Most of the public is probably unaware that any lawyer in good standing before the highest court of a state can actually apply for admission before the Supreme Court of the United States. You don’t even need to have a case to gain admission! In fact, most lawyers don’t. They do it for the prestige.

Personally, I was always too busy working my clients’ cases to concern myself with ‘prestige.’ I was admitted to SCOTUS out of genuine ‘need.’ I had an actual case that had to go there for a disposition. You can google ‘Mathews v. Whittaker’ which garnered some national attention I wasn’t even looking for.

There’s so much more to the practice of law than just being booksmart. So much of the practice is acquired ‘outside of the pages.’ At sixty years of age, I earned my wisdom; I didn’t simply acquire it.

Hours, days, weeks, months and years of grinding though this profession was and still is a humbling experience. I’m a cautious and practical lawyer. I take nothing for granted. In my early years, I learned quickly that no case is ‘a sure thing’ and they all involve taking calculated risks when you must press forward.

The practice of law is not made up of idealistic blocks of perfection, institutional pillars of justice; no. It is very much a ‘people profession’ – probably more similar to whatever you do for a living, than you could ever imagine! The sooner young lawyers realize this, the better lawyers they will become.

You have to know your audience. Who is your judge? What are his/her protocols? (i.e., what can you get away with, lol) Who is your adversary? Which court is your case pending in? Courts are extremely ‘local’ no matter which one you are in. As a lawyer, you need to recognize whether you are an ‘insider’ or an ‘outsider’ and if you are an ‘outsider’ it’s best that you affiliate yourself with someone on the ‘inside.’ Good lawyers know their own strengths and weaknesses and the strengths and weaknesses of their own cases. We also ‘know what we don’t know’ – which is probably one of the most desired skillsets a young lawyer can ever acquire in this profession.

And of course, we have to take the time to know our clients. Lawyers are not machines, and clients are not numbers. If you ever feel like your lawyer is treating you like ‘a number,’ run, don’t walk away. You deserve better! It’s one of the reasons why this firm has remained small and selective in the cases it takes on. I’ve established life-long clients and even became friends with some of those clients that seemingly no longer need my legal services (well, until they inevitably do, lol). Until I get that call – sometimes years or even a decade after an initial consultation (I’ve had a handful of those!).

The practice of law by nature, is a ‘love-hate’ relationship. If your lawyer hasn’t experienced any of the ‘love-hate’ (s)he is either doing it wrong, or hasn’t been doing it long enough.

Michael E. Zapin