Today, a friend and colleague asked me which of my personalities he was speaking to when I called him from a courthouse meeting room. I said I didn’t know and I still don’t know hours later.
Defense attorneys are instant friends. Knowing nothing about each other, we already have hours of stories to exchange about our similar victories and heartaches. We speak a language half-scholarly, half-war story. This particular friend has such a sharp mind he can reach into his own cache of case histories faster than I can finish explaining the problem. In other words, he knows the answer before I even articulate the question. He has saved me from heading down the blind alleys and boxed canyons he faced long before I became a lawyer. I am blessed he answers my calls.
This is not my first career, far from it. I graduated from law school when I was 38 and didn’t get licensed until I was 43. At 47, I find myself both at the peak of my law career and the lowest point; it just depends what day it is.
