Unlike many of my friends who were in large law firms at the time, I actually enjoyed working at First Chicago. The problem that I found with law practice was that the more I practiced, the less pure law I was doing. First Chicago attorneys used to brag to one another about how little time they had to spend in the library. By contrast, my favorite part of the job was writing substantive legal memos. As I gained experience and started handling my own cases, a greater part of my time was spent on the phone and at meetings and a much lower proportion of my day was spent tackling legal issues at my computer.
Teaching is perhaps the most evident task.
At most law schools, professors teach two three-hour courses each semester. The number of hours of preparation it takes for each hour of class time varies among professors and also with the number of times that the professor has previously taught the course. It typically does not take many years, however, before the teaching part of the job, at least standing alone, does not demand all of the professor's time. That's where scholarship comes in. This might take the form of a law review article, a treatise for practicing lawyers, or a casebook for students.