Your Brand- While you are still Generic

Technically speaking until you put those three pretty letters after your name (esq.) you are no-one. (generic-wannabe lawyer) But what if each Lawyer/Boss/Mentor you have becomes so enamored with your "run yourself into the ground" work ethic, that they insist on putting your name on their letterhead. As if it is an unspoken gift or right of passage. It's the Lawyer/Boss/Mentor's way of saying, "here is a hypothetical pat on the back- because if you fuck up, no biggy I take your name off the letterhead." Or, what if they put you in a big huge office and say, "Is this big enough for you?" And what if all this "puffery" is an attempt to mind-fuck you into being committed? How does this all play out and how do you know if it's real.

Truth be told, I am A L W A Y S in a hurry. There are 7 million things to do in a day and I am meeting with people all day. That means I have ZERO hours to do actual work. Instead, I'm doing the client, dog, and pony dance all day. When I do get a chance to do real work I'm rushed and I make dumb mistakes. The pressure is immense because on the one hand, just in case the Lawyer really does think I am great--these mistakes kill my credibility and competence. My thoughts are that (a) his trick is working and (b) Ill be in at 4am tomorrow.

This leads me to my point- Several Lawyers have put my name on their letterhead and I am extremely uncomfortable with being that seriously tied to another Lawyer's brand/reputation. The legal baller did that shit and it freaked me the fuck out. I did not ever want anyone to know I worked for him. He is a JOKE. So I have devised a plan: tomorrow I will fix the letterhead so there is not a huge gap on the left side where the now estranged career legal secretary's name once was. That way the Lawyer/Boss/Mentor wont notice the space and suggest I put my name there. This field of work is ridiculously hard. My advice is to not do it.