Problems and Puzzles
When my daughter was young she would ask me, “Daddy, what do you do at your job?” I would answer her, “I help people solve their problems.” That’s what being a lawyer is to me, helping people solve their problems. Sometimes that means defending a lawsuit that’s been brought against them. Sometimes it means filing a lawsuit. Sometimes it means having a negotiation. Sometimes it means advising someone how to do something to avoid a lawsuit or dispute. And sometimes it includes several of these. I help people solve problems with former employees or former employers (non-compete agreement cases), problems with business partners (contract disputes or business torts), problems with competitors and regulators (healthcare and certificate of need cases), problems that arise in the performance of their profession (professional negligence cases), and many others.
My approach to solving legal problems is similar to solving a jigsaw puzzle. The first, and sometimes the hardest, part of problem solving is making sure you have all of the pieces. Once you have all of the pieces (or think you do) the next part is putting the pieces together to make the picture you want. As new pieces arrive or are found, they have to fit into the picture, or the picture has to change. In a dispute, your opponent is trying to use the same (or sometimes different) pieces to make a different picture. Once the picture is complete, you use it to convince your opponent they are wrong, or to convince a judge or jury you are right; or to negotiate a resolution. When you are trying to help someone to do something or to avoid a dispute, you use the picture to show the client what the end result may look like so they can decide if they like it.
The fascinating thing about being a lawyer is everyone’s picture is unique to them, and sometimes the same pieces make more than one picture. The skill, and challenge, is knowing what pieces to use and how to use them ... To solve the problem.
