The Scariest Attorneys on the Planet
The Scariest Attorneys on the Planet
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
One of the more interesting factoids that I learned in law school was that a Supreme Court justice does not need to be a lawyer, although the last justice with that distinction was James F. Byrnes (1941-1942).* One of the more interesting factoids that I learned last week was that a Supreme Court justice does not need to be ethical, either. Yes, I’m talking about Justice Clarence Thomas, who again is in the news.
* I guestimate that it would be 100% more likely to be elected POTUS than to serve on SCOTUS. (Federal judges serve for life. The POTUS has a time limit.)
Two jokes for you today:
Q: What do you call the students who graduate in the bottom of their law school class?
A: Politicians.
Q: What do you call the student who fails the bar exam?
A: Presidential material.**
** I’m speaking about JFK, Jr. who infamously failed the NY bar exam twice. Although he wasn’t a president, I guess … but a president’s son?
I know we attorneys get a bad rep. I mean, have you ever met a divorce attorney? They are scary people. It might be a side effect of dealing with incredibly emotional and crazy people … you know, the people getting divorced … kind of like how police officers bring all that bad stuff they see home, you know?
The vast majority of attorneys are not divorce attorneys, which means we are not scary. We tend to know some stuff, a side effect of going to school for a long time. (We also have a lot of debt to show for it.) Most of us, believe it or not, want to help people.
I had a professor once tell me that we are counselors because the first thing a lawyer should do is listen. People need help with their legal problems. But they also just need someone to listen about their problems.
So unless one is a divorce attorney, in which case that person is a scary individual, then we are no more or no less unethical than … the rest of the population. We just have a tendency to make the news if we are unethical. We also have these huge hearings when we are unethical to admonish us for acting in an unethical manner.
I know, I know. This isn’t a soapbox moment. This isn’t supposed to be me spouting how great attorneys are.
So what is the point of this? The real moral of this story is … divorce attorneys are scary. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
The Goods
This week, I am promoting “The Mastermind Behind the Grayson County Five” by Pepper Anne.
Bob Leach was a throwback to an era of legendary Texas desperados. […] The real story about the "Modern Day Cattle Rustler" has yet to be told as new evidence has been uncovered that would warrant reopening the old cases.
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Happenings
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I read Devil of Black Creek: A Novella by Victor Methos. It’s free on the Kindle Unlimited. Mr. Methos normally writes legal thrillers, so I thought that this book was, too. But it’s not. And it’s bad. Don’t read it.
This week, I’ve been getting used to the new format of my mailing list, e.g. sending one every week. This is a big undertaking, because every “free” part of the newsletter takes a while to write. It’s time consuming to be funny.
Also, each of the paid portion takes a while to research, write, and edit. But I’m hoping that it provides value for those interested in an attorney’s perspective of all the trending legal news. Of which we have been inundated lately.
I make no secret that I lean to the moderate left. But I do try to be informational rather than political. Honestly, in most cases, I think of this stuff as bizarre rather than formulate any real opinion on it.