What an Associate at Latham and Watkins Wishes They Knew Before Entering the Legal Industry
Shawna, a lawyer at Latham & Watkins, learned that a significant aspect of legal practice involves grappling with unanswered questions and unsettled law, a contrast to the more defined legal principles encountered in law school. This realization, initially frustrating, evolved into an acceptance that sometimes "the answer is who knows? This is our best guess," backed by thorough research.
Legal Profession, Ambiguity in Law, Problem-Solving, Research Skills, Critical Thinking
Advizer Information
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Shawna Strecker
Lawyer/Associate
Latham & Watkins
University of California Los Angeles, 2018
UCLA School of Law; Juris Doctorate
History, Art History
Law
Legal
Video Highlights
1. Many legal questions lack easy answers, and research may not always provide a clear solution.
2. The legal world often involves dealing with unsettled areas of law, requiring educated estimations.
3. A significant difference exists between the certainty of law school case studies and the ambiguity of real-world legal questions.
Transcript
What have you learned about this role that you wish someone would have told you before you entered the industry?
One thing I didn't realize before entering the legal world, or really before starting my career, is that some questions don't have answers. There are many areas of law where questions are unsettled, and there's no clear-cut answer. This is true no matter how much research you put into it, or how much you wish there were a definitive answer.
That's a big difference between law school and working in a law firm. In law school, professors write questions or you read cases about settled law. But in the real world, your clients are often asking questions that haven't been addressed before by the courts or by legislation.
Earlier in my career, this was very frustrating. Now, I've come to expect that sometimes the answer is, "Who knows?" This is our best guess, obviously supported by a lot of research and not just a random guess.
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