Perhaps the most common question any lawyer is asked upon meeting a new acquaintance is “so what sort of law do you practice?” This, and good marketing practices, means I think semi-regularly about my elevator pitch – how to describe what we do in a quick, positive, and engaging way, that conveys the feeling and sense of the work we do without getting bogged down in jargon.  Since I have been doing right-of-way work for the past eleven years, Van Morrison has summed up for me how I actually feel about it:

Can’t take my love away, ah ’cause it’s here to stay
If it fades away, come back another day
Gonna keep on moving on up to the higher ground
Gonna keep on moving on up, I wanna stick around
Gonna keep on moving on up, oh gonna stand my ground
Won’t let the bastards grind me down

            That being said, you can’t really get out an anecdote about an obscure song lyric fast enough for the person who just met you to not wonder what this lawyer they just met is nattering on about, and I bet he talks like this just to rack up billable hours. So back to the drawing board about how to quickly and positively convey the feeling of what we do, as follows:

I help build infrastructure projects by acquiring the real estate for them in part because infrastructure projects offer an opportunity to help improve the quality of life for large numbers of people. The feeling I have when I see a project completed and improving people’s lives helps keep me coming back to this sort of work.

That is probably still too long and involved. If you have any particular slogans or phrases that you think quickly and positively convey how you feel about doing right of way work, I would love to hear them.