My law partner is in charge of our website. He wants me to write blog posts about Vermont worker’s compensation. I hate writing blog posts.
Workers compensation law is very precise. Law, in general, is precise but workman’s comp is even more so. That’s what I like about it. That’s why I’m good at it. Because I care about precision. I am not comfortable giving general answers when I know the general answer isn’t really right. When I write about Vermont workers compensation law I tend to obsess over describing everything with a lot of detail.
For example, Tristan (my law partner) asked me to write a post about “How To Calculate Workers Compensation.” Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Well not for me. Calculate which part of worker’s compensation, I say. Temporary Total Disability? Temporary Partial? Or Permanent Partial? These are different things with different answers. He says: just explain how they calculate the weekly check (this is Temporary Total Disability). I say okay, and write it up. He reads it and says: what you’ve written is too complicated you have to use such technical legal terms? Well, I say, it’s complicated and technical!
But it’s more than the fact that it’s complicated and technical, because the topics that he writes 
about are complicated and technical, too. He doesn’t seem to struggle as much as I do to simplify the explanation. There is something about my nature that doesn’t feel comfortable glossing over details. I feel this need to explain the details to try to ensure that I am giving the right answer. I don’t want people to feel like they understand something if they don’t really have the full picture. So I err on the side of too much detail.
But I also recognize that that is worth leaving out the detail if it makes the information more accessible and thereby helps more people understand how the law works. So many people struggle with cases in the legal system and have a hard time understanding what is happening in their cases.
