When I was sixteen and my final exams were nearing, my father suggested that I stay home on the weekends to apply myself a little more. One night, surrounded by a good library and next to the patio that let in the cool air and the sound of a cricket, I picked up the book that contained the biography of Ramon y Cajal. I confess the influence that our Nobel Prize still has on me to understand the sacrifice and perseverance necessary in any profession. The Navarrese scientist spent hours and hours glued to the microscope, abstracting himself from everything else because he loved what he did and had the need to investigate tirelessly. Thanks to him, histology and pathological anatomy advanced light years.
I recently read the biography of Balzac of Stefan Zweig and of Dickens of Ackroyd. Balzac and Dickens had very well organized their working days and spent hours and hours writing: the Parisian drinking torrents of coffee; and the Londoner taking long walks daily. Both triumphed and are considered two of the best writers of the 19th century. For them, writing was their passion, but they also dedicated a lot of time and effort to it. Santiago Ramón y Cajal did the same thing.
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Now that some are calling for a four-day work week and a six-hour day, we must warn that the profession of lawyer requires a lot of time and in the first years even more. But it is not just a matter of spending many hours at the firm, but rather that those hours must be effective. If you like your job and enjoy what you do, time will fly by.
“Dedication means concentration on what is being done” (Photo: E&J)
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dedication means concentration on what is being doneto deal intensely with something. Lawyers do not go to the office to fulfill the day and when we leave we forget everything but we continue to be lawyers. We will treat our profession, the legal profession, as something we love. It is what we have wanted to dedicate ourselves to and dreamed of being, the most beautiful profession in the world. That is why we have to pamper her.
Order is essential for a lawyer. Your agenda with your appointments, deadlines and appointments, in addition to other procedures. Your tidy table, your files, the firm in general. The organization of the day and of the week will give us the necessary peace of mind to focus on our cases and serve our clients.
When a lawyer is recognized by other colleagues and by other jurists, when he is recommended by his clients to other people who need a trusted lawyer, when you enjoy prestige in your specialtyIt is because he has dedicated and dedicates a lot of time to his work as a lawyer, lives his profession intensely and is organized. Surely that lawyer does not get up in the morning worried about not remembering if he has a trial that morning or the term of some writ or appeal expires, or he does not know if he has appointments at the firm.
That famous lawyer your agenda is perfectly organized and you will start the day with a set timejust as when the week begins, even without looking at his agenda, he knows what his main occupations will be without prejudice to the changes that may occur in a profession such as ours.
It’s like the doctor he knows perfectly in advance which days he has operations and before these he has prepared them meticulously giving instructions to his team and carrying out all the necessary checks so that the operation is a success, although this can never be guaranteed. A doctor who was not in control of what he does would not last long in his profession and specialty.
The dedication and effort to our vocation has its reward when we stop to think and look back and see everything we have achieved since we put on the robe for the first time or accepted the first case. Case by case, client by client, we have achieved two very important things: dedicate ourselves to what we like and stay in our position. We are there and professional successes can come at any time. It is a great obstacle-proof will.
The good fame and reputation of a lawyer can only be due to the fact that he has dedicated himself body and soul to his work. But I would not agree to apply here the saying “Raise fame and go to sleep”, because the good name must be kept.
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