Hamlet wasn't trying to decide whether to become a lawyer. But he could have been. His soliloquy posed the question of whether it was nobler to passively endure the ills of the world or actively fight against them. It's a question we all struggle with at one time or another and, for some of us, the answer influences our career choice. Do you want to fight injustice and change the world for the better? Becoming a lawyer will improve your ability to do so.

There are, of course, many other reasons people decide to be, or not to be, lawyers. However, all too often, they later discover their perception of "being a lawyer" is significantly different than the reality. This is my attempt to provide a glimpse of the reality by highlighting what I consider to be the ten best and the worst reasons for becoming a lawyer.

10. You have to wear appropriate attire in court.

These top ten lists are obviously subjective. Some people enjoy getting dressed up. Not me. I'm a T shirt and jeans person.

The general requirement for courtroom appearances is conservative business dress. Specifics are left to the reasonable discretion of the judge. Male attorneys have been held in contempt for not wearing a coat and tie, for wearing a coat and a necklace with a gold medallion, a bandanna, or a clerical collar around the neck instead of a fabric tie, and for wearing a turban. Female attorneys have been found in contempt for wearing a dress with a hemline approximately five inches above the knee, a pantsuit, a sweater, and a "freakish" hat.

Although most of these contempt convictions were overturned on appeal, there is little to suggest courts are about to join the current trend toward casual attire. But it's all relative. Compared to a black robe and powdered wig, I suppose a coat and tie is casual.

9. You must be admitted to a Bar.

I'm not talking about the kind of bar college students are most familiar with. You cannot practice law or even call yourself a lawyer until you have been admitted to a state Bar. Among other things, you must graduate from a reputable law school, establish good moral character, and pass a competency test, known as a bar exam.

The bar exam is not a national test. Every state's law is somewhat different so each state has its own exam. Therefore, you cannot get a license to practice law in Michigan until you have passed the Michigan bar exam and getting a license to practice law in California requires passing the California bar exam.

I've taken and passed the bar exams for two states. The first was given over a period of two days in a university dormitory cafeteria. It was during the middle of a heat wave and the cafeteria was not air conditioned. At one point, the temperature exceeded 100 degrees. Several people fainted. I figured that was just part of the test -- if they couldn't take the heat they shouldn't be a lawyer.

The second bar exam I took went on for four days, six hours a day. The first day was devoted to the "multi-state" bar exam, a six-hour long multiple choice test. The next three days were spent writing case analyses. When it was finally over, a group of us briefly discussed going out for a celebratory drink. But 24 grueling hours of test-taking had left us exhausted. Besides, "bar" was not evoking a positive reaction just then.

8. You can be sued for malpractice.

We all make mistakes. But if you make a mistake that harms a client, you will have to accept responsibility for what you did or didn't do. Of course, that's only fair. Lawyers file lawsuits against businesses, doctors, and others when they make mistakes. Clients should be able to sue their lawyers when they make mistakes.

Fear can be a great motivator. The threat of liability hanging over your head provides an incentive to do your job right. It's also an incentive to purchase malpractice insurance -- or to figure out a way to shift the blame for your mistakes to someone else.

Conduct which constitutes malpractice may also violate the Rules of Professional Conduct. The bad news is that a serious ethical violation can result in the temporary suspension or even permanent loss of an attorney's license to practice law. The good news is you don't need a law license to be elected to political office or run a business.

7. People will ask you for free advice.

The only thing lawyers have to sell is their time and expertise. That means every time you give free advice you are, in effect, reducing the amount of your paycheck. Doctors frequently find themselves in the same situation.

There is a story about a doctor and lawyer at a party. They were engaged in conversation when a guest approached and asked the doctor for some free medical advice. Not wanting to appear impolite, the doctor answered the question. After the guest had left, the doctor resumed his conversation with the lawyer. "I noticed no one has come up and asked you for free advice. How do you keep people from doing that?"

"Every time someone asks me for advice I send them a bill," the lawyer replied.

The doctor thought that was an excellent idea and, the next day, sent the guest a bill for $75. Two days later, the doctor received a bill from the lawyer for $150.

Of course, there are people who need legal help but cannot afford a lawyer. I encourage you to donate your services to them. But when you are dealing with people who can afford it, bill them. My experience has been they feel free to ignore free advice. I suspect it has something to do with the attitude that "you get what you pay for."

6. You will learn others' secrets.

An attorney needs to know the facts to do his or her job properly. To encourage clients to tell their attorneys the truth, the confidentiality of attorney-client communications is protected by law. That means you will have to keep what your clients tell you to yourself. They may reveal information you could use to your advantage -- but you can't use it. They may reveal personal information which can be disturbing and depressing -- but you can't share it. Knowing others' secrets can be a heavy burden and you will find you sometimes have to carry it alone.

And always remember that confidential is not the same as truthful. Despite the privilege of confidentiality, clients may be too ashamed or afraid to tell the truth, they may figure they can get away with lying, or they may have convinced themselves their story is true when in fact it is not. What they don't seem to realize is that by withholding the truth they are only making it harder for their attorney to represent them. As terrible as it may sound, an attorney should never assume a client has been completely truthful. In the practice of law, what you don't know can hurt you.

5. So you can win arguments with your significant other and friends.

Several years ago a male student thanked me for what he had learned in my course. "For the first time," he said "I'm winning arguments with my girlfriend." Coincidentally, a few months later, a female student asked me for advice about how to get her boyfriend to stop arguing like a lawyer. I told her about the time I thought I was having a conversation with my wife and she suddenly retorted "Stop cross examining me!"

Lawyers use an adversarial style of communication. It can be an extremely effective form of communication in the courtroom and when interacting with people who are comfortable with that style, such as other lawyers. But it is not always the best style to use in personal relationships. As a lawyer, if you win, your client wins. In a personal relationship, if you win, your relationship may lose.

4. Because you want fame, fortune, and power.

I wish I could comment on this from personal experience, but I can't -- and that should tell your something. If you want fame, you will have a better chance if you pursue a career as an actor, athlete, musician, politician, or even a businessperson. There are lawyers who have achieved celebrity status, but generally not as lawyers.

And I've never really understood why people think lawyers have power. I don't make the laws, politicians, judges, and government agencies do. In court, I don't find the defendant guilty or innocent, the judge or jury does. When I am representing a client, I don't make the decisions, my client does. The only power I have is comes from my ability to reason and persuade. If people won't listen to me, I have no power over them at all.

Although becoming a lawyer is unlikely to result in fame and power, it could very well be the path to fortune. Some lawyers make tremendous amounts of money. My only caution is that money should not be your sole reason for becoming a lawyer. I know it's trite, but there are things that are more important than money; things which all the money in the world can't buy.

A high school student who had wanted to be a lawyer for as long as he could remember once sought my advice on how achieve his goal. I asked him why he wanted to be a lawyer. "So I can make a lot of money," he replied. I tried to convince him that was not a good reason but he wouldn't listen. He graduated from college, attended one of the top ranked law schools in the country, and landed a job with a large, well-known law firm making big bucks. Two years later he was so dissatisfied he quit and became a public defender. He took a huge pay cut. There were some weeks he didn't get paid at all. But he was happier than he had ever been. Sometimes less is more.

3. You will work long hours.

Sixty hours or more a week at the office is not unusual. If you don't get everything done, no problem. You will be encouraged to take unfinished work home with you. One attorney I knew always took work with him on vacation. His wife and children would go out and play while he would remain in their hotel room working.

"Sweatshop," "brutal," and "grueling" are words commonly used to describe the working conditions of new associates in law firms. According to a 1998 study of large law firms conducted by the National Association of Law Placement, 33 percent of new associates leave within two years and 43 percent depart by their third year. The percentages are higher for women and minorities.

There is an old saying that by the time a trial attorney turns 50 he or she has been married three times and is an alcoholic. This is an exaggeration, but it contains a kernel of truth. The desire for a better quality of life is one of the main reasons lawyers leave private practice. They are seeking a better balance between their professional and personal lives, including more time for themselves and to spend with family and friends.

2. You will be blamed for all the problems in the world.

Ask anyone. The odds are they will tell you the world would be a much better place without lawyers. It's never the jury's fault or the judge's fault or the law's fault or the individual's fault or society's fault. It's always the fault of those damn lawyers.

This attitude has been around for a long time. In William Shakespeare's play Henry VI, a character by the name of Cade makes a pitch to overthrow the government and describes how much better everyone's life would be if he were King. Dick the Butcher, one of Cade's supporters, throws out this suggestion: "First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

Whether Dick's statement was intended to deride or compliment lawyers is a matter of continuing debate. However, both sides seem to agree on one thing -- lawyers are often obstacles. An obstacle is a problem when it is preventing you from getting something you want. But it is a solution when it is protecting you from others' attempts to take what they want.

1. You will hear lots of lawyer jokes.

I have always found it interesting that people who think it is inappropriate to tell jokes about racial and ethnic groups, blondes, and gays and lesbians have absolutely no problem with lawyer jokes.

What's wrong with lawyer jokes? Lawyers don't think they're funny and other people don't think they're jokes.

How many lawyer jokes are there? Just two. The rest are true.

Believe it or not, I read the other day that terrorists had invaded the Los Angeles hotel at which the annual American Bar Association meeting was being held and took everyone inside hostage. The police sent in a negotiator to talk to the terrorists. "We want ten million dollars, a police escort to the airport and an airplane to take us to a destination we will reveal only to the pilot," he was told. "The clock starts running now. Until you meet our demands, we will release one lawyer every hour."

By the way, do you know the difference between terrorists and lawyers? Terrorists have sympathizers.

People are always complaining there are too many lawyers in the United States. But most of the ideas I have heard for reducing their numbers won't work. For example, one person suggested: "Feed ‘em to the sharks." That won't work. Sharks won't attack lawyers. It's a matter of professional courtesy.

Besides, I think it's a lot of fuss about nothing. There is no way we will ever have too many lawyers. Nature has seen to it that every lawyer is genetically programmed with a natural form of birth control -- his or her personality.

Continue to Part 2 -- Top 10 Reasons To Be A Lawyer