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| The first letter I prepared as an attorney at my firm was a collections letter. I’m not going into the specifics of what I wrote in that letter, but it was definitely very firm and commanding, as a "lawyerly" letter should be; basically, “pay up or you’ll be sorry!”
Like most lawyers, I use a word processing template in preparing my letters. As I was finishing up my first letter, I noticed that the default valediction at the end was “Very Truly Yours” (hereinafter “VTY”).
I thought to myself: what an odd ending for a letter used by attorneys, let alone for a collections letter. I mean, I’m definitely not “yours”, and I’m most certainly not “very truly” about it.
So I deleted the ending and replaced with “Sincerely.” Yeah yeah, very boring and very overused. But that’s why I like using it – no frills, my friends. No frills. I don’t need to give some fancy ending to my letters. Res ipsa loquitur (let the letter speak for itself).
Anyway, after I finished my letter, I turned it in to my supervisor and eagerly awaited his response. Soon thereafter, I received it. One line: At our firm, we use the ending ‘Very Truly Yours.’
Strange. Very strange indeed, I thought. But who am I to argue with my boss over an ending… I thought it was quite possibly a personal preference thing and I made a mental note to use that valediction whenever I wrote letters for him. I changed it back and sent it out.
Not too long after, I had to write another demanding letter for another supervisor. I did the deed and, again, changed the closing to “Sincerely.” I didn’t get input this time; my boss simply changed what he wanted and sent it out himself. I had the opportunity to review the final version, however, and to my shock, there it was again… “Very Truly Yours.”
Again, I was perplexed. But I chalked it up to simply an office-wide preference.
But as I started receiving more and more letters and correspondence from other attorneys, I started to realize VTY’s usage went way way beyond my office. Almost every letter I read from other attorneys all used the same three words.
I don’t know these people. This ain’t a love letter. I don’t want to be penpals. What gives?
So I actually started to do some research online, and to my surprise, it turns out that VTY is used almost exclusively by lawyers. Weird, right?
I mean, way to really kick someone while he’s down. It’s like threatening someone with everything but the kitchen sink, then telling him to have a nice day with “XOXO.”
In my opinion, that’s just cold-blooded.
I don’t know about you, but I think I’m sticking to my “Sincerely.”
Very Truly Yours,
Dennis
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| I finished my first Commercial Lease (hereinafter "Lease") today. I was actually pretty excited about it. But something about my Lease just looked so...amateurish. I tried changing the format, margins, font...still no good. I mean, all the material provisions were present; it was and is a fully enforceable, binding legal agreement. But for whatever reason, it still didn't look "legit" to me...
But I finally solved the problem...and if you want to make a legal document look more official, just do the following:
1) Reduce the size of the font to an almost unreadable size. If you can read your contract without squinting, it ain't any good.
2) If you want to add some muscles to your contract, change the paper size to legal (8.5x14"). Everything looks more intimidating on legal sized paper.
3) Photocopy. Then photocopy the photocopy. Then photocopy the photocopy of the photocopy. Repeat a few more times. You want to give your document that aged and worn look. This gives your contract some real street cred.
4) Hold it in your hands and look fondly upon it as if it were your own newborn child. Then proceed to carry it around the office with you for the rest of the day like a proud parent would.
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| ... how precious they have become.
Monday will be week four working at my law firm. This past month has gone by really quickly actually. I guess that's working life.
I suppose it is recap time:
- Still like everyone I work with. People at my firm are so nice and supportive. Kind of odd actually, or maybe not what I expected.
- I got my business cards at around week 2. They are glorious. I have like a thousand of them, and I've given out maybe 7 in total.
- Finally got my law diploma framed and hung it up in my office. Still can't find my undergrad diploma tho.
- Sent out my first collection letter, first mandatory settlement conference brief, and first demand for production of documents.
- The managing partner actually gave me a short talk about not working too hard and trying to balance my private life with my work life, in order to avoid burning out and such. I thought that was very nice of her.
- The litigation partner, my direct supervisor, called me a "class clown" at our Christmas party... just because I decided to fasten a rather large, decorative, red Christmas bow to my necktie.
- I'm shocked at how much money gets taken out of my paycheck for taxes (curse you, Mike Tan!...j/k). But getting a steady paycheck after years of not is great.
- Been dating my girl for about 5 weeks now. She's perfect and I couldn't be happier.
- My gecko passed away. R.I.P., Pam.
I guess that pretty much sums it up, huh? Work, Love, and Death.
Oh, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
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| Today was my first day being an actual practicing attorney. Pretty exciting stuff.
And remarkably, I'm the youngest attorney at the law firm. I'm never the youngest anywhere.
I thought my first day would be relatively chill... But I actually worked pretty hard today. Did a bunch of stuff w/ corporations, reverse mergers and corporate resolutions. I had no clue what I was doing. :)
The people are all really great tho. They all go out to eat together for lunch. And the associates waited around for each other so they could walk out of the building together. I thought that was nice.
My office is decent enough with a window overlooking...well, nothing really. I have a nice computer tho.
This blog entry is probably one of my more unimaginative ones. But I'm exhausted. I'm definitely sleepin' good tonight.
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