| "Why is it that people look at lawyers and see either a vampire, or a shark? Well the shark's easy: it's because the law is a damned hard ocean to swim in. What makes a shark scary isn't the teeth - lots of animals got teeth. It's not the fins or the bassy music. It's the fact that if you're in danger from a shark? You're out of your element. You're stuck in the water, you can't run, and it can swim. The vampire? Legal representation is incredibly hard work, with incredibly high stakes and it requires a sharp mind - if you'll permit me the hubris, a brilliant mind - and attention to detail that most people don't possess. You have to be mentally ready to swim with sharks. That kind of talent doesn't come cheap - and for a lot of folks it winds up costing them more than they expect.
The thing is, though, people are biologically programmed to focus on the negatives. So I expect them to think that about me. What vexes me is why they don't see the same thing about priests, or football referees, or tennis line judges. At the end of the day, our job is to help people talk to the referees of life: the courts. You have to know all the rules of the game, and more often our job is that of the coach. But of all the people out there who make their lives and their careers in, of, and about rules? It's lawyers who get the vampire and shark comments. How do I feel when people make 'em? I don't. I'd need therapy if I let that stuff get to me, man."
--Tim Rand, Remarks to MLK High School student at 2011 Job Fair
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