28 Trial Lawyer • Spring 2024 Rakeem Washington By Rakeem Washington OTLA Guardian We were on our second hour of a three-hour drive to present at an early morning conference on the Oregon Coast. Both of us a bit sleep deprived, we kept a conversation going to pass the time, but more importantly to stay alert. “What did you learn about your legal practice later on that you wish you knew from the beginning?” Kasia Rutledge, my good friend and business partner, asked one of those questions that often lead to hours-long conversations. By the time we finished this conversation, we had driven the remaining 60 minutes to the ocean. Her question drew me to reflection. I grew up in a family that emphasized the importance of the family and collective good over individual needs and worries. That meant that law school graduation day was a family-wide celebration of my individual achievement while at the same time my first official day of work as the “family” attorney. Throughout the graduation party, relatives would share words of congratulations and encouragement AND pick my brain regarding various legal questions and issues they had. I had a relative that wanted to know how to fight the city over unpaid landscaping fines that led to a lien on his property. Another relative was preparing for a complicated separation from his spouse and wanted to figure out how to ensure he got proper parenting time. Another relative had a child who had educational needs not being met by his elementary school and wanted to know what she could do to get her child’s school administrators to act. And still another relative had been fired from her job after she raised claims of wage theft, and she was rapidly running out of savings while looking for a new job. Several other family members and friends would find time to “pick my brain” over the next several months — seeking help with a wide variety of legal problems. Driven After I graduated, I initially felt overwhelmed by the legal needs of friends and family members. I sincerely wanted to help them but frequently felt ill-equipped to do so. There were all sorts of significant legal questions they needed help with, yet I had just graduated from law school and hadn’t even taken the bar exam. Even if I had already passed it, nearly all the questions friends and family members asked were related to practice areas I had no experience with, or for that matter, interest in. The easy answer to Rutledge’s question was, “I wish I knew more about other practice areas.” If, at the time, I had more experience and understanding in the various areas of law my relatives asked about, I would have had some answers for them at the ready. Instead, I fumbled through answers the same way I fumbled through the first year of law school classes — feigning just enough confidence to make it appear that I had some semblance of understanding the issues and the connected solutions. But even if I had known more about other practice areas, that answer felt like a shallow one to Rutledge’s question. My family and friends weren’t asking for legal advice as part of my studying for the bar examination. They needed something much different than quizzing me on if I had all the solutions. This wasn’t the answer that felt right, so I dug deeper. An earnest understanding The next potential answer was, “I wish I had been a better listener.” Thinking back on the graduation party, I recalled that as each family member shared, I found myself trying to speed through my database of understanding to race to an REFLECTION ON YOUR CLIENTS’ CHALLENGES
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