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Getting out of my comfort zone
Like many lawyers who live by the billable hour, I found it difficult to prioritize my involvement in the local bar associations for many years, telling myself that I had to bill more hours and forego the rest.
Now that I am more experienced and took a self-journey to learn about the type of lawyer I want to be, I have made substantially more of an effort to be involved in the local legal community. There are so many wonderful lawyers, judges, and friends of the law who are involved and have so much to offer.
Inspired by (more like pushed into the deep end by) one of my oldest friends, Divya Potdar, I started my induction by co-chairing the Bar Association of Baltimore City’s Young Lawyers Division CLE committee. The complete geek in me loves continuing education. So, this was a perfect fit. (Thank you Divya!)
I was fortunate enough to clerk for two judges, Montgomery County Circuit Judge MaryBeth McCormick and former Court of Appeals Judge Joseph F. Murphy Jr., both of whom were integral to my development as a lawyer. From them, I learned how to be a professional, how to argue before a judge and how to present a brief, among a million other things that I think about daily.
These clerkships are the passion behind my motivation to make the CLE Committee’s “Breakfast with the Bench” a success. This is a one-hour breakfast where judges can talk off the record to eager young lawyers about their pet peeves, their career trajectory, persuading judges, what judges doesn’t like and many other topics. It is important to me (and my co-chair) that this program provide young attorneys insights behind the bench that would not otherwise have.
When I saw Generation J.D. was looking for new writers, I thought this would be another way to get out of my comfort zone and try something new. And maybe encourage a lawyer younger than me to get involved in his or her local legal community.
