Time Waits for Nothing

Entering a profession where time is both literally and figuratively of the essence, I have realized that how successful certain aspects of my life will be dependent on how I view time. Time places constraints on how lawyers and people in society operate. While there are instances where one has control over her outcomes based on timing, there are also times when one’s outcome appears to be based solely on time. In turn, one’s perspective on this relationship determines whether one views time as enabling or inhibiting. For much of my law school career, I have felt powerless in light of what was expected of me and the time I was meant to fulfill those expectations. The thing that I have come to realize is that power isn’t solely derived by time. There are other forces at work that allow time to work in a certain way.

In Light of My Law School Experience

In analyzing my law school experience, I can’t help but notice how my conception of time has changed. In college, asking a professor for an extension on a paper was something that was openly talked about without shame. If a student didn’t believe that her work would be of quality, she was not forced to turn it in. There was an instance when I didn’t turn in a term paper until two months after the initial deadline, and received an A in the class. That’s not to say that I didn’t respect the deadlines that my professors set for me. Rather I came to appreciate the pursuit of a particular piece of knowledge and the level of comprehension necessary to create a thoughtful analysis. I felt I had more control over my actions and subsequently, my time Although I loved the ways in which my college experience allowed me to grow personally and professionally, it did not prepare me for Columbia Law School. Columbia has shown me repeatedly that taking one’s time is not the way of the world; there is a time to take in information and a time frame to use that information. Those in law school who can learn and apply this way of thinking will succeed while those who do not adapt quickly enough will not succeed.

How one controls their time

I have not only seen the power of time on people who practice law, but also on those who will subsequently be impacted by legal and policy decisions. Within the law, time can control who becomes successful and how successfully lawyers can deal with the matters of their clients. In Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, Gladwell discusses how the arrival of certain law firms coincided with new trends in the legal profession. Specifically, he analyzed how Jewish law firms in New York were able to prosper in a professional environment that had previously excluded them. Since Jewish lawyers had been excluded from certain aspects of the legal profession, they developed skills in areas of the law that other law firms weren’t interested in handling. As the demands of clients changed, the skills the Jewish lawyers had acquired were suddenly valuable. Lawyers were not in control of “time” but they were in control of their actions. When the time came, they were able to adjust and work with it.

Conversely, lack of control in a situation can make it seem as though time is the determining factor. The Family Center, the non-profit I am interning at this summer, provides those who have been impacted by severe illnesses legal advice on matters such as advance directives, housing, and benefits. Even though I am more familiar with legal procedures and laws in comparison to many of the clients, I continue to feel a lack of control. Advance directives are a case in point; reaching someone at a particular time means the difference between having someone’s loved ones know their final wishes before they pass away. There comes a point in time when you don’t have control of a person’s health and time slips away. The circumstances I have observed this summer are effectively captured in Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc? . LeBlanc? follows the young mother Coco as she lives an impoverished life and searches for government assistance that will provide her young family consistently. Unfortunately, because of the ways in which the welfare programs are constantly being adjusted, Coco falls short or misses out on opportunities that would have been available to her had she applied at a different time period. Although this book follows the lives of people in the Bronx in the mid 1980s through the mid 1990’s, it is demonstrative of the ways that preparation is essential to be successful at certain times. Not being prepared, or aware of the various programs at the time, forces Coco to lose out. Time isn’t on her side because she doesn’t have the ability to shape the situation.

Accepting Time Limitations

Considering the seemingly arbitrary results of time, it is reasonable that there are divergent views on time and how it impacts ones power. The ways in which Jewish lawyers transitioned their skills into the mainstream and how Coco struggles to maintain stability is a reflection of what on first glance seems random. If one looks beyond the surface, one will see that time is as important as the preparation that it comes into contact with. Time will only limit you as much as you chose or are unable to prepare for it.

-- By JenniferAnderson - 20 July 2012

This is not a finished product