The Dark Side

Tomorrow, I go over to the dark side. At least, that will be the general topic of bon-voyage conversation through out the day. There will be much hand shaking and a few hugs. I anticipate a high level of non-committal well-wishing as the hours drag on.

The dark side. Certainly not a Darth Vader level of darkness, but a switching of sides to be sure. Then again, Darth Vader did switch sides himself a few times, didn't he?


I've switched before. I've gone from plaintiff's work to defense work, and now back again. The last time I switched, folks on the plaintiff's side said that I was going over to the dark side. Quite frankly, I'm not sure I even know which side is really the dark side. Perhaps I went over to the real dark side, simply when I passed the bar exam...

I sat today in what will be my new office. Coincidentally, it happens to be Leah's old office from several years ago. (The Portland legal community is small...) I sat across from what will be my new desk. My friend from the new firm was talking on the phone with his family as I waited to go to lunch.

As I sat there, I noticed his file folders sitting on what will be my new shelves. Hell, they may end up being my new file folders. Anyway, what I noticed was that they looked just like my old ones. Brown accordion-style file buckets, stuffed with pleadings, letters, medical records and deposition transcripts. They're no different than any file I've worked-up on the defense side for the last five years, and they're no different than the other plaintiff's files I worked up before that.

It's like driving a car, or perhaps wielding a light saber, If you're familiar with the pieces, you can operate the damn thing. My job is to represent someone else who invariably wants something, and that something is almost always money. Whether it's an insurance company, the government, a private business or an old lady with a sore neck, they all want money.

So, the dark side? Sure, why not? Maybe I'm a dark wizard like Saruman or Voldemort, summoning the wicked powers and consolidating power.

Maybe I'm the gluttonous monster, Baron Harkonen, weaving evil plots within plots.

Maybe I'm Attila, riding my Mongol Horde across the virgin land, pillaging and plundering along the way.

Nah... I'm going to stick with Darth Vader, a powerful puppet to an even greater evil. Looks bad, and has a few tricks up his sleeve, but in the end is nothing more than a blubbering old man who does right by his kids.

Search your feelings. You know it to be true.