And then computer goes foom!

I’ll have more to say when I can, you know, use my computer again.

I don’t have any particular reason for invoking the exorcist’s essential field kit, except that perhaps I myself need to expel some little gremlins running around in my brain. As most of you know, I was recently laid off from my job at Workbench Law. It was pretty much the only firm/person I would even have considered working for. I have always had something of a love/hate relationship with law practice. On the one hand I never actually expected to practice law; the degree had more to do with getting the credentials necessary to be entrepreneurial and help others of the same bent. On the other hand, when I have been in lawyer mode, it’s been easy (to a limited extent) and fun (to a slightly greater extent). I completely understand why the job is gone (associates are dropping like flies, everywhere). But now I find myself contemplating a shingle for the first time ever.

The problem (and this is the enduring problem for young lawyers) is that while I am good at some things, I’m not battle-hardened in any specific and expensive way. I’m a newbie. I’m hecka talented, but that’s not enough to make me a good attorney for any schmoe who walks through the door. There are people I might be a good attorney for, but they live and work on the frontier. There is no stable law; the wind changes and all your little bits of paper fly up into the air. The big advances in thought are made by academics, who have both the time and the energy to try to frame the discourse about “how things oughta be.”

So naturally, as I was talking myself out of the notion of going solo this past week, I’ve had two very specific conversations about legal work. Paying legal work. Not “wahoo I can buy a vacation home” paying, but paying nonetheless. Enough to cover the costs of actively practicing law in 2009 (for me, these are fairly small – pretty much Quickbooks and bar dues). And more importantly, the jobs would simultaneously benefit the frontier population, the dreamers and creators and people with big ideas. My tribe.

So with due solemnity I am posting the question to the universe. If you’ve read this far you’re either a buddy or extremely bored. Either way, pony up some advice – how do I resolve the question of what to do?