un-lawyer-like

i have been a lawyer for a little over a year, and i never fail to elicit comments like:

you're so young to be a lawyer! (duh. i'm 30 years old, if we really go by age)

you don't act like a lawyer. (eh?  lawyers don't know how to have fun?)

you should dress more like a lawyer! (like, i have to always be in either a suit or in casual business attire even when we're doing office housekeeping???)

don't be pa-humble... be proud when people call you "attorney!" (my name is apryll.  i only need that title when i appear in court or when i sign pleadings!)

i really don't know whom to blame:  all those 51,000 lawyers ahead of me in the roll of attorneys, who carried their "title" around as if it were a badge of honor, or the families of those 51,000 lawyers who made it appear like having a lawyer in the family or knowing a lawyer personally was reallyyyyy something to brag about, or just plain "Philippine society" in general, for creating stereotypes of lawyers and planting these ideas into the consciousness of the community.

i am attorney # 51877 and i know i am not alone in my predicament.  let's see... give or take around 300 "cool, unpredictable, easygoing" lawyers every year for the past 20 years, my idea is there are only approximately 6,000 lawyers who are leading lives and practicing law like me.  lawyering is serious work, but heck, lawyers don't need to lead sedentary, laidback lives, catering to the whims of their bosses/partners/associates/clients 24/7.

and for the sake of the future of the Philippines, i think we should do away with letting the older lawyers believe they are demi-Gods.  please... practicing law is a profession, not an excuse for being swathed in constant attention.

i'll be damned if someday i swallow my words and become the "typical" lawyer.  kick me in the ass when that happens. :)