{"id":2132,"date":"2021-10-27T12:39:41","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T12:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/louisliaw.com\/?p=2132"},"modified":"2025-08-28T16:15:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T16:15:19","slug":"legal-practice-is-not-like-suits-its-more-like-hells-kitchen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/louisliaw.com\/staging\/legal-practice-is-not-like-suits-its-more-like-hells-kitchen\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal practice is not like Suits, it’s more like Hell’s Kitchen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As lawyers, we handle real problems faced by real people.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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From ensuring one\u2019s inheritance is distributed in a harmonious way that preserves the fabric of his\/her family, to defending one\u2019s constitutional and democratic right needed to preserve the fabric of society.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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While to us it may just be<\/span> another brown folder on the shelf, beneath it is someone\u2019s home, life\u2019s work, livelihood, family, dignity, liberty, or even life.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Everything we do and every step we take has real-life consequences, and can determine someone\u2019s life trajectory.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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This is why we need to treat legal practice with utmost seriousness.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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We must hold ourselves to the highest of standards, to do every single task not only to the best of our abilities, but also to an objective standard of excellence.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Those who can\u2019t achieve that standard should leave, as you\u2019re a hazard to society, and a danger to clients. Even, if you think you are doing the best you could.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Now, we know good lawyering may not win you a case you should have lost.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But poor lawyering, may very well lose you a case you should have won. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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And the latter is thousands times more painful, because then, the fault is yours, the blame is on you, and the blood, is on your hands.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Everybody makes mistakes too; but there is a huge difference between an honest mistake and a mistake due to a dereliction of duty, laziness, and pure negligence. <\/span>The latter deserves the strongest condemnation because, at the end of the day, it is the innnocent client who suffers.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But how many in the profession, grasp the seriousness of our work?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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We have juniors who take becoming a lawyer as merely a badge for \u201cbeauty\/handsome with brains\u201d, and who frown upon any criticism against them. They expect employers to behave like their parents, who\u2019d pat them on their back and tell them \u201cit is okay as long you tried your best!<\/em>\u201d \u2013 well, it is not.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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We have seniors who while yelling \u201cit\u2019s a noble profession!<\/em>\u201d on social media, can\u2019t even string two sentences properly in court, after 1 year and still can’t operate Zoom and conduct a virtual hearing smoothly, and can\u2019t cross-examine without ending up in a shouting contest with the witness. How noble are you?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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And we have law schools that churn out graduates with the lowest of standards. Profit is what they pursue, not knowledge.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Of course, it is easy to criticize others. <\/span><\/div>\n

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So, let me make it clear that most important of all, we ourselves, should be our harshest critics. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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We must constantly ask ourselves:<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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