> Spoken like someone who truly has no idea what lawyering is about. Or law school. My law-school experience was probably 1/3 learning the rules and 2/3 trying

> Spoken like someone who truly has no idea what lawyering is about. Or law school. My law-school experience was probably 1/3 learning the rules and 2/3 trying to understand or critique the moral underpinnings of those rules. This relates to a common misunderstanding about lawyers. A good lawyer's real skill is not knowing the rules--there are too many of them. Our skill is in rapidly learning and applying the rules to new situations, and understanding how the relevant power structures will react to our client's situation with respect to these rules. An understanding of the moral and policy underpinnings of these rules is key to doing this effectively.