Letter Writing

So, I've spent my day writing letters. I recently completed one full year since graduating law school, and every day is still a series of learning experiences (as, I suspect, it will always be). I am something of a writer-in-residence for a midsize firm, but I also manage a small case load of more complex cases. I've developed a habit of making lists. Almost every day I sit down and write out four or five major goals for the day, and usually only finish one or two of them.

For the last week or two there has been a lull in motion/appellate writing. I still have one motion and one appeal on my to do list, but they aren't as time sensitive as usual. With this lull, I have had the opportunity to follow up on discovery matters that, unfortunately, have settled to the bottom of my to do list and have been piling up.

Whenever I start on this type of administrative work, in the back of my head I think: I can't wait until I'm more established and I have an associate to pawn these things off on. I complete these assignments well, of course, but it doesn't make them any more fulfilling. When I draft a brief, I have work product that I can look at proudly and beem at as-if it were a trophy; making a productive phone call simply doesn't have the same affect.

My new strategy, however, is letter writing. Not only does it help document the progress of the case, and hopefully speed the case along, but it also provides a tangable work product. So, now I am taking a little more pride in my "to confirm our earlier phone conversation" letters, and I am mentally structuring my nebulous list of "discovery" tasks as a series of letters that need to be written.