The View From Where I Sit

On March 3, 1967 I packed all my valued belongings, mostly phonograph records, into my 1962 Oldsmobile, bade farewell to Columbus, Ohio, and headed to Washington D.C. and Georgetown law school. I had $700 in the bank. If I had it all over to do again, going to Georgetown is certainly one thing I'd do again, and, boy would I enjoy it, just like I did the first time. And I'd certainly choose the law as a career and as an intellectual pursuit, and patent law is the crème de al crème of the legal profession.

Almost thirty years into the practice of law, I've visited most of the great places in the world, from the Great Wall of China to Times Square. I've met and befriended fascinating people of all descriptions. I made more money than I will likely be ever able to spend, giving me the opportunity to help my family and others do things they couldn't do otherwise. I spent many a long weekend drafting briefs and other papers that sometimes achieved spectacular results, and sometimes spectacular failures. I've sat in a courtroom beside a trembling client, and heard a jury award ten million dollars to my client, and I've sat in another courtroom where my client's dreams of untold wealth, and fair treatment, and my fee, turned to dust. I have talked to audiences in Japan, Cleveland and Paris. I know well how to find the best red wine on a menu.

I've been partners in two multinational law firms, and been fascinated by the internal politics and the personalities involved. I started a law firm and wondered whether any clients would show up, only to see it thrive and grow. I have started businesses, acquired businesses and sold businesses. I created a patent bar review course that was the best, sold that course to PLI and was shortly thereafter terminated from the course I created.

The possibilities and opportunities that going to law school open up continue to be astounding to me. I have had a fantastic career to date, and 1) my experience is far from unique, and 2) it's far from over. I am having a ball.

Part of the problem you have in trying to evaluate whether to go to law school or what part of law to pursue is that you come with preconceptions, largely wrong, as to what a lawyer really does and how. These came from TV, from literature and from movies and you have been busy reinforcing them in endless discussions about the latest celebrity murder case. Try consciously to put all those ideas out of your mind. To the extent you can, you will make a better decision.

The most common question I get in talking to college seniors is whether the great opportunities that were there for me are still there. All have heard the tales about lawyers not finding jobs, about Manhattan associates who haven't seen the sun in years, and about lawyers who wouldn't believe a day complete without stealing something from someone.

Yes, the opportunities are at least as great today. Intellectual property, patents, have assumed more and more importance. The World Wide Net is beginning a revolution, which lawyers will participate in and drive. As world trade brings us all closer together, lawyers who understand how things work in Zanzibar and Omaha will write their own tickets.

The horror stories about lawyers are just those, horror stories. Great jobs and careers are waiting to be seized, and those careers do not exclude everything else in life. Go for it!