When I started my career as a lawyer, I heard this from many of my superiors: A lawyer must be passionate. But what is passion? Why must a lawyer, in particular, be passionate? These are the questions I pondered for quite a long time. Today, nearly ten years in this profession, I seem to have grasped what being passionate means and I would like to share my thoughts here.

What is Passion?

According to the dictionary, passion refers to strong and barely controllable emotion.

It also refers to a state or outburst of strong emotion, and can be violent, intense, and uncontrollable.

When a lawyer talks about passion, it surely means something different. Let’s look at the difference.

For a lawyer, passion is not merely a mood but more of a kind emotion or sensation.

In daily life, passion is usually an outburst of emotions at a certain moment, perhaps represented by a roar of rage.

In fact, a lawyer does need passion when handling cases. Such passion sometimes can break the ice and get problems solved.

However, by saying that a lawyer must be passionate, what I’m talking about is the entire career of a lawyer.

A lawyer must be passionate throughout his career.

This means you cannot be passionate at one moment but not so at another; you cannot be passionate for one case but not for a different one; and you cannot be passionate early in your career but let the passion fade away as time goes by.

For a lawyer, passion is more of a kind of accumulated emotion. It involves not only a most of strong emotional expression.

Moreover, being passionate is a great merit of a lawyer.

It is also a must for every good lawyer.

It is just hard to imagine how a passionless lawyer can be a good lawyer. A lawyer must be passionate and we may as well put it this way: one can never be a good lawyer without passion.

Thinking about passion offers guidance for the career of a lawyer and brings benefits to the legal profession. Passion here is the result of in-depth thought about a lawyer’s practice and the fruit of reasoning.

Passion comes from quiet meditation.

Why Emphasize Passion for a Lawyer?

To be a good lawyer, you need all kinds of qualities and passion is usually given a special mention. Why?

Alan Dershowitz called upon us to “live the passion of your times.” He suggested that we do not shut our passion in the bedroom but let it out to cover our entire career.

Personally, I believe passion is emphasized for a lawyer because its importance is hard to realize and it fades easily. It is easier said than done and we may lose our passion even if we are reminded of it very frequently. Therefore, we just have to repeat is for endless times.

Passion’s Importance Is Hard to Realize

Not every lawyer can realize the importance of passion. Even those who do know it is important, may not truly understand how important passion is.

A lawyer must spend many years working and thinking about his profession before he can realize the importance of passion. It is fair to say that how well a lawyer understands the importance of passion depends on how well he/she educates him/herself and how self-motivated he/she is.

Plum fragrance stands out only in bitter cold.

Passion is like the fragrance of a plum flower. One can never get it without hard work. In practice, many lawyers fail to embark on the right path leading towards passion and excellence, so they have no chance at all to realize how important passion is.

Passion Fades Easily

Passion, as a good quality for a lawyer, is hard to get and harder to maintain.

The career of a lawyer is a long and strenuous trip of self-cultivation. One is bound to encounter difficulties, challenges and hard choices on the way.

In his personal life, a lawyer may also fall sick, need to move, or bid farewell to a beloved one. Anything can happen in the life and the work of a lawyer.

Any unexpected happenings in life may hamper a lawyer’s self-cultivation.

Moreover, to have lasting passion, a lawyer must always strive for higher goals and never give up.

Once a lawyer stops the climb towards higher goals, the passion will soon fade out.

Simply put, any change in either the external environment or the mind may have its influence on a lawyer’s passion.

Why Emphasize Passion for a Lawyer?

Passion helps build a positive ecosystem in the legal circle and promote the social status and image of legal professionals.

Passion stems from a lawyer’s thorough understanding of and identification with the profession and the industry.

A lawyer can be self-motivated, pose high requirements of professionalism for him/herself, be concerned for the development of the industry, and take initiative to practice law-based governance only when he/she strongly identifies with the profession, takes pride in it, and is willing to take the responsibility of a lawyer.

It is no doubt that passion is a positive energy in the legal circle.

With passion at the center, we may enhance the education on professionalism and legal tradition for lawyers and call upon lawyers to improve self-discipline and abide by professional principles. This will surely help form a positive ecosystem in the legal circle, reduce cases of dishonesty, poor compliance, illegitimacy among lawyers; and effectively promote the social status and image of lawyers.

This will also enable lawyers to continuously hone their skills and build their professional capacities.

Passion is driving force for lawyers to improve their professional skills and qualities.

Without doubt, a lawyer must make continuous efforts to improve his skills and capabilities in all respects if he/she wants to be outstanding. He/she must always try to build his/her skill portfolio, change his/her roles, and expand the business areas.

To achieve these, one must be driven by passion. Without passion, it will be very likely that he/she will retreat, lose, and quit.

Passion is the driving force for lawyers to improve their skills and capabilities. Lasting passion will push a lawyer through all kinds of difficulties one after another and enable him/her to conquer various high peaks. And in the end, he/she will stand out with excellence.

In sum, the better a lawyer is, the more passionate he/she must be, and the better he/she must understand how important passion is for this profession.

Passion helps lawyers deepen their own understanding of life.

Passion represents the legal spirit of facing squarely one challenge after another.

Throughout his career, a lawyer may encounter all kinds of challenges.

He/she may need to stand against strong power, speak up for the disadvantaged, and challenge unfair old rules or even his old self. 

By meeting all these challenges, a lawyer understands life better and better.

By Yongbo Li

Source: www.acla.org.cn