Now that I'm in a general practice office I see the limitations of starting practicing as an assistant attorney general in child support enforcement. The job was so narrow and my secretary so skilled that I learned very little except how to perform in court on the fly and write judgment orders. I thought child support would bolster me in doing divorce work, but it hasn't really. Plus I was practicing in TEENY TINY counties with one or two judges and a few helpful women in the clerk's office. Dealing with the Mc Lean County court system is far different and I find myself figuratively running into walls on the regular. It's frustrating to think I know what I'm doing and to be stopped short over and over again. I'm at the end of my first divorce case and I've realized just how much mentoring I still need even though I've been licensed FOUR YEARS. FOUR YEARS! I'm now relying heavily on the very, VERY generous help of experienced Bloomington attorneys each step of the way.
If I was giving advice to someone in my position in 2008 of leaving a clerkship and having two offers I would say, all else being relatively equal, take the job with more variety of tasks to learn.
2 comments:
The great thing about being an attorny in a small town is that you are forced to know more about many aspects of law than those attorneys in larger practices who specialize. It actually makes you a better, well-rounded professional in the long run.
YAY! you are writing again!
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