Bar number and good byes

I received my bar number today, which means I am a fully licensed member of the Washington bar. It was only about an hour later that I signed my first legal pleading as an attorney. If there was any moment of accomplishment that was most meaningful, it was that moment. More than graduating law school or passing the bar. More than even taking the oath of attorney in open court. It was that moment when my signature had the power to send someone to jail that I felt the overwhelming sense of responsibility that comes with being an attorney. With that signature I put my reputation, my honor, my ethics on the line and I was very proud of all of the work I had done to get to this point. I am also grateful for all of the help from my family, my now wife, my friends, my mentors, employers, coworkers, and other law students. Becoming a lawyer really is a process through which you change and it is hard to realize it when it is happening, but you really do think about the world in a different way. I know lawyers have gotten a bad reputation in recent years and frankly with the number of lawyers that are being admitted every year, you only increase the number of idiots and jerks who become lawyers, but there are really many many great honorable attorney's who I have met along the way. I hardly knew any lawyers before I started, but now I am really proud to be part of this profession.

As far as this blog goes, I think this is as good of a place to wrap it up as any. I had anticipated writing some reflective posts on the process of getting to where I am now, but I think I have all of the prior posts that do that just fine, and frankly, I have no appetite for looking back. I have not felt much of an urge to write anything in months and the who point of this blog was to track my law school experience, and so that this blog does not become a run-on like this sentence is, I am going to make this my last post. I must also thank all of the readers of this blog. You know who you are. You don't know how meaningful it was to see every week when my page view count was e-mailed to me that that 14 or so people had visited this sight. 11 of those could have been my mother, but I am grateful for everyone who was there to share in my sometimes random, sometimes grammatically incorrect, but sometimes, I hope, insightful commentary.

I may blog again in the future, but if I do, it won't be here. I will put a link to any future blog if there is any. In the meantime, I am going to just enjoy the fact that everything in my life feels like it has finally come together. Thank you and good bye!