Thanks, EFC.  I went to law school after teaching for over 20 years.  I had gone to grad school and almost completed a PhD, when my son was born, and I stopped that program.  Before I went to law school, I thought that my writing was good, and then a friend, whose husband was a lawyer told me that he had taught her to get rid of all extra words.  I took that advice, and my writing got better.  :-)
I hope that I'm a good lawyer.  I work hard.  I've got to tell you that when I was practicing in the jurisdiction of the Buffalo Immig Court, when only 4% of asylum applications were being approved, before I knew the statistics, I almost quit, believing that I was, in fact a very lousy lawyer, b/c my clients' applications were being denied, but then I found out that my approval was better than the average.  So, I stayed.