We are about to embark on a quest for quality, as
quixotic as that might seem to some of you (and
pardon our occasional quirkiness).
Becoming a good lawyer is not a simple matter of
reading this book, though it’s a start. The best
of lawyers draw on their training, capacities,
experiences, and virtues. Most importantly,
perhaps, they have the right attitudes. What’s the
most important right attitude to have? —It’s
caring enough about the quality of your work to
want to make it better. Congratulations: we take
your reading these words as a sign you may have
the right stuff.
Some of the chapters that
follow will focus on capacities or skills that
good lawyers tend to have. You will read, for
example, about how the capacity to empathize can
allow lawyers to better connect with clients and
tell their stories, or how good lawyers persuade,
or analyze problems and develop litigation
strategies, or make realistic predictions about
case outcomes. Other chapters focus on what are
generally thought of as virtues that a good lawyer
has, such as courage, honesty, humility, emotional
balance, or a burning passion for justice. While,
as you’ll see, genetics plays a role in
determining our virtues and how they are
manifested, there are ways in which you can turn
your virtue “weak suits” into “strong suits,” and
become a much better lawyer for the effort. The
set of virtues, dispositions, behaviors, and
skills chosen here for inclusion is eclectic and
reflects, unavoidably, certain preferences and
biases of your authors. That’s the nature of the
project.
There is no one path to
becoming a good lawyer. Each lawyer must carve his
or her own way up the mountain. We aim here to
describe the terrain your chosen path must cover.
It is our hope and our belief that by working
towards becoming a better lawyer, by paying
attention to the quality of your work, you also
work on yourself and will gain personal
satisfaction.
Quality, when you seek it,
tends—as Robert Pirsig says—“to fan out in waves.”
It will affect your clients, your profession, and
your community. It makes the world a better place.