For those of you class action attorneys out there, here is one thing you should never do - schedule a class certification motion in between your wedding and your honeymoon. Yes, even if they are a month apart. Trust me on this. Don't ask me why. Anyway, the past couple of months have been hectic, but rewarding, and I think I really should blog more this year. Because so much happened, this is going to be one of those random thoughts blogs. Sorry people. So, without further ado. . .
The Bahamas: When my wife and I were trying to decide where to go for our honeymoon, we both realized that for a honeymoon, there really is only one proper activity - sitting on a beach, or in a pool, drinking. Okay, there are two proper activities, but we aren't going there. So, outside of marital activities, the only proper thing to do during a honeymoon is to sit on a beach, someplace warm and drink cold drinks. That pretty much eliminated Europe, as we would be compelled to go and see things. We also eliminated Mexico because its literally 20 minutes south of my office, and we figured we would probably go there a bunch in the future. So, we opted for the Bahamas.
Honestly, its a great place to go, sit on a beach, and drink rum. And drink more rum. And some more. Seriously, there is a hell of a lot of rum to be drunk, which I may or may not have consumed. The majority of the time it was absolutely glorious, and I'm glad I went. Add to that the fact that the Bahamian government works ridiculously hard to accommodate tourists, and going was convenient, fun, and worth doing. If you do go, check out Junkanoo, the New Years' celebration.
That said, there are a couple of things that are bothersome. First, and I wasn't aware of this before I went, there is basically no agriculture to speak of in the Bahamas. This is because the islands of the Bahamas are all essentially limestone with sand on top. While there are a good number of plants that can grow, most don't produce really produce food. So around 95% of the food found in the Bahamas is imported - meaning it is expensive and verges on the crappy. Add to that the sugary rum drinks (which, by the way, are fantastic), and you can end up feeling pretty gross.
The second thing about the Bahamas that struck me was the racial aspect of being a tourist. Here I am, a white guy, being served by Bahamians (almost all of whom are African in decent), sitting in a hotel which has a building meant to look like an old manor house - as in a manor house from the bad old days of slavery. Yeah, not good. While the Bahamians couldn't be nicer, and on Grand Bahama they were very nice, I can well understand frustrations boiling over into violence, which it totally is in Nassau. And I don't see how it gets better - the Bahamas are absolutely dependent upon tourism (70% of their GDP), and remember, because they live on crap soil, they can't grow their own food, and they don't have much industry outside of shipping to provide Bahamians with high paying jobs. It does concern me.
Pot is Legal in Colorado: Unlike the Bahamas, smoking pot is something I've never done. I'm not sure why exactly - I like stoners, I get their humor, and enjoy late night snacks as much as the next guy. I've been around people who used it, and was offered some on a variety of occasions, and I've never done it. Maybe it was all the anti-drug messages I got as a kid. Certainly, I'm part of the generation that was scared off from ever using cocaine. Anyway, with pot now legalized* in Colorado, pundits are making dumber and dumber remarks about pot and why it should not be legal.
But the one thing no one has really told me is whether or not pot is more dangerous, and less healthy than alcohol. For me, the alcohol test should form the basis of American drug policy - is this drug more dangerous than alcohol. After all, the U.S. prohibited alcohol and then ended the prohibition. So, we as a society have clearly decided that we are willing to tolerate a certain amount of danger from the drugs we ingest recreationally. Is marijuana more dangerous, in and of itself, than alcohol?
And honestly, I don't think marijuana is. Now, the experimentation with legalization* in Colorado and Washington will tell us more about the dangers as we go along. But California and a fair number of other states have had legal* medicinal marijuana for years now, and there hasn't been a rash of deaths. And if we had a functioning legislative body at the federal level, marijuana activists could use this information to legalize pot at the federal level. But, sadly, we don't.
Dwayne Crenshaw Sues Myrtle Cole and Larry Remer for Slander/Defamation of Character: My old friend, and former boss Dwayne Crenshaw is suing his former opponent Myrtle Cole and her political consultant Larry Remer for slander and defamation of character. In case anyone was wondering, let me say this - good for Dwayne. As with any case, its all based on the facts, and here Cole and Remer used a disgusting attack (with strong racial implications, by the way), that had been debunked 10 years ago. Put another way, the Labor Council put out a lot of mail slamming Dwayne, accusing him of all kinds of bullshit things, but even they wouldn't touch this disgusting ad.
Now, procedurally, here's how it will play out: under California law, you can file a particular motion killing lawsuits before any investigation and discovery if you can prove that the lawsuit attacks a constitutionally protected right by the Defendant. This was put in place to protect protesters from getting harassed by lawsuits from big corporations, etc. Under the First Amendment, of course, speech, especially political speech, is protected so long as: (1) everything said was true; or (2) the speaker thought he was making a true statement, and had a reasonable belief that what was being said was true. Also, satire - making a statement that is so outrageous that its obviously fake - is also protected. So, Cole and Remer will file their motion to kill the lawsuit. At that point, Dwayne will have to prove that his allegations are true - that the ad they published was untruthful, that they knew it was untruthful, and that he suffered damage as a result - at the motion stage. If Cole and Remer win, they can ask the Court for attorneys' fees, paying for the cost of bringing the motion.
If, however, Dwayne defeats the motion, he pretty much has clear sailing because in the Judge's eyes, he's proven his case. All that's left to do is gather some incriminating statements from the Defendants to make them look like assholes to the jury, and he's ready for trial. So, if there is a pressure point where the case settles, its going to be around the time Cole's motion to kill the lawsuit (called a motion to strike) is about to be heard.
Numbers and Rabid Conservatism: One of the more amazing things about the 2012 elections was the whole unskew thing pushed by several high level conservatives. The concept was that the opinion polls were skewed toward Obama supporters, and thus, Romney was going to win in a landslide. This theory was accepted by a fair number of people, including Karl Rove and Mitt Romney. Of course, they were wrong. Now, it seems to be issues with the number of Obamacare enrollees that drive the baseline conservatives crazy. Is it the wildness of social media that makes this look bigger than it is? I don't know. I hope so.
*Marijuana is not actually legal anywhere in the United States because its usage is outlawed by federal law, which preempts state law. To the extent that people in Colorado can use marijuana, its because the feds have decided to let them do so.
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Friday, January 3, 2014
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Law School Hell(?)
This article from Slate about the oversupply of law school grads scared the hell out of me. Seriously, I wanted to crawl under my desk, rock back and forth in the fetal position, and vomit at the same time. Not because I am currently experiencing the hell of unemployment, but rather, because I know how precarious life as a new attorney is.
The first thing that everyone should know is that when it comes to starting salaries, there are two types of lawyers in the U.S. - big firm attorneys and everyone else. Big firm attorneys, starting from day one, are paid six-figure salaries, and make big bucks (there's also an element of soul-selling involved, but whatever). Everyone else generally makes around $100,000 less than that. But regardless of what the new lawyer makes, he/she starts out with a mortgage-sized debt called student loans.
From personal experience, I graduated from law school with around $85,000 in student loan debt (and I was able to get it that low because I worked part-time throughout law school and lived with my parents). Because I am a liberal sort, I went to work for a non-profit, civil rights organization, that paid me $32k per year. During this time, my monthly student loan payments were approximately $900 per month, or about half of my take-home pay. I then consolidated my federal loans (so it will take me 25 years to pay them off), and cut my student loan payments to a more manageable $500 per month. Even then, I was living with my parents and asking for student loan assistance from my law school.
I share this because I was "doing the right thing" - taking out only student loans that I needed, saving as much as possible, had no credit card debt, and working to make the world a better place. Even then, I stuck living with my parents until I was 32 years old. It was only until I got a job at a law firm, which still pays significantly less than what partner-track, first year associates get from large firms, that I was able to move out of my parents' house. Oh, but I need a roommate to make the rent.
Again, I did everything right - I went to a good (Order of the Coif) law school, got good grades, passed the California Bar on the first try, etc. - and I still was too poor to afford my own place. If I did the "wrong" things (the things that most law school grads do) even just one or two of the wrong things, I would be in serious trouble right now.
I say all of this, despite the fact that I have absolutely no regrets about going to law school. I love being a lawyer, I love being a litigator, and I still love the law. Of course, my practice for the past seven years has been either in civil rights litigation or class action litigation. I've never had to defend a DUI to pay the rent, or represent a client I found odious. And that's a good thing, because this job is one of the most taxing, most difficult jobs around. I rarely have time to date, see friends, work in politics, and I had to get a dog to create some work/life balance.
Still, I understand how lucky I am to be where I am. And that's why when I read the Slate article, I thought, "There but the grace of God, go I." I get the same feeling whenever I read about a lawyer falling into drug or alcohol abuse - because every lawyer comes so close to falling into the abyss.
On a broader, policy oriented scale, we now have an opportunity to do some good for people, and I think we should take it. Here are my ideas to help out the legal profession:
1) Treat Student Loan Payments Like Mortgage Payments: Only $2500 of my student loan payments are currently deductible, which is totally ridiculous. Even after consolidation, I regularly exceed the max deduction every year. That's ridiculous. If I had a mortgage, I could deduct the amount I pay from my taxes in full. Keep in mind that I cannot walk away from my student loans like I could with a bad mortgage, and even if I declare bankruptcy, my student loans will never be discharged. Ever. So, give me a break.
2) Lawyers who work for non-profits should have their loan repayment suspended - Look, we want lawyers to do good in the world, from fighting injustice, to helping people with wills, trusts, etc. And we have a growing pool of unemployed attorneys out there who need something to do. Why not help by suspending repayment of the federal loans for as long as they work for a nonprofit?
3) Law School Transparency - Let's be clear. Being a lawyer is not the best way to make money. Those rich lawyers who drive BMW's and whatnot, really do work hard for their money. Now, there are harder jobs out there, but this idea that graduating from law school is the ticket to wealth is a total fiction for 99% of the law students out there. So, law schools should be clear about that. And they should be clear about how much the MEDIAN income of the 1st year attorney is (not the average income, which would be skewed by big firm salaries). The thing that helped me was that I was working for a non-profit, and I knew going in that I was going to get screwed financially.
So to all you newbie attorneys out there - good luck, and keep on hustling.
The first thing that everyone should know is that when it comes to starting salaries, there are two types of lawyers in the U.S. - big firm attorneys and everyone else. Big firm attorneys, starting from day one, are paid six-figure salaries, and make big bucks (there's also an element of soul-selling involved, but whatever). Everyone else generally makes around $100,000 less than that. But regardless of what the new lawyer makes, he/she starts out with a mortgage-sized debt called student loans.
From personal experience, I graduated from law school with around $85,000 in student loan debt (and I was able to get it that low because I worked part-time throughout law school and lived with my parents). Because I am a liberal sort, I went to work for a non-profit, civil rights organization, that paid me $32k per year. During this time, my monthly student loan payments were approximately $900 per month, or about half of my take-home pay. I then consolidated my federal loans (so it will take me 25 years to pay them off), and cut my student loan payments to a more manageable $500 per month. Even then, I was living with my parents and asking for student loan assistance from my law school.
I share this because I was "doing the right thing" - taking out only student loans that I needed, saving as much as possible, had no credit card debt, and working to make the world a better place. Even then, I stuck living with my parents until I was 32 years old. It was only until I got a job at a law firm, which still pays significantly less than what partner-track, first year associates get from large firms, that I was able to move out of my parents' house. Oh, but I need a roommate to make the rent.
Again, I did everything right - I went to a good (Order of the Coif) law school, got good grades, passed the California Bar on the first try, etc. - and I still was too poor to afford my own place. If I did the "wrong" things (the things that most law school grads do) even just one or two of the wrong things, I would be in serious trouble right now.
I say all of this, despite the fact that I have absolutely no regrets about going to law school. I love being a lawyer, I love being a litigator, and I still love the law. Of course, my practice for the past seven years has been either in civil rights litigation or class action litigation. I've never had to defend a DUI to pay the rent, or represent a client I found odious. And that's a good thing, because this job is one of the most taxing, most difficult jobs around. I rarely have time to date, see friends, work in politics, and I had to get a dog to create some work/life balance.
Still, I understand how lucky I am to be where I am. And that's why when I read the Slate article, I thought, "There but the grace of God, go I." I get the same feeling whenever I read about a lawyer falling into drug or alcohol abuse - because every lawyer comes so close to falling into the abyss.
On a broader, policy oriented scale, we now have an opportunity to do some good for people, and I think we should take it. Here are my ideas to help out the legal profession:
1) Treat Student Loan Payments Like Mortgage Payments: Only $2500 of my student loan payments are currently deductible, which is totally ridiculous. Even after consolidation, I regularly exceed the max deduction every year. That's ridiculous. If I had a mortgage, I could deduct the amount I pay from my taxes in full. Keep in mind that I cannot walk away from my student loans like I could with a bad mortgage, and even if I declare bankruptcy, my student loans will never be discharged. Ever. So, give me a break.
2) Lawyers who work for non-profits should have their loan repayment suspended - Look, we want lawyers to do good in the world, from fighting injustice, to helping people with wills, trusts, etc. And we have a growing pool of unemployed attorneys out there who need something to do. Why not help by suspending repayment of the federal loans for as long as they work for a nonprofit?
3) Law School Transparency - Let's be clear. Being a lawyer is not the best way to make money. Those rich lawyers who drive BMW's and whatnot, really do work hard for their money. Now, there are harder jobs out there, but this idea that graduating from law school is the ticket to wealth is a total fiction for 99% of the law students out there. So, law schools should be clear about that. And they should be clear about how much the MEDIAN income of the 1st year attorney is (not the average income, which would be skewed by big firm salaries). The thing that helped me was that I was working for a non-profit, and I knew going in that I was going to get screwed financially.
So to all you newbie attorneys out there - good luck, and keep on hustling.
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