Lawyer Blog (?)

March 30, 2005 9:48 PM

Phila Lawyer reads like fiction (awesome, Hunter S. Thompson -esque fiction -- Part 1, 2 ) to outsiders, but that might just be because it's so fucking good. The lawyers commiserating in the comments, at least, think it's real.
The navigation is cumbersome -- if you're not careful, you'll come into a story in the middle. For your perusal, then, I've laid a few out:
Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Part 1, 2
Part 1, 2, 3, 4
posted by Tlogmer (7 comments total)

He should probably be mandatory reading for anyone contemplating a career in law. As a soon-to-be lawyer (as a second career), I'm perfectly happy with my career choice, but I've had a lifetime of being surrounded by lawyers, plus a bunch of friends who did the law-school-followed-by-disillusionment thing before me, so I went in with open eyes.

To any aspiring lawyers on metafilter: don't drink the Kool Aid. Just be yourself, like your job, but have a life outside.

PS. Some of the stories may be NSFW in their content (drugs, nudity, etc.)
posted by socratic at 10:08 PM on March 30, 2005

Oops. The first part-2 I linked -- possibly the best of the posts -- is actually here.
posted by Tlogmer at 10:31 PM on March 30, 2005

This is pretty interesting reading. Thanks.


/obligatory 'but he's obviously no HST' comment
posted by Espoo2 at 10:35 PM on March 30, 2005

this is really, really good writing.
posted by trinarian at 12:20 AM on March 31, 2005

"...this is really, really good writing."

Much closer to "good" than "really, really good". He could use the advice of a good editor. His main problem is that he frequently is trying too hard. There are some highly respected authors nowadays that also try too hard. The difference, though, is that their enormously overwritten prose is arguably sui generis. This writer's isn't. He has a few ostentatious affectations. One is the HST fascination and deconstruction of chemically altered mental states. He's not as good at it as HST; but even if he were, it's almost a cliche. Another is his overwrought metaphors using past events. And the general problem is that his writing is far too self-aware of his use of various clever literary tropes as he tells his tales. Sometimes the very best writing follows that sort of a formula. But when it does, the reader doesn't notice it.

That criticism aside, he's by far at his best when he's painting his dystopic picture of lawyerdom. (His college stories would be entertaining to have experienced, or to be told by a friend who lived them; but there's a bazillion people with stories like that, they're cliche. The protagonist is a stereotype.)

I read quite a few of his entries because there is gold in there...mostly in his observations about lawyering. If he'd focus on that and not try so damned hard to be a clever writer, there'd be something closer to "really, really good" in his writing.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:39 AM on March 31, 2005

I couldn't get through the description of the college buddy cutting up the hairy Kiwis without crying.

Literally, sitting at my desk, tears running down my face and trying to get through the end of the paragraph.

I don't even know if the hilarity will translate to my wife -- she usually gets what I get, but this is so very over the top...
posted by thanotopsis at 6:38 AM on March 31, 2005

[this is good]

I particularly liked the Madonna/Bob Weir reference...short shorts phase...heh. The dead bodies (introverted dopeheads) tangent was interesting and reminded me of less social friends of mine that "self-medicate" heavily before entering any social interaction. Somehow they are surprised when said interaction is nearly impossible.

I really like the idea that you shouldn't let the two (or more) spheres/identities overlap too much...and he illustrates the inherent disasters likely to result quite well IMO.

I think I may be a ten-percenter.
posted by schyler523 at 11:27 AM on March 31, 2005