The 2010 Session of the Maryland General Assembly is now underway. For many of my colleagues, this means they will literally move in to the capital city, leaving behind their families and careers for the 90 days that the constitution allows us to do the people’s work.
For me, the start of session marks a transition in my life as a lawyer.
Years ago, before I joined the legislature, my friend and mentor Brian Frosh and I were talking about how service in the General Assembly differs from service in Congress. I lamented how difficult it must be to work on complex legislative questions without the large professional staff that members of Congress enjoy. Frosh responded with a comment that still remember, because it struck me as starkly self-contradictory. And perhaps a little crazy.
“You have to do a lot of the work yourself,” he conceded. ”It’s fun.”
As a law firm associate and political activist, I failed to understand how doing more work would be thought of as fun. Now, as a freshman delegate, I completely understand – and agree – with Frosh’s observation.
Let me be very clear – we have talented, hard-working professionals working for the Department of Legislative Services, in committees, and in members’ offices. But in the frenzied pace of our 90 day session, these staff are overloaded with the essential tasks of drafting bills and amendments, preparing fiscal notes, and supporting committee hearings and constituent service. When it comes to learning new fields of the law, or understanding how state and federal regulatory powers are allocated in various industries, we are often on our own. This is particularly true for junior members like myself.
For the intellectually curious, particularly attorneys, it is fun. Tonight, I’ve been researching the extent of state and local authority over cable television franchisees. My morning reading is likely to cover unemployment insurance and highway safety. My day-to-day law practice does not permit such intellectual spelunking. Every minute counts in a law firm, where time is currency. But for 90 days, I get free reign to try and master new legal disciplines, and look for ways that we can improve how our laws work for our citizens.
Unlike many of my colleagues, I won’t be moving to Annapolis, and my paying clients don’t disappear for 90 days. But the first day of session does mark a transition into a whole new adventure in lawyering. The fun has begun.
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