On Writing

There's an interesting slow-boil discussion going on about lawyers' self-perception of their own writing skill.  It started here, and just got a little kick here.  It's an interesting topic, and I've had the opportunity to think about it in my own experience, so it's worth addressing.

Like many people, I entered law school with an idea that I was a good writer.  I'd gotten decent grades in undergrad, and I was almost always able to write A-papers with little or no revision.  After graduation, I was recognized as a good writer in my work.  Indeed, I published a poem and microfiction piece.  These experiences, from what I can tell, are similar to other law students—we all generally believe we're good writers going into the process.

But like other law students, I was quickly shown the error of my ways.  To my surprise, I had to work hard in my first semester legal writing class.  The standards were demanding and I was forced to leart to write better.  (For the curious, I think my biggest problems were wordiness and trying to sound too 'lawyerish.')  Since then, I've spent a lot of time refining what I've learned and trying to soak up as much as possible.  After all, school is the (often) harm-free place to practice these skills.

So where am I now?  Well, I haven't completely ditched the idea that I'm a good writer, but it comes with two hefty qualifiers.

First, I've refined my self-image a bit—I'm a fairly good writer for a law student.  Law school is really the place to begin learning about my trade, and I have so much more to learn that I can barely comprehend how much I don't know.  That's one of the reasons I found last summer's job so valuable, and why I'm looking forward to clerking when I'm done.  I'm really looking forward to refining my skill.  I'll be surrounded by judges and clerks who will all be more experienced, and I want the chance to soak up as much of their skill as possible.

Second, being a good writer—in any context—still means that I'll have more to learn.  I expect that I'll be perfecting this skill for the rest of my life.  I hope so, anyway.  I don't think I'll be able to learn at the pace I've enjoyed so far—being surrounded and learning from so many great writers is a rare opportunity—but it's something I plan to constantly keep an eye on.

Finally, there is one last fun note.  Not long ago I had the opportunity to just browse my blog archives.  It's amazing to me how much even my casual writing has improved in the last five semesters.  Many of my earlier posts were truly cringe-worthy, either written poorly or simply not well-thought-out.  I don't regret the posts at all—they are accurate snapshots of where I was at the time and how far I've come.  And they're a reminder that even if it's not obvious at the time, I'll always have further to go.