The Trial Advocate’s Vision
"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my
own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages
must show”
first
sentence, David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens
When Professor Bump asked the class to write an essay about our “personal vision(s),” my mind immediately went to my future occupation and completely disregarded other people. After the essay instructions commanded me to think about the legacy I will leave for others, writer’s block struck me violently. I did not believe one person capable of “making a difference” in society, and so I lived for only my success in life. When I crafted a new “people-centered” personal vision, I realized that practicing law will not only satisfy my goals, but benefit others as well. I originally decided to pursue jurisprudence for a selfish reason: I enjoy writing.[1] A quote from The Power of Emotional Intelligence served as a model for a less selfish, more “people-centered” personal vision:
I picture myself leading my own company, a tight-knit enterprise staffed by ten colleagues. I’m enjoying a healthy, open relationship with my daughter, and similarly trusting relationships with my friends and co-workers. I see myself as relaxed and happy as a leader and parent, and loving and empowering to all those around me.[2]
I used the themes in this quote to construct a personal vision consisting of three parts: close family relationships, professional standards of cooperation (not competition), and an attitude of encouragement and sympathy (rather than selfish gain).[3] Taken as a whole, these items (family, professionalism, attitude) propel me to achieve the apex of my personal vision--to become a Constitutional lawyer who fights for the rights of others rather than one who merely seeks wealth.[4] Family is the most important of the three elements.
FAMILY
Before
a man fights for the rights of others, he must take care of his own family.[5] Maintaining close family relationships
requires a 
colossal
amount of work in a society with steadily increasing divorce rates. In my personal vision, “close family
relationships” do not simply mean staying married, but also treating my spouse
with respect. I
Figure 1: Family working to maintain close relationships.[6]
place greatest emphasis on family relationships for three reasons.
First, I believe that a man who prospers professionally by committing marital and parental suicide has lost more than he has gained. A man who stops spending time with his family so he can work may end up wealthy, but also alone. My second reason is based on religious principles.[7] Timothy writes that a man who “provide[s] not for his own… house… is worse than an infidel,” an unbeliever.[8] I believe the “provision” Timothy speaks of is not just financial, but also emotional and spiritual leadership. If I refuse to provide a nurturing home for my family, other accomplishments will mean nothing because “the loss of… religious belief [is] the loss of everything.”[9] Peter’s charge is not unlike Timothy’s: “husbands… [give] honour unto the wife… that your prayers be not hindered.”[10] If I treat my wife dishonorably, God may literally turn a deaf ear to my prayers. If I destroy my relationship with my wife, I stop my communication with God. Without communication, there can be no relationship. Without relationship with God, no one can enter heaven; to “live without God in [this] world” means one is “effectively cut off from” Him in the next.[11] My parents’ failed relationship is the third reason why I place greatest priority on family.[12] While my parents never demonstrated proper behavior in a marriage, education (literature) and experience shows me the behavior I must avoid.[13] In Romola, George Eliot’s Tito feeds off the “loving [ignorance]” of Tessa, for “this creature…was without the moral judgment that could condemn” his marital infidelity.[14] Clearly, unfaithfulness and immorality are not the keys to a healthy family.[15] While my parents never struggled with Tito’s vice, my father reviled, cursed, and manipulated my mother. Instead of getting bitter about the situation, I learn to take responsibility for my actions so that I do not repeat the mistakes of my father.[16]
How are my mother and father, or family as a whole, related to my personal vision?[17] I cannot say that I advocate for rights (of others) if I actually commit wrongs (against my family). If I wrong my household, I am a poor leader for two reasons. First, I expect others to follow me, a person who commits an injustice. Second, my words (fighting for rights) are inconsistent with my actions (committing a wrong). Close relationships come from putting others first rather seeing “what I can get” from a loved one. Genuine professional success and an attitude of encouragement must follow proper family relationships, lest others condemn me as a Pharisee and a hypocrite.
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
In today’s society, men seem to
acquire professional success (gain) to the detriment (loss) of another
person. I craft my personal vision
around a legal practice that encourages employees and supervisors alike to work for the excellence of the firm as a whole, rather than each person for his own gain.
Figure 2: A group of people trained to practice law.[18]
Employees
Professional standards of cooperation rather than competition reduce inter-office conflict, which will allow employees to provide clients with superior service. In law firms today, “cutthroats” acquire success by stepping on colleagues.[19] In order to avoid an internally competitive practice, one must understand John Stuart Mill’s distinction between “individual and… social improvement.”[20] Just as a “house divided against itself [cannot] stand,” the lawyer who seeks his own (individual) improvement to the detriment of fellow employees (social) causes damage to the firm itself.[21] The practice of law is competitive and adversarial, but one expects that one organization compete against another organization, and not for the members of a single body to fight amongst themselves.[22] I certainly cannot expect to successfully fight someone else if I destroy myself. If the firm as a whole suffers from inter-office competition by losing money and clients, one expects that each individual member of the firm will suffer as well. If, however, each employee cooperatively works to increase the productivity and clientele of the firm, one expects each individual employee to benefit as the firm grows. As the employees work on a cooperative model, my personal vision is actualized in three ways. First, the firm will grow in clientele and resources. Second, as the firm grows, employees receive better salary, a superior work environment, and better training. Last, as the employees and the firm grow, clients receive better service, which means that the practice can advocate for the constitutionally guaranteed rights of more people. The growth of individual employees is not simply about professional or academic training—[sic] it is about personal and emotional development.[23]
Employee growth and professionally cooperation are personally important to me because employees represent the largest part of the firm. If employees feud instead of growing with one another, clients may feel the tension and be reluctant to use the firms’ services. Cooperative professional standards, however, are not simply about superior training, financial improvement, and more clients. Just as I do not want my family and household to reek of emotional dissonance, I hope that my employees will avoid the same difficulties.[24] Even though the relationships between coworkers possess more boundaries than relationships between family members, there is still a “human element” involved. Whenever this element is involved, courtesy, growth, and cooperation are necessary—[sic] not just to meet professional goals, but to meet the requirements of the human conscience. Family and professional relationships are separate in that one occurs in an office building and the other in a household, but are similar in that they both require kindness, courtesy, and cooperation.[25] In order for employees to operate in a cooperative professional atmosphere, supervisors and leaders must utilize the same standards.[26]
Supervisors
One can begin to explain the supervisor’s professional standards in the “cooperative practice” by describing behavior he must avoid. The Power of Emotional Intelligence describes a CEO who called a meeting and instructed managers to tell the employees “what [he’s] really like—“ a “hero” and a “movie star,” someone that people can “see… and look up to.”[27] The article describes the CEO’s mental state: “for him, this [firm] was not about ‘us’ but about ‘me.’”[28] The CEO’s ambition causes him to focus “on himself, leading him to ignore the worries of the people who he needs to make [the firm] successful.”[29] This supervisor fails to work cooperatively because he seeks his own improvement and growth rather than that of his fellow manager’s.[30] In my personal vision, the supervisor, like the employee, will focus less on his individual gain and more on the welfare of the firm and the “human element” as a whole.[31]
The supervisor’s
role in the “human element” of the cooperative practice is much like that of
the employee’s, except that the supervisor acts as a catalyst. The employees will find it difficult to
kindly cooperate with one another if the supervisor is unkind and 
uncooperative. The human element for the supervisor is, like
the employee, a personal experience guided by the human conscience—[sic] not
something “which may be got up from a book” of professional
Figure 3: Compassionate supervisor demonstrating professional kindness and courtesy.[32]
ethics.[33] Compassionate supervisors are important because they often set the
tenor of the entire office. Overbearing supervisors may force otherwise cooperative employees into discord in an effort to meet their leader’s unrealistic demands. The most important reason I emphasize the supervisor’s role in the “human element” is because I experience the power he exercises over subordinates. The supervisor can make the lives of many people strained, stressed, and miserable. If he forgets that he is communicating with human beings and not just “work producers,” he will treat employees poorly. Whether one is at home or at work, I believe people must treat others with courtesy and kindness. If the supervisor possesses the power to make employees miserable and less cooperative, he also possesses the power to aid their level of comfort and cooperation. Considering the “human element” is necessary to actualize a cooperative practice. Therefore, asking the supervisor to see the humanity in his employees is simply asking him to be consistent with cooperative standards.[34]
The consistent leader will focus on communicating information fairly, “training of the human being for [cooperative]… action,” and demonstrating compassion for his family at home.[35] If the supervisor and the employee can work under professional standards of cooperation, the potential to impact society is limitless. Not only will the firm protect the rights of a larger portion of people, the practice’s success will serve as a “model of cooperation” for law firms and businesses alike, demonstrating that one can be both compassionate and successful. Cooperative professional standards and close family relationships are possible with an attitude of encouragement and sympathy.
ATTITUDE
Encouragement
Consciously
adopting an encouraging attitude makes fighting with one’s family or clashing
with coworkers less likely. Likewise, a
condemning attitude makes threatening situations at work and home almost
inevitable. The third focus of this
essay is important because one’s disposition will determine the success of the
first two items.[36] Few people find difficulty in remaining
positive in pleasant situations, but my 
personal vision requires more. The leader, at home and work, will see unpleasant situations as an opportunity for improving, learning, and growing,
Figure 4: Employees improving, learning, and growing.[37]
rather than find fault finding and criticizing.[38] If the leader causes the problem, he will learn from his mistake and move forward. If someone else is at fault, the leader will correct and encourage the other person. A leader with a negative attitude will discourage his employees or family members, which may eventually destroy the firm or household.[39] An encouraging attitude simply requires the leader to see situations from another’s viewpoint—a “sympathetic imagination.”
Sympathy
W.J.
Bate writes that “the sympathetic imagination is the ability… to penetrate the barrier
which space puts between him and his object… to secure a… complete
identification with it.”[40] When the sympathetic leader is aware of
someone else’s feelings, he is able to fix problems without demeaning
others. Such an “awareness can give us
access to deeper power… to help” overcome unpleasant situations while remaining
encouraging.[41] Sympathy, then, is prerequisite to an
encouraging attitude because the leader must stop and ask, “how
will this person feel if I say or act a certain way?” Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre
illustrates an example of this question.
When Eyre thinks that Mrs. Poole possesses a “square, flat figure,” and
an “uncomely… coarse face,” she pauses and says, “you [Jane Eyre] are not
beautiful either,” yet she (Jane) realizes other people will accept her.[42] Before Eyre openly condemns
Both Marlow and Eyre demonstrate a sympathetic imagination, which is not separate from, but necessary for, an encouraging attitude. For a leader to achieve success at home, at work, and in life generally, he must possess a “loving and empowering” disposition.[44] A positive attitude is important to me, not just because I can “receive” more from others at home and a work, but because attitude reflects my character.[45] With a positive attitude, loving family relationships, and cooperative professional standards, I can realize my personal vision.
Earning the title “Chief Counsel” at a Constitutional law firm is my ultimate goal, the apex of my personal vision. Selfishness and competition sat as the underlying theme of my dream until Dr. Bump challenged the class to develop a “people-centered” vision. After the challenge, I realize that people in my family hold the highest priority.[46] I encounter the people at work more often than anyone else (save family), so logic demand that I not only consider my coworkers, but also regard them as human beings.[47] After pondering the two most important sets of people in my life, I realize that I cannot impact these groups without a positive, sympathetic attitude.[48] Caring and cooperating with people at my firm means increased productivity. Increased productivity means impacting a new set of people--clients. The practice affords clients an opportunity to regain constitutional rights stolen by injustice, time, and circumstance. Ultimately, my personal vision is not about professional prestige or monetary riches, but protecting the freedoms Americans so dearly love.
Old Word Count (P2A)
Total (With Quotes and Title) = 1950
Total (Without Quotes and Title)= 1682
New Word Count (P2B)
Word Count After Revisions= 2453
Total Words Cut= 12
Total Words Added (After Cutting)= 514