Lawyers appreciate... procrastination!

Shelley of The Menagerie and Gideon at a public defender tapped me with the “Lawyers Appreciate…” meme stick a week ago. My thoughtful response was due no later than December 31st. In lieu of a thoughtful response, and with 4 hours in my time zone to go, here I go.

Lawyers appreciate words, from the day when we spoke our first word to the in-court argument that just clicked today. From the time we could talk we've been learning them, decoding them, delighting in them. Most of us grew up loving to read them, a love which survived even law school (of course, law school words brought their own pleasure: enfeoffment, seizin, meretrix, "helmeted jack-booted constabulary"). In daily practice, on the phone, in the brief, before the judge or jury, they're our life, and there's nothing like the feeling when the right one leaps to mind and off the tongue.

With just a few hours left in 2007, procrastinator that I am, I tag The Invent Blog ("lawyers appreciate... something new"?), Simba's Mom ("lawyers appreciate... cats"?), and Trial Ad Notes ("lawyers appreciate... a well-stocked library"?). Happy New Year, all.