Books, In-House Counsel

The Road Not Taken: Go Set A Watchman

Regardless of your views of Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee has given those of us who have chosen the legal profession as our career a gift, according to in-house columnist Celeste Harrison Forst.

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Harper Lee’s second published novel, Go Set a Watchman, was released this week amidst multiple levels of controversy: did she intend for the piece to be published, is she being taken advantage of, does the work taint To Kill a Mockingbird, what are we to think of Atticus Finch?

Atticus, arguably the country’s most beloved lawyer. The fictional man who inspired countless legal careers with his steady resolve and unassailable character. It felt good to identify with and idolize a man who was so objectively good.

You have probably heard by now that Atticus in Watchman is not the same man from Mockingbird. He is no longer a saint, but a man with years of experience behind him, with the flaws and idiosyncrasies that make up a life.

The Atticus of Watchman is still, however, a smart lawyer. We don’t get as much time with Atticus as a lawyer in Watchman, but what little we get is just as valuable of a lesson in the law as what we got from Atticus in Mockingbird.

When explaining the value of a legal education to the actual practice of law, Atticus says, “One began to get an inkling of what law was about only when the time came to practice it.” The formal legal education was only good for “mak[ing] friends with Alabama’s future politicians, demagogues, and statesmen.”

That observation is as accurate today as it was nearly sixty years ago when Harper Lee wrote it. As much as our egos may want to argue otherwise, the only way to become a good lawyer is by practicing at it. Only when you have seen many things happen before can you begin to know what the ramifications of specific decisions will be and become a thoughtful, worthwhile adviser. Atticus’s statement is particularly prescient when one compares the access to information in the mid-twentieth century to today. Statutes, cases, analysis are available to everyone. As lawyers, our value is no longer our access to information, but what we can do with the same information that is available to everyone.

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The unfortunate reality about “practice” is that it is not perfection. We have to suffer through the anguish of making mistakes, the embarrassment of not knowing the answer, the humiliation of being wrong. Atticus had to go through this too. Our beloved Atticus had to practice and make mistakes before he could become the lawyer who changed our lives in Mockingbird. Regardless of whether you think Watchman ruins Mockingbird or is a valuable supplement to Mockingbird, Lee has given those of us who have chosen the legal profession as our career a gift. Atticus is a person, just like all of us. He is flawed and makes mistakes, just like all of us. If a flawed man can be as brave and gracious as Atticus was in Mockingbird, maybe there is a chance we can try to be like that too. With practice.

After Watchman, Atticus may not be the man we wanted him to be. Like Jean Louise (Scout) Finch, our feelings about the man will change. Perhaps our feeling about Atticus the business-owner will change. But our feelings about Atticus the lawyer have not been dissected in the public sphere, likely because as a small-town lawyer, Atticus is just as steadfast, sensible, and arguably wiser, in Watchman than he was in Mockingbird.

Ed. note: The links to Watchman and Mockingbird are affiliate links.

Celeste Harrison Forst has practiced in small and mid-sized firms and is now in-house at a large manufacturing and technology company where she receives daily hugs from her colleagues. You can reach Celeste directly atC.harrisonforst@gmail.com.

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