The rest of the world grumbles about it, but lawyers habitually wait until the last minute to accomplish significant tasks. In my own practice, I often try to put off preparing for court arguments or depositions until the day before they are going to happen, or even the night before. The only thing I'll do ahead of time is prepare a file and fill it with everything I think I'm going to need to get ready. When it's time to prepare, everything is at my fingertips.
Why do lawyers work this way? One reason is because very often, the event gets cancelled or postponed before it happens. Why waste preparation time when you'll just have to do everything over again in a month or two? To some, it seems like poor planning to wait until the last minute, but to many lawyers, it's just good time management.
A second reason lawyers work this way is because it's how law school taught them to work. With so much material and a single exam, cramming becomes a way of life. That's a point of view that's explored a little more in a post I did today at Legal Underground: "Cramming for Law-School Exams: Two Views."
Of course, some projects are just too big for cramming. Those can be spread out over time. But the rest? I say let it wait.
Comments