Optimism v. Pessimisim
I read an article recently where some large law firms in Chicago and Washington, D.C., were laying off (firing) lawyers and support staff. One firm reportedly “asked” ten equity and non-equity partners to leave. The quote from the managing partner was: “we have to watch the bottom line”.
These are scary economic times as we all know. There is always that tension between law as a profession and the “business” side of private practice.
For many of us, this is the life we have chosen. It is not a job but a “calling”. As such, our PBCBA helps us to nurture our professionalism – but also helps with the business side by having CLE seminars on how to manage our practices professionally and how to improve our business efficiency by making mentors available and having training and information available on systems (computers and otherwise) that may aid us to make our practices more efficient on the “business” side.
Ultimately, it “pays” to be optimistic with our clients, our peers, our opponents and even our competitors. They like it, it makes us feel good, it’s more “professional” and it’s good for business. Although pundit and columnist George Will has said: “the nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised”, I prefer the middle ground position of humorist Gil Stern: “Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute.”
When it comes to trial lawyers (although I think this is applicable to all of our specialties), Ed Ricci made a great point in a recent article for the PBCJA on “Why Juries Hate Trial Lawyers”. Ed noted a number of scandals where nationally prominent lawyers had been arrested and gone to jail noting that their “Achilles heel” was “the money”. He then referred to the most famous trial lawyers – some real – some fictional – Clarence Darrow, Perry Mason, Atticus Finch and others and asked a rhetorical question about whether these iconic folks were revered for “the money” or because of their skill and devotion to justice. It’s obvious that they were champions of justice.
Optimistically, I would like to think the stories of the above men are not lessons lost in the current business climate.
