Is law a good industry for people who like writing/research?

[phxone]

Originally Posted by Wordsmith12

I earned my bachelor's degree in marketing. Since graduating, I've worked for three different companies in the travel industry, all in the capacity of marketing copywriter/editor.

Lately, I've been pondering whether I'm in the right field. My passion is writing, but I am not really a creative person. I would much rather write reports, letters, and memos -- what many people consider boring and dry -- than snappy headlines and cute jingles. I am at my best when I can write formally and employ my research skills. I actually enjoyed writing those dreaded research papers in college.

What I've observed is that in marketing, less is more. All three of the companies I've worked for have sworn by the art of keeping copy light and concise. While I understand that scaling back on verbiage and focusing on the offer sells better, I know for a fact that not all writing positions across different industries are like this.

Judging from the many job listings I've come across, research-oriented positions -- ones that involve establishing guidelines and procedures, reporting findings, and informing rather than promoting -- seem to involve much more writing, and formal writing at that.

That being said, do you think law would suit someone who enjoys writing, research, and being intellectually stimulated? What about working in a company's compliance department? What other fields/areas (other than teaching) might an intellectual want to consider?

Legal writing is mostly a process of taking things that have already been written and combining the pieces into a new document. Lots of boilerplate documents for which only the names and dates change.

[Praline]

Originally Posted by phxone

Legal writing is mostly a process of taking things that have already been written and combining the pieces into a new document. Lots of boilerplate documents for which only the names and dates change.

That is not accurate at all. A careless lawyer who cuts and paste but fails to consider in each case the appropriateness of a boilerplate provision will eventually face the possibility that a court may interpret vague or unclear provisions against the drafting party or sever the provisions entirely. Worse still, an inappropriate boilerplate may divest a client of certain rights. Use a boilerplate document that does not take your state’s particular rules into account and a judge could declare it null and void, or opposing counsel could find it full of exploitable loopholes.

"Legal writing" is a meaningless statement as there are at least 18 or more distinct practice areas, where boilerplate documents would be useless.

[Aspe4]

Originally Posted by Praline

That is not accurate at all. A careless lawyer who cuts and paste but fails to consider in each case the appropriateness of a boilerplate provision will eventually face the possibility that a court may interpret vague or unclear provisions against the drafting party or sever the provisions entirely. Worse still, an inappropriate boilerplate may divest a client of certain rights. Use a boilerplate document that does not take your state’s particular rules into account and a judge could declare it null and void, or opposing counsel could find it full of exploitable loopholes.

"Legal writing" is a meaningless statement as there are at least 18 or more distinct practice areas, where boilerplate documents would be useless.

I agree and see my previous post regarding appellate advocacy. Each appeal is going to be unique and have a specific set of facts that a lawyer will have to research precedent and apply it while writing a brief.