I am too, in the sense that it comes naturally to me to argue and be persuasive. For me, quite frankly, the discontent came not from the practice itself, but where I practiced.

I secured a job in my first year of law school with my region's version of Big Law (you know the big, shiny firm). I was thrilled and it was great. Until it wasn't.

Funny thing, the swamp seems nice until you realize it's a swamp and you begin to see the gators. It wasn't the work, per se, it was everything else that went with it, the endless expectation to attend events, drunken boat cruises, rubber chicken dinners, more drunken boat cruises. Anyway you get the idea.

You're absolutely right, those basic skills can take one a long way, and they do. I don't fight it out in the courtroom anymore (although I do sometimes miss the rush), but I do lend my skills to advocacy groups in my community, etc. You can take the girl out of the courtroom but you can't really take the courtroom out of the girl. Once we're trained to think that way, we just do.