Dearest A,

Kudos on a fabulous post. And your excellent use of non-words as words (i.e. "prestigey successoryness"). Will you have coined the next "truthiness"? Only time will tell.

Despite all this talk of the downfall of the gilded professions, my faith in the law as an important, noble career was restored today. After swearing in newly-admitted attorneys, a judge told them to always remember that the law, at its heart, is important work. Courts decide questions that affect people's property, liberty, and, in the most extreme cases, their very existence. This judge, sitting way up on the bench, knew exactly why the law is so attractive to so many people. And he elucidated it perfectly.

It's easy for a young associate to forget why she became a lawyer as she's mired in stacks of insurance documents. But today, at least for a little while, I remembered. And it made me proud.

Love,
Sammy