Thursday, October 14, 2010

LIfe decision, MADE!

This question has been haunting me for months now, and ironically, it has been resolved at the weirdest, most unlikely forum in the company of the most unlikely people.

I went into my boss's office to ask the simplest of questions, and as the discussion veered toward's intellectual property rights, the boss started telling me about his experiences as a litigation lawyer. At the time, I was reflecting on how chatty he is, and thus how very different from my other bosses. But as I took the elevator down some hundred floors, I started getting excited. I realised that litigation makes most sense, and the decision has me euphoric, surely a good sign. Here's my pros list

1) I. do. not. have. to. think. about. what to wear. Its penguin suits all the way, and though that would be depressing for some, for me its a god send.

2) Its like LSC on speed. I might've mentioned this earlier, but I get a monumental kick when I find something to help an LSC client, and imagine doing that for a living!

3) Arguing. Muahaha. Shredding arguments to shreds. Favourite pastime, turned profession.

4) Barely any money, so no tension about where, how to spend, how much I earn in comparison with peers (I know I can afford chai biskoot, thats good enough)

5) Since its supposed to be difficult for women to litigate, OBVIOUSLY I want to :D

6) I won't have to sit at a desk all day, I'll be going to court, standing in lines, getting frustrated, driving long distances and THEN sitting at a desk

7) High pressure, totally exhilarating.

8) Caffeine addiction, and I will prize a day's vacation. Perfect.

9) Nice blend of dull, unthinking work and really intense work involving lots of creative thinking. Again, perfecto.

PS

10) I know that after having gone through law school, I will want to actually apply the stuff I learnt, and the image of the black robe billowing behind me as I stalk corridors with my head whirring and arms full of books and papers is aaaa so exciting.

11) I can't stand central air conditioning. So no office job for me until I get my immunity nicely built up.

12) This feels nice and desi, you know. Sweaty, hard work, dhaka muki, this is the kind of work that will make me feel like I made my place in the world, so I can look back and say, boss, bahut dhakhe khaye the. Whats the point of entering the adult world with a nice cushy job and all possible comforts? How will that help you prize what you make for yourself?

And boss tells me the career graph for people who take regular corp jobs is something like this- start HIGH, plateau, keep plateauing, and then enjoy gradual growth. He says even if you choose to go corporate firmy later, you'll make a better lawyer, know more and seem like you know more, so you'll do better faster than your contemporaries. Which means that when I'm a little older and wanting to rest my behind and have had my share of excitement and sleepless nights, I can do a firm job (if I decide to stick with law) and get meatier work AND a nice chair and awesome view. THIS IS SO PERFECT.

13) And if I decide I've had enough of pure law and want to do some policy type work-my experience as a litigating lawyer will expose me to a wide enough range of issues, government policies, degree of implementation, manner of implementation etc, which will help me be a better analyst. Sooo perfect.

14) I really like IPR and tax. So I had it listed as one option, to work with an IPR or tax firm. But I was listening to boss talk about how TM is fun, but "kitna karoge" and it got me thinking, it might be true, you know, much as I like IPR, too much of it would probably make it run of the mill and mechanical as opposed to being a breath of fresh air to enliven my days of drugdery, bail applications and miscellaneous petitions. I mean, litigation will be like the first year at grad school abroad, you dabble in a range of things and discover what you're truly passionate about, then you specialize.

Yesa. Versatility, a degree of independence, a feeling of impacting someone's life, being responsible blah blah. Yessir.

Cons

1) No money. Meh, big deal. If after two years, I find that I'm not a good litigator, I'll go abroad, study, come back and turn to my other love, policy and make enough to be comfortable. If I'm good, I'll eventually earn enough.

2) Er... Long work hours, lots of pressure blah blah. All pluses for me. Heehaw.

Can't think of other cons.

This feels right. :D

PS- I have to say that the great Mr. Mohan has always been an advocate of my litigating, but like the decision to quit smoking, something like this needs to be figured out for oneself. Non, Ayush?

2 comments:

X said...

LSC on speed wouldn't be a good idea, really. Otherwise, good luck with the resolve

Aqseer said...

I don't mean speed speed :)
Thank you, I hope I can stick with this decision.