learned that while law school taught me how to think like a lawyer, it didn’t quite teach me how to practice like a lawyer.
French philosopher Blaise Pascal best summarizes the law in practice: “I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.”
As an undergraduate student, you find ways to turn a two-page topic into a 10-page essay just to meet the word requirement. In the practice of law you must find a way to turn 300 pages of case law into a succinct synopsis.
Law school prepared me to research and write long, elaborate memos and briefs analyzing every issue imaginable. However, it did not teach me how to take an open universe of case law and summarize it in a page or less to answer a legal question that may be as broad as a barn door or as narrow as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ chance of winning the Super Bowl.
Likewise, while law school prepared me to handle the constant stress of feeling like there’s always more to be done, it didn’t teach me how to balance having 10 assignments due in a week to multiple attorneys.
The hardest adjustment of all, for me, was realizing that there isn’t always an answer. As humans, we find comfort in things being black and white, but the law is often grey. Growing up in school we’re taught to believe that there is always a right answer, but this isn’t always the case with the law. Sometimes the law is unsettled and sometimes, the correct answer is that there is no answer.
While there certainly have been trials and tribulations with figuring out how to deal with the many new challenges that face young lawyers-to-be, there’s comfort in knowing that The Jacksonville Bar is full of willing friends and mentors who stand ready to offer guidance and support.
The Young Lawyers Section of The Jacksonville Bar Association does a fantastic job of connecting law students with potential mentors and of introducing students to the 4th Judicial Circuit’s legal landscape with their “Noon in June” event every year.
Getting to converse with and receive advice from attorneys working in various sectors of the law ranging from judges, to prosecutors and defense attorneys, to general counsels and attorneys at various firms, was an invaluable opportunity. The speakers didn’t just give insight into their respective fields, but offered advice on finding our own path as young lawyers-to-be and how to succeed regardless of the path we should choose.
Television and movies often depict successful attorneys as heartless bridge-burners, doing whatever it takes to win the case; but this could not be further from the truth in my experience thus far. The Jacksonville Bar community seems to thrive on collaboration, civility and professionalism.
I’ve found myself addicted to the continuing drive to learn more about the law, and this summer has me enthusiastic about my career to come.
Matthew Borello is a summer law clerk at Alexander DeGance Barnett and is attending the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law.