Work, Work, Oh Shake It Up Baby!
Muley asks:
"I'm curious about what kind of attorney you are. Do you work for a big firm, doing corporate-type stuff, or do you work solo in a small office, writing up wills? And what's it's like being both a Christian and an attorney? Is that a conflict at times? Don't say anything that will get you DOOCED."
Thanks for asking! It is very difficult for me to say what I do without taking the chance of getting dooced, but I will try to give you some idea. I have been at my job for 9 years now (this week!) and I truly love it. When I first started, I was working in a medium-sized law firm in a high-rise building. I researched the law for a couple of cases here and there and I worked as a state lobbyist, but the primary focus of my job was developing and creating a publication about the judiciary. Eventually, my boss sold the firm and we moved out to create a virtual office, meaning we moved to our home offices and communicated by phone, email and meetings. Once Colin was born, I dropped all work except the publication and that's all I do now.
We have a staff of 10 attorneys and 2 support staff and still maintain the virtual office concept. We all meet together once a week to argue over which cases should be included in the publication. We argue for a few hours and then go to lunch. Lawyers are like that. Arguing isn't personal, its just what we do. It is actually a great mental exercise to argue with a bunch of attorneys once a week.
Our publication is well known in certain circles and, in those circles, we are heroes and champions - but to most of the world we are anonymous.
My job is perfect for me because I don't really want to have any "clients." I prefer to work alone most of the time and I'm easily troubled by others' troubles, so I think I'll just keep my job, thank you.
Regarding being a Christian and a lawyer, I'd like to relay what a mentor of mine once told me. He is an attorney and I was trying to decide whether to go to law school. I told him I was concerned about maintaining my Christian values and being an attorney at the same time. He is a Christian and told me it is possible to do both. Then he said what I'll never forget: "If all the Christians stayed away from the law, what would the law become?" That's the moment I made my final decision to go.
My boss is a Christian, as are most of my co-workers. Through lawyering and even lobbying, I have watched him maintain his Christian values in his work over these last 9 years. If you wonder about mixing Christianity with law, imagine mixing it with lobbying!!! But, yes, it can be done. I have seen that he commands respect at the capitol and he is trusted, perhaps even more than the other lobbyists, because everyone knows he is a man of his word. He has been a true inspiration to me in my career.
Thanks for asking, Muley!
Muley asks:
"I'm curious about what kind of attorney you are. Do you work for a big firm, doing corporate-type stuff, or do you work solo in a small office, writing up wills? And what's it's like being both a Christian and an attorney? Is that a conflict at times? Don't say anything that will get you DOOCED."
Thanks for asking! It is very difficult for me to say what I do without taking the chance of getting dooced, but I will try to give you some idea. I have been at my job for 9 years now (this week!) and I truly love it. When I first started, I was working in a medium-sized law firm in a high-rise building. I researched the law for a couple of cases here and there and I worked as a state lobbyist, but the primary focus of my job was developing and creating a publication about the judiciary. Eventually, my boss sold the firm and we moved out to create a virtual office, meaning we moved to our home offices and communicated by phone, email and meetings. Once Colin was born, I dropped all work except the publication and that's all I do now.
We have a staff of 10 attorneys and 2 support staff and still maintain the virtual office concept. We all meet together once a week to argue over which cases should be included in the publication. We argue for a few hours and then go to lunch. Lawyers are like that. Arguing isn't personal, its just what we do. It is actually a great mental exercise to argue with a bunch of attorneys once a week.
Our publication is well known in certain circles and, in those circles, we are heroes and champions - but to most of the world we are anonymous.
My job is perfect for me because I don't really want to have any "clients." I prefer to work alone most of the time and I'm easily troubled by others' troubles, so I think I'll just keep my job, thank you.
Regarding being a Christian and a lawyer, I'd like to relay what a mentor of mine once told me. He is an attorney and I was trying to decide whether to go to law school. I told him I was concerned about maintaining my Christian values and being an attorney at the same time. He is a Christian and told me it is possible to do both. Then he said what I'll never forget: "If all the Christians stayed away from the law, what would the law become?" That's the moment I made my final decision to go.
My boss is a Christian, as are most of my co-workers. Through lawyering and even lobbying, I have watched him maintain his Christian values in his work over these last 9 years. If you wonder about mixing Christianity with law, imagine mixing it with lobbying!!! But, yes, it can be done. I have seen that he commands respect at the capitol and he is trusted, perhaps even more than the other lobbyists, because everyone knows he is a man of his word. He has been a true inspiration to me in my career.
Thanks for asking, Muley!
posted by Jan at 10:12 AM
1 Comments:
I've heard other Christian lawyers make the same statement -- if Christians don't go into the law, then Christians will have no influence over the law. I've also heard the same rationale applied to politics, law enforcement, public school teaching, and many other professions. I believe it's a sound idea -- we Christians should be in every profession, except maybe pole dancing down at the strip club or loansharking.
Since you seem to want to hit them out of the park today, I have another question for you (this is fun). You seem to be very active in your church. What's it like? Is it a big church with lots of departments and programs, or is it a smaller congregation? Do people know each other outside of Sunday school? And do your kids welcome being plugged in to church activities? These are all questions I'm asking others in my church right now.
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