John Osborn to Scott Turow: "Game On, Bitch"
We just got back from a most engaging luncheon talk at the NYLS legal writing conference by John Jay Osborn, a law professor at the University of San Francisco and author of the 1973 novel, The Paper Chase (which led to a movie and television series).
Here's the Westlaw headnotes version of John Osborn's talk:
Law students, you need to rediscover and take back your narratives. Law school is all about forcing you to give up your narrative and play by someone else's rules. Don't let them do that to you.
Osborn covered a number of topics during the course of his remarks -- legal education, law and literature (especially Bleak House), the trajectory of legal careers, the genesis and evolution of The Paper Chase. Great stuff.
Here are a few money quotes. On Scott Turow's One L, which someone raised in Q-and-A:
"One L is competent," he sniffed. "But it doesn't have a HEART."
Osborn, a former associate at Patterson Belknap, left the legal world for a year to write. He encourages lawyers not to be afraid of trying new things or stepping off the treadmill:
"The nice thing about the law is you can go away and come back... Don't be afraid to go off and do different things. They'll ALWAYS take you back. They ALWAYS need associates."
Finally, Osborn shared with us a great quote from John Houseman, the actor and producer who won an Oscar for his work in The Paper Chase.
Some folks wanted Houseman to perform a scene in The Paper Chase that he didn't like. He refused, declaring: "I'm too old and too rich to put up with this bulls**t."
Author of The Paper Chase Joins USF School of Law [USF School of Law]
Comments
You don't get old and rich by stepping off the treadmill.
Posted by: Guy Incognito | February 16, 2007 02:47 PM
You do if you write a bestselling book that gets turned into a movie. Or become a writer for television or the movies.
Sure, most people who leave the law to pursue such things come back with their tails between their legs. But a handful do find success and happiness - and wealth, even - outside the legal profession.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 16, 2007 02:53 PM
What he is saying is that it's time for law students to stop training to be drones.
Law review etc. has very limited usefulness.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 16, 2007 03:32 PM
That's a bit of a cheap shot at "One L." It was a memoir of Turow's first year at HLS, and shouldn't be confused for a novel just because Turow went on to be a writer.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 16, 2007 03:47 PM
There are a lot of ways to get "rich" besides the law firm treadmill. Rich is relative anyway. It takes a wise person to realize when he has sold his happiness, health and freedom for too long.
Yes, the man is truly "rich" who refuses to be a miserable slave to money and to hate his work and the people he works for every day of the year. Yes, the man is truly rich who cherishes his priceless Life every day, although he makes much less money than he could - though still enough to be comfortable, educate his children well, enjoy time every week with his family and friends, explore the world and his many passions, interests and pursuits, make meaningful contributions of time, money and effort to social or charitable causes, and retire fairly early with a smaller, yet sufficient fortune.
A man exists for two purposes - to appreciate his Life and to give to his world - in whatever ways he can. You cannot fully or truly enjoy life, much less create anything of lasting value, in your short time on this earth before you are reduced to nothingness for all eternity, if you allow yourself to remain trapped in a suffocating job that you dread doing, month after month, year after year.
True, it is certainly worth it to suck it up and do such a job for a few years, but once you have enough money saved not to have to lose sleep about finances, you have to reclaim your own Life. How many partners or counsel do you know that seem genuinely happy and healthy and Alive? Not many.
Bottom line: The years and years of unhappiness and worry - and the long-term damage they have done to their health through lost sleep and stress - are not worth the few million dollars that they have accumulated, which amount no healthy, wise person will ever need to live his Life to the fullest.
Posted by: Freddie (a/k/a | February 17, 2007 05:20 PM
It's not a dichotomy; just a trade-off. The real value of a dollar is conditional on your ability to enjoy its consumption: so if you work yourself to death then all that money won't do much for you, but if you're a loser you'll be spending the best years of your life poor. An extreme example is asking how much a mercenary should charge: forgetting family and heirs and such, he needs to discount whatever money he's getting by the probability that he dies on the mission.
Posted by: Rational Actor | February 19, 2007 01:26 AM