Learning on the job

One thing I have learned while working this internship is that being a lawyer is a lot of learning on your feet. I knew that I did not understand many of the things that would happen, especially technical things like how to get an expungement order for example, but I assumed that you would learn those things in law school. I also assumed that as a lowly undergraduate student, I had a long way to go before I would know which office to file appeals with or how many copies of an affidavit you should get. Of course, I have been observing this semester and could probably tell you where to go in the Shelby County Courthouse if you wanted to do any of the above but what about for those who did not do an internship like this?
My musings are the result of spending some time with the new associate working for Marty. He recently graduated from the University of Memphis Law School and has told me several times that he is learning as he goes for the most part. I didn't understand what he meant, especially since he just got out of law school. The place where they should teach you how to be a lawyer, right? Apparently a good deal of the technical work gets left out in law school. It leaves me to wonder how much of your law school studies do you actually use when you graduate and become a lawyer.
I would like to know that the money and the time I will be spending for the next three years guarantees I will actually know something about being a lawyer at the end of it all. I do not think I will be getting that guarantee. This all could even be applied to an undergraduate situation. We spend four years in an institution to gain knowledge and in theory, to be more employable in the work force. But how often do our majors or the classes we take really prepare us for our future jobs? As depressing as it is, I think most of us will never again see anything related to our majors once we graduate. I'm sure I will never again see a graph of a market for a good.
This internship is providing me with valuable information for later use. I may even have an advantage over others who have not had the opportunity to observe what it actually means to be a lawyer.