think like a lawyer

travelin' oma assignment number fifteen

i have always been an opinionated person. i can't help it, it's in my blood. i have never really had a problem sharing those opinions. i was voted most conservative in my high school and i don't think it's because i was actually the most conservative student in my high school, i think it is simply that i was one of the few people who was willing to vocalize more conservative viewpoints amidst a liberal student body.

then i went to law school. it's not that i became any less opinionated, i just changed how i formed those opinions, how i expressed those opinions, and how i listened to other people's opinions. this is what they were talking about the first week of my first year when they told us that they were going to teach us to think like lawyers.

i know, some of you may be rolling your eyes and saying, "yeah, think like a lawyer. you mean see everything in gray when it is really black and white." no, that is not what i mean. you can save your evil crafty lawyer jokes for someone else. i still see plenty of things in black and white. but i also have learned to see the big picture and take in both sides before forming an opinion. it is rare that a law suit (or legislation, or any legal issue) gets to any kind of advanced stage in the legal process without there being some merit on both sides.

so now, i am an opinionated woman who thinks like a lawyer. i usually start out with a gut reaction to a situation, but very quickly after that gut reaction follows a look at the other side. i think that this drives randy nuts sometimes. he will say something and i immediately come back with the counterargument, even if i pretty much agree with him. it is simply my way of talking through the issue and really determining if i have formed a valid opinion.

i also am much slower to share my opinion. some of you may laugh, but you should have seen me before law school! i am still probably pretty quick to vocalize my opinion on small issues, but on issues of any kind of significance, i am much more reluctant to speak unless i have really studied out and researched both sides. while we were dating, randy had a roommate who would say, "what's your opinion on _____?" (insert big political or social issue here such as capital punishment or abortion), hoping for a good heated debate with a law student. and i just wouldn't do it if i didn't know enough to really throw my hat in the ring wholeheartedly. now, get me going on a topic that i know plenty about...

having said all of that, i think that it can be dangerous to get too entrenched in this process and never really arrive at moral conclusions for yourself. i've known people who let debates play out far too long in their head and end up feeling lost and confused in such a complex world. i feel fortunate to have a firm moral foundation that doesn't waiver and that serves as a constant backdrop for me when forming thoughts and opinions. i do think that there are absolute truths that should govern our behaviors as individuals and a society. but, armed with those, i am happy to listen openly to both sides of an argument and engage in lively discussion.