Thursday, February 14, 2008

Bar Smarts

I was reading my Legal Drafting notes this afternoon when I noticed an amusing slip. Our prof had advised us we should never bring any outside knowledge into the performance part of the bar exam. You only want to work within the closed universe the testers provide. My notes read:

"Don't be creative. Don't bring in actual knowledge."

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Checking Up

I've been contacted by former employers in the past week about my moral character evaluation. I haven't received word from any of my personal references, but if anyone is wondering, apparently they at least check up with former employers. (California requires attorneys-to-be to fill out a 37 page application with questions like, 'List every address you've lived at for the past 8 years.' The fee is $431.)

This got me thinking about the first legal job I had as a legal assistant after college. I was working for a solo practitioner in medical malpractice. After one deposition, my boss lamented that he still hadn't figured a way to prove the doctor at issue had a continuous doctor-patient relationship with our client. I tentatively suggested the "It's Time For Your Checkup" postcards our client had received. My boss reacted with excitement and delight over this simple and obvious answer. At that moment I decided I had what it takes to be a lawyer.

How naive!