Description of a Female Attorney
Sandra had joined the firm as a partner a year before Mason . . . she had been less than enthusiastic about hiring him . . . Sandra didn't think that an ambulance-chasing lawyer was corporate boardroom material. Sandra blended hard edges and soft touches , , , she didn't need the money she made, and was lethal in the courtroom. He wanted to break through her refrigerated demeanor. "Excuse me," Sandra interjected. "His name is Lou Mason, not Perry Mason. Would you like to know what the head of the litigation department thinks about putting the future of this firm into the hands of a lawyer whose idea of a courtroom victory is selling a rear-end collision whiplash so story? Mason felt every one's eyes burning holes into him while waiting to see if he got up off the mat after Sandra's body slam. His were on her. She didn't flinch. Trouble was, angry as he was--she wasn't wrong. Vicious--yes. Wrong--probably not. That was the nature of brutal truth. Had she known Mason was quitting, she would have thrown him out of the window.
Neither Law School Nor, the Still Noble Practice of Law is for the Faint of Heart . . . the Brutal Truth, is What You Are Dealing With!
WE BREAK THEM, THEN REMAKE THEM!
First and foremost, law school, is a process of taking everything you thought you knew about yourself as a human being, as a student, as a member of society, as your pecking order in the world, and turning it on its head . . . the study and practice of law, is like giving someone a lethal weapon, like a gun, that is neither moral or immoral, but it is an inanimate object or a set of rules, laws, statutes, constitutions, that are then applied to a set of particular facts, that takes on the shape of the beholder, or the holder, as is, in the case of a gun--the law is either the greatest tool for good, or the worst tool for bad, depending on how it is used. If that makes sense . . . there were Valedictorians, Rhode Scholars, who failed that first property law exam . . . people who barely made it in law school, who were top ten, made law review . . . there seemed to be no real rhyme or reason to who succeeded and who didn't, and that all changed, anyway, once you got out of law school, into the real practice of law, too. There seemed to be no correlation between the amount of time you put into studying, or the lack thereof, and your grades! So, in other words, you are starting from scratch, and you either think like a lawyer, or you do not, and if you don't, good luck!
But, the good news is, you can learn to think like a lawyer . . . they say, traditionally, law students, who either have a mother or a father who are already attorneys, do the best. And that makes sense, they are brought up with the terminology, language, and dinner time discussions, that make this second nature to them, having listened to a parent or both parents, talk about cases, courts, legal principles, concepts and scenarios. I remember, during my first semester of law school, listening to some tapes on contract law, and I mentioned to one of my roommates, who was not a law student, but a masters, level student, that I had 7 classes, just like this to learn . . . and she said, no, you have 8, a foreign language! That was so true, the obligee, the obligor, the trustee, the trustor, etc.
I would say, that one of the things that best prepared me to be a lawyer, is, number one, that I read the scriptures when I was young, and took that to be my rule of law, so to say for my spiritual life, and then took the particular set of facts, at hand, and applied them to the law or the opposite, applied the rule of law to the set of facts that I was dealing with. In addition to that, I was 36 when I attended law school, so I was a good 15 years on average, older than the average law student . . . and believe me, that delayed attendance didn't hurt me a bit, nor did it after I got out . . . people assumed that I had graduated from law school at age 25, and assumed that by 39 or 40, that I had been practicing law for what 15 years, and I was trusted with huge ass statewide jobs, by that assumption! LOL! Motherhood, taught me to multi-task, and that was both beneficial, and kept me anchored during law school . . . kids can't wait, and my studies tended to take second place to family and social life . . . I was just recently divorced, turned the kids over to their dad, acting as friends with kids in common, ex was great support, and took over, while I filled in the gaps!
People Often Have the Wrong Idea of What Happiness is . . . But It is Really Putting Your Time Into a Worthy Purpose! It is All About Balance!
I found that the most successful law students, were the ones, who didn't put their entire lives on hold for law school, but blended it into what they were already doing. By way of example: a male colleague of mine, fellow law student, and his wife, both walked through graduation together, he with a law degree, she with a master's degree, and they had two children in tow! Amazing, and he ended up clerking for the United States Supreme Court, if I recall, plus, in law school, he tended the kids, shared the load with his wife, played basketball and golf, took time to be a friend, and talk about normal issues, like cop profiling, when I got a ticket, driving my Volkswagen Rabbit, with a Grateful Dead Sticker in the back, and a cop pulling me over, thinking I was a California surfer dude! This guy's brother was a cop, and said they do it all the time! That was the day that the seeds for being a criminal defense lawyer took root! But, Steve and his wife, were great parents, amazing students, and worked things out, so that both could reach their school and career goals! I remember, seeing many male students, inparticular, being up at the law school, all the time, leaving their poor wives, home with the kids, using law school as an excuse to leave or be gone whenever! I told them, I had been a wife of a master's student, and being the law student, was the easier of the two, having had two children at the time my ex-husband got that degree. Both family and the law are worthy purposes . . . get that balance, hard as it is!
12 Quizzes on the Law Library, the Blue Book . . . The Nerd or the Olympic Basketball Jock, Top Ten?
At Brigham Young University, J. Reuben Clark Law School, back in the day, 1990 when I started law school, all new law students had to take 12 quizzes on the law library, and it seems we had to do something with the little Blue Book of legal citations! Now, I was an English major, undergrad, and that helped me immensely going through law school and as an attorney, because, you write! But, I was sitting in the law library one day, and I am sitting next to this very nerdy looking guys, non-descript, glasses, and whatever. He was a second year law student at the time, and he was studying the citation book, that I have never used, since law school, nor did I much in law school, and have never touched it since, going all the way to the United States Supreme Court! But, this dude, tells me, that I have to memorize this whole book. Now, I believed that with grammar, that you were either born knowing grammar, or you were not, and I was not. That all changed when I had this brilliant, but lazy English professor, who taught his class, survival grammar, in 15 minutes, I learned more than I had in all my schooling to that point, and that was including almost being an English major graduate . . . but from that point on, I could write for professors, lawyers, doctors and the Supreme Court, without batting an eye! So, when I learned that I had to learn this monster, I was, more than depressed.
To my luck, about that time, Dave, a jock, and also, a second year law student, came in the library sweating and slamming a basketball, in the palms of his huge hands. And he said, don't listen to him, you don't have to do any of that stuff to be good in law school. Look at me, I even took time off, to represent the Canadian Olympic team in some playoff. He just kind of dispelled my fears, said, it is no big deal, you just go through it and study, there is no magical formula, just do the work, and learn what they have to teach you. Okay, I can do that . . . Dave ended up one of my law school squeezes, along with several others who took the stress off, in the basement of the law school, make out sessions! LOL! I did have fun, and the study of law, was a sideline, as it has been since graduating! Like my mother said, don't sweat the small stuff and it is all small stuff. Dave told me that there were guys who graduated top ten and were driving taxi cabs in New York, and those who barely made it out of law school, working as ambulance chasers, and are making bank . . . I loved his laid back attitude. Dave ended up working for a big ass law firm in New York, hated it, and came back to Utah after law school, and worked for peanuts! Good for him . . . all about happiness, not ego! So that was the start of simplifying law school. Law school was like three years of vacation for me . . . totally loved it, don't even remember it! LOL!
JoAnn's Suggestions for Law School Survival
- you don't have to be religious to take this word of advice, but I think it was one of the best things I did in law school . . . I kept the Sabbath Day Holy, in and of the fact that I refused to study on Sunday, all the way through law school and through taking the bar exam! You, fucking need, one day, to totally, let the amount of knowledge be digested, let your brain take a break, take time for family and friends, and just to chill out, for God sake. Law school, or any schooling for that matter is really gruelling! I would take my law books and hide them. I would relax, go to church if that is something you do, or just take time to go to a movie, out to dinner, take time to yourself and with family, doing those things that go neglected during the week. Even during finals, I would go to bed early and get up at 3:00 A.M., refreshed and ready for a new week, and generally had 5 or more hours to make up for lost time as it seems on Sunday, but sanity time, that can't be substituted. I remember one guy studying 16 hours a day, and he failed his finals, so he amped it up to 20 hours a day, with 4 to sleep, some actually sleeping at the law school, and he did even worse grade-wise. He finally relaxed, letting the brain, reach a zone, so to say of relaxation, that let it maximize the efforts he was making, rather than being totally, placing his brain in lock down . . . freedom. When my ex-husband was getting his master's degree, and we had a ton of law and medical student friends, a law student, actually died in the library, that was open 24/7, and nobody noticed him, until his body started to stink, because he was always there! Don't do that . . . work smarter, not harder!
- I know that some law schools, make you be in a study group . . . I would suggest, that if you have an option, don't join one. I think I went to one for about a week, and it was all about the football game, a date, a spouse, or gossiping about fellow students, and little time was spent on actual studying! I know it his book, Motion to Kill, Mason and Scot, his former law student buddy and now partner, seemed to think that they got each other through law school . . . one guy saw the big picture, and the other guys understood the details. But, the thing that struck me, is that they were relying on each other, and didn't seem to be self made law students or attorneys, but continued to rely on each other through out their careers . . . possibly the concept of the law firm, where I had the total confidence to file a $357 million law suit, in a specialty area of law, securities having to know, constitutional, administrative, criminal, civil, and securities law, to handle the case, all by my lonesome! Don't get reliant on someone else to get you through law school, or after. I remember one of my friends, working for a law firm, right after she graduated, and when the first client came in, she responded to the first question, by running down the hall, yelling, Help, I need a real attorney! I depended, entirely on myself, and that has served me well, or would have!
- you are assigned about 200 pages of reading a day, and you are suppose to brief each one of the cases, or write a small recipe card, with the facts, the rule of law, and the holding or the ruling in the case . . . that can take forever, and the day, that you don't brief, is the day that the professor will call on you to stand and defend a case! Scream, always the one day, you didn't do the briefing. I saw law student after law student, make entire fools of themselves, regardless of how well prepared they were, the professor could still stump them and make them look bad, and that seemed to be their goal! I decided that I was going to look bad, 5 to 7 times in any given semester, regardless of how well I prepared, so I might as well, skip all the drudgery and bag on the briefing, which I did, and I didn't fare any worse than the other, allegedly, more prepared students. I remember, one guy saying, we all look stupid, so why worry . . . I figured that one out, the first week! That saved me a ton of time. Now, I am not suggesting that you don't read the cases, or prepare for class, I never failed to do that, but the briefing cards, I doubt that one, second or third law student ever briefed one! There is what you call, Black Letter Law . . . and that is what you need to know, not ever little nuance and detail of the case! Focus on what will get you the most mileage! Don't be afraid to make mistakes, just do your best, and be reasonable . . . the reasonable man standard is what is expected, not some miracle man or woman, who is perfect, that just doesn't happen at this stage of your training, nor really any time in law school, just a passage to bigger and greater things! Don't get stuck in law school! Some people get stuck in high school glory days, some in college, those frat rats, others get hung up with the law school crowd and others the bar . . . I never really got hung up, and always figured that the best is yet to come, this blog has been by far the greatest, most interesting and fun thing I have ever done in the law, and the most far reaching and most not necessarily challenging, but rewarding, by far. There is a sign that has, Uncle Sam, pointing his finger, and saying, We Want . . . with You, crossed out, and Your Vehicle . . . replacing it . . . this blog has been a force for good, fun, interest, and education! And I am damned sure the government wants it, probably the reason for the push for government control of the Internet, or Internet Neutrality . . . can reach billions of people! Big time influence, rather than just help my daughter, I can help the whole world of law students!
- always show up for class and always prepare! I got the highest score out of 162 law students in my constitutional law class. The professor told the students, that they could prepare an outline for this open book final . . . the book was fucking 4 to 5 inches thick! Now, the week before finals, someone stole all my notes for all my classes, really putting me at a disadvantage, because, I can't even read my own handwriting, let alone someone else's, and you understand your own notes. Well, someone, must have been impressed with me and decided that I was their competition and took my notes, or it might have been an obsessed boyfriend, who wanted me to flunk out, to spend more time with him! But, I was pissed as hell, and had to rely on not notes from my classes, but legal helps, like black letter law study guides, that really were not part of our classes, but gave me a general overall understanding of the law in that subject area, but, I would say were inferior to the class notes, because the prof tests on his material, not general law stuff. But, at the last minute, I decided, that I better prepare and outline of my con law stuff, on balance of powers, dealing with the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government and what their duties and responsibilities are, and where their powers overlap. I decided that visually, three circles on a single piece of paper, with all powers and duties in one square, would make it easier for me to remember, and then in the overlapping part, with littler spaces, write all the powers, that might be shared or overlap. I already knew the facts of the cases, generally, and the holdings or rulings in the cases, but, the professor mixed up some of the facts and the principles of law, taking some facts from one case and others from another case . . . but, that one piece outline worked wonders and the professor actually, asked me to be his research assistant, along with two other professors, torts, and family law. I knew a guy who prepared a 600 page outline, and was so confused that he got lost and flunked the exam! KISS . . . keep it simple stupid. Several of my small section tort students, that I taught, asked me, hearing about my outline, if I still had it and if they could borrow it . . . sure, I was curious if it would be as helpful to them also. They all scored the top four in con law! I should have marketed that idea, because it worked big time, and I had a very large or disproportionate number of students, make it into the top ten or law review, from small sections tort . . . I guess that was a bragging item for professors! Maybe that is why old Ray Jay Davis, the most feared professor wanted both me and Malcomb to stay on the next year, rather than hiring two newbies!
- Be yourself! Never cow-tow to your professors! Mr. Davis, whom most students feared and would not even say hello, loved the shit out of me, simply, because, when I was right, I stood my ground, and when all was said and done, he could have saved a whole hell of a lot of embarrassment had he listened to me. This man was the number one expert on water law in the nation, and spoke at many conferences and was a consultant. He was asked to write for a law review, a very prestigious thing and what law schools thrive on. He gave me his paper, and told me to find law that supported the way he had written his paper. After pulling 127 cases, reading and highlighting all of them, I reported back to the old TROLL, that case law did not support the way he had written this paper. He slammed his hands down on his desk and said, most students don't have the guts to say hi to me in the halls, how dare you tell me that case law doesn't support the way I have written this paper! I threw the cases, all 127 of them down on his desk and said, DO IT YOURSELF! And walked out . . . 6 months later, the Ohio or Iowa, Law Review, sent him his paper back and said, CASE LAW DOES NOT SUPPORT THE WAY YOU HAVE WRITTEN THIS PAPER! From that point on, I could do no wrong, as if I ever did, lol, and I walked on water . . . the old Harvard grad, and former professor of Columbia, Arizona, and who knows, dug the hell out of me, and always said, that I was the most refreshing law student he had ever had. One summer, he asked if I was going to be around to be his research assistant, and I said, well, I did apply for one job, with Americans United for Life, so if that job doesn't come through, then I will be around to work. He laughed, and said you only applied for one job? The other research and writing student, had applied, like most do, for 250 jobs! Needless to say, I got the job, was not around for the summer, and worked for one of the largest, at the time, largest, public education and interest law firms in the nation, in Chicago, exposing me to legislation, the U.S. Supreme Court, the American Bar Association, American Medical Association, the Center for Disease Control and major entities, nationwide, giving me an education in and of itself of the way this government, the law, states working with the feds, works! A great experience . . . fucking be yourself, change the law, revolutionize it . . . people would read my fun briefs and say, it that a legal brief? Hell yeah, and as firms all over the nation paid the federal courts to read my stuff, hot off the press . . . I told them, all the federal rules say, is that you have to have contact info, the plaintiff and defendant, the case number, the motion or action, and the court and judge's name! I swore, used references to witches, slavery, school bullies, etc., and people loved it!
- don't be afraid to torture the law school librarians! These people have law degrees, they are probably the "A" students, total eggheads, and can lead you to reference books and other sources that can save you time and your clients money! I found them to be an excellent source and fountain of knowledge, and made me look great and more than one occasion with my professors and clients. I would say they are the unsung heroes of any law school, and can just give you loads of good information and direction! That is there job! These people don't dig the limelight, and they are more than willing, to let you take the credit for all the great stuff they lead you to find, and then amaze your boss, professor, law partner, or clients . . . DON'T BE AFRAID TO LOOK STUPID, ASK CRAZY QUESTIONS, AND GO OUT ON A LIMB! No Guts, No Glory! BE CREATIVE, MAKE NEW LAW, MAKE BETTER LAWS!
REMEMBER TO HAVE FUN, RELAX, LAW SCHOOL IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD . . . THERE IS LIFE AFTER LAW SCHOOL, AND IT WILL SURPRISE YOU WHO SUCCEEDS! KEEP IT ALL IN PERSPECTIVE . . . BE TRUE TO YOURSELF! A FEW QUOTES:
- Protecting people when they were in trouble. That's what the law is for, his aunt Claire had taught him. She was hist father's sister and the first lawyer, liberal, and hell-raiser in his family. She'd wielded the law like a club for her clients, who were usually poor, disadvantaged, or just outnumbered.
- She'd tried talking him out of going to law school, telling him that he wasn't cut out for the only kind of law worth practicing. Her kind. He'd gone anyway, silently suspecting that she was right. He'd enjoyed the battle, but didn't care enough about the war she'd never stopped fighting.
- Mason thought of Aunt Claire as the sun rose at their backs. She would have called Kelly the intrusive arm of the law. Investigating, accusing, and punishing. aunt Claire had taught him that it's the lawyer's duty to shield the individual from that power. It was that duty, she told him, that drew her to the law. He understood the duty but it had never held the allure for him that it had for Aunt Claire.
- Tommy Douchant had bloodied Mason's nose when Mason asked Douchant's girlfriend to double-skate at he roller rink. Crawling under his table near the concession stand, Mason had tied the laces of Tommy's skates together while blood dripped from his nose. They were ten. Neither of them got the girl. Friendships are born in strange ways.
- Tommy was Catholic. Mason was Jewish. Tommy was hotheaded. Mason was sneaky. Tommy joined his father's union. Mason went to college. Tommy broke his back. Mason lost his case. Friendships die in strange ways.
- "No, Lou, You don't get a vote. Love isn't an election. you're either in or you're out and I'm out. Our of love with you and out of the marriage." she said it without rancor. It was the way it was. She had disengaged.
- It may have been simple to her, but not to him. They had been married three years. The first had been erotic and ecstatic. The second had been quiet and comfortable. The third had been dead and boring. Mason called it a slump. Kate declared it a dead end.
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