new strategy for lawyering

My second attempt at lawyering is going much more pleasantly than the first, and I think I have learned a big reason why.

My old strategy for dealing with confusing things was to ask advice from another attorney. This sometimes took a long time and most often yielded lengthy answers riddled with legalese.

My new strategy is to pretend that I am just a regular confused layperson and ask for help. I ask court clerks for help, I ask Google for help, I ask the self-help books at Barnes and Noble for help. These sources use short, simple words that I can understand. I have also found that, while Google and B&N are equal-opportunity help-givers, clerks are generally much MORE helpful before I disclose that I am an attorney. Anonymity is a powerful thing.

(And clerks seem to need more than the normal daily quota of ego-boosting to function happily, so they prefer the damsel-in-distress thing.)