For those of you who are recently 18 or older, i'd like to remind you of a little something called "civic duty", or more specifically jury duty. Jury duty is an obligatory task, often seen as dreadful, that we Americans are forced to participate in approximately every 18 months once we become eligible (by law; yes, you will get charged and/or arrested for not showing up) as a payment to our lovely system of democracy. I recently had the pleasure of serving on my first ever jury, and I've gotta say, it really wasn't too bad. I got an inside look at our judicial system, learned that TV does not exactly present an accurate portrayal, saw a lot of interesting people, feel proud to have served my civic duty, and learned some things about lawyers.
What are some common thoughts about lawyers? They make a lot of money to screw people, they argue about everything, they are uptight from working too much, etc, etc. Well here is a little list of things I learned about lawyers as I observed them during my jury duty.
1. They are TOO smart. It is true that lawyers are very smart. They have to be clever, think on their toes, be level headed in the face of problems, have a large vocabulary, and deal with often difficult people. When they speak to witnesses on the stand (and even jurors in the jury box) they seem to have a lot of missed connections. The ghetto lady testifying that her boyfriend beat her up is saying "he jumped me" but no counselor, she is not referring to him actually jumping on her as Webster's Dictionary would define it. I'm sorry, you are just too smart to understand.
2. They wear a lot of grey/odd things. Before entering the courthouse, I had never seen that many grey pant/dress suits in my life. I suppose grey is a strong neutral that makes them appear strong and neutral...? Yea, let's go with that one. Males spruce it up their best with metallic colored ties and women with pastel colored button-up shirts. Obviously I'd struggle with the limited wardrobe options.
3. Most lawyers probably look WAY hotter outside of work. If someone is forced to wear grey pant suits all day, i could imagine that their "casual clothes" would take full advantage of their freedom. I can just tell that when those women let their hair down, it is long, flowing, and styled, much different than the bland ponytail they sport in the court room. I would at least hope they look a lot better outside of court, because they have oh so much potential.
4. Lawyers make a lot of money for 2 reasons: One, their job is actually very demanding. Two, they have to pay for those expensive suits (not to mention their student loans for law school).
Music: Alejandro - Lady Gaga (check out that video!)
