A Sneak Peek into My Future: What I’ve Learned from A Summer in Local Law

By Josie Mastandrea

What I’ve come to realize, however, is that Chris and my mother’s careers are not quite as distinct as I might have thought. Private law is a businessman’s game. Chris has put just as much time into running his business–updating his website, managing his finances, maintaining relationships–as he has into his cases. That’s just how it goes, at least in the beginning. A lawyer needs clients, and clients don’t just appear on your doorstep until you’ve put in the work to make your name the one that comes to mind, or the one that friend of a friend mentions, or the one whose website that defendant has come across. Nowadays, Chris reaps the benefits of the work he put into the business side of things early on. That has been lesson number 1.

The Job Isn’t for Everyone

A lot of lawyers will warn you that the real practice of law is not as glamorous as it may seem. I hear a lot of “law school was the worst time of my life,” “you’re going to live in the office,” or of the devastation that comes from letting people down when you lose an important case for them. As an aspiring lawyer, the rhetoric that surrounds the career makes me question my choices sometimes.

If there’s one thing Chris has confirmed for me this summer, it’s that that mindset is not every attorney’s. It’s not even close to Chris’. Chris loves his job. He doesn’t seem to mind that he works more of a 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., then 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., then 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and sometimes 12:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. when a client calls from the hospital in the middle of the night–rather than a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. He loves almost every minute of it. I only say “almost,” because Chris hates to lose. What I’ve learned though, is that you can hate losing–you probably should, it means you care–but, if you know how to take a loss, learn from it, and move on, as I’ve seen Chris do first-hand, it doesn’t ruin the work for you. That’s lesson number 2.

A summer spent in and out of courtrooms and client meetings with Chris has only served to confirm that this is exactly what I want to do with my life. The only obstacles remaining are the 5 years in between now and the beginning of that life. Luckily, I leave Boston this summer certain that lesson number will carry me through these next few years. 

Lesson number 3: this is the career for me. Thanks, Chris!