There seems a glamour attached with every profession.
Like, if you are a defense personnel, people look up to you with awe. Or, if you are
Politician (in India) (or even belong to one remotely) the probability of
people presuming 'stuff' about you increases manifold.
“I am a lawyer”.
Each time I say this, I receive an open-mouthed expression invariably. They
don’t seem to believe. Some show concern-“But…You don’t look like one”.
The next curious questions
are shot -
“Do you fight for criminals
or against them?”
“Do you have a selfie with
a murdered body?”
“How do you manage to
wear the bat-man cape all day long, does it not get struck in the wheels when
you drive”.
It is believed that being a lawyer is a fun-filled movie
script job where, in a courtroom, random people from far flung areas come to
witness the proceedings where lawyers plead, judges question, witnesses dodge
while continuous jokes are cracked, or red-eyed criminals with thirty inches
shoulders are about to go scot-free to balance the crime in the city.
They imagine a normal day for a lawyer is when you attend
court hearings, thump the tables and with a high pitch in the last dialogue win
the case, with court-room filled up with chorus of people cheering you.
And then you return to your office where (lusting) women in pencil-skirts
are waiting to celebrate your victory with champagne and your boss tells how awesome you are (And yes, this gets
repeated everyday).
Then I turn them off by sharing that my life is not happening at
all because I am an irksome corporate lawyer. Our bosses yell at us and our colleagues bitch (but yes I stay between criminals :) )
And our courtrooms are extremely boring and sleepy places where
law sections running into several pages are read and re-read. Of course, you
are free to sit at any proceedings while you have given your
car for washing.
Last reaction that actually shuts me off- “You are a lawyer… How do you get time to
write blogs?”
P.S: And, certainly,
lawyers’ lives are absolutely not like Harvey Spector’s.
