Qualities ....

[mtm1980]

What would you guys say are the qualities that make up a successful lawyer?

[FalconJimmy]

What would you guys say are the qualities that make up a successful lawyer?

Attention to detail
Intellect
Ability to focus for extended periods (long days, long careers).
Ability to see an issue from both sides.

Of the successful attorneys I met, work-ethic was very high on their list.  I never met one who didn't feel personally inadequate if they weren't working hard.

[iracafella]

Dedication.

This question calls for a highly complex answer. There are all sorts of lawyers, but they tend to all hate injustice. I am not attracted to the prosecuting side of criminal cases. I like civil law, and defense for criminal law (when they are not scum, which they often aren't).

The government is kinda of crazy, in the U.S. and anywhere else really. America's better than everywhere else, but lots of racism is still built into the system in the U.S., and corruption is common. I think a good lawyer is dedicated to hammering down the bad, and calculating what the bad truly is. Lawyers tend to say "I like helping people" a lot more than "I love ridin on my enemies like tupac", even though I think law students and lawyers alike think about the law in terms of "ridin" just as much as helping.

But all humans have a need for justice. Maslow's hierarchy of needs should have Justice somewhere in the middle. People love seeing wrongdoers get their karma, and people love being compensated for bad *&^% done to them... It is a true need... not a want... but a need. I think the main difference between a layperson and a lawyer would then be, if you like going out and making that happen, and intellectually philosophizing about what is practical and right, and impractical and wrong.

[iracafella]

a four letter word of mine, was changed to "bunnies" in the above post. now that's ironic. All this study of freedom of speech and I get censored in a law school discussion board. I'm probably going to get banned for dissenting about this, so this may be my last post. Swearing is legal generally, although it is legal for a webmaster of a site like this to censor swear words, I think that is wrong. Perhaps swear words should be allowed, but the post would have a warning message before being viewable, so that you would have to click "agree" to see "over 18 material" or whatever. I think that is more in line with allowing the free market of ideas. Because swearing, is speech, and in many cases protected speech.

quentin tarantino once said "If they're not swearing, they're not improvising." I think that says a lot. People swear through out their lives, and when it is done out of passion and expression rather than primarily to create disturbance (which I would argue should still be allowed under certain circumstances), it expresses something no other word can

This is food for thought

[IrrX]

Just go to your settings for the board and turn the profanity filter off.

[Morten Lund]

What would you guys say are the qualities that make up a successful lawyer?

Attention to detail
Ability to see an issue from both sides.

Don't disagree with your post, but I might combine/generalize these into "ability to apply thorough and dispassionate analysis to any subject or task" - whether that subject/task is the validity of the Iraq war or the identification of typos in a document. 

[iracafella]

Just go to your settings for the board and turn the profanity filter off.

I looked around in my settings, and I can't find it. Can u please tell me specifically which sequence of html buttons I click, from say, the main page URL?

[IrrX]

Just go to your settings for the board and turn the profanity filter off.

I looked around in my settings, and I can't find it. Can u please tell me specifically which sequence of html buttons I click, from say, the main page URL?

Profile => Look and Layout => "Leave words uncensored."

[GGI]

Soft Skills!!!!  Try the Soft Skills Test that is available here: http://softskillsforlawyers.blogspot.com/.

Have fun!

Giuseppe Giusti
Attorney and Author of "Soft Skills for Lawyers"
Now also available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Soft-Skills-Lawyers-Giuseppe-Giusti/dp/0955892600