Why are lawyers so boring??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was going to say what PPs have said. Go talk to trial lawyer. They are a different breed. Corporate/compliance lawyers are the worst. Antisocial, awkward, risk adverse, use jargon all day. Trial lawyers know how to connect.

+1. Agree

Corporate litigators or criminal ones are awesome

Go deathrage debate team alums!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My job has a lot of legal compliance elements, and so I attend a lot of webinars and whatnot to stay up to date.

And without fail, the lawyer delivering the information has the dynamism of tofu. Flat affect, too many unexplained terms of art, just droning the content, often directly off the slides.

I know a ton of lawyers, and they are normal people. So why is it that when they get in front of an audience, any personality or humor just *poof* disappears? Is there a law school class about delivering the flattest presentation possible? I'm not even sleepy-- well rested and caffeinated!-- and having a hard time staying awake.

Presenting at these things doesn't usually pay. People put in very little prep time, and then read off the slides. A lot of (non trial) lawyers also are quite shy of public speaking.

[Anonymous]

I'm a lawyer who presents a lot on very technical issues (nothing like that you're describing though). I'm very funny and I always get complimented on that. I have other co-workers in my group who I can't stand listening to. Some people just aren't good at teaching/presenting. It takes a lot of work for me to both teach the technical material in a way that makes sense to people and also keep it light and humorous since my area of law isn't one anyone would ever think is funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You must not know many trial attorneys because we are performers by nature. We have to be if we want to hold the attention of a jury.

I'm a PP and I think this is right. I was a trial lawyer for the first 10 years of my career. There you are talking to normal people on a jury so if you're not engaging you're likely to lose even if you're right. Most lawyers aren't trial attorneys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You must not know many trial attorneys because we are performers by nature. We have to be if we want to hold the attention of a jury.

Nah it's all tax and regulatory stuff. I like what I do... but most of these lawyers seem deeply, almost dangerously, depressed!

DP. Well that explains it. Tax and regulatory law isn’t fun stuff to most people. And those areas of law tend to attract people with a certain kind of personality. I’ve never met a tax attorney with a sense of humor.

Hi! Tax attorney with a sense of humor here. Wish I could provide you references but I can't. I love the deeply technical nature of tax law but I'm also a funny person who is good in front of a crowd. I will say, in your defense, that most of my colleagues are not the same.

[Anonymous]

I thought it was engineers who had no personality.

[Anonymous]

Eh, I think it depends on the area of law. I think a lot of the high paying BigLaw type practice areas are pretty boring, but smaller firms tend to be a bit more interesting because you have crazier clients.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was engineers who had no personality.

Exactly! Serious introverts who enjoy tinkering over interacting with people. It seems OP has an extreme/weird dislike of lawyers...was probably dumped by one.

[Anonymous]

I have a family of lawyers, most of them are pretty interesting and funny but maybe because they’re great storytellers. Maybe you just haven’t met the right lawyers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought it was engineers who had no personality.

Exactly! Serious introverts who enjoy tinkering over interacting with people. It seems OP has an extreme/weird dislike of lawyers...was probably dumped by one.

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