I’ve been tagged again.  This time, Stephanie , made her own rules:

“Write six things most people don’t know about one of your specialties.  This could be hobbies or professions or whatever.”

I haven’t been passing these tags on since I run in to a lot of bloggers who prefer not to be tagged or “awarded”, but as Stephanie said–there’s no obligation.  I’m supposed to pass this on to 6 blogs, but I want to add more.  There are a few bloggers that I’m interested in learning more from, so I’m going to pass this on to them.  If there’s anyone else interested, I encourage you to play along.

Matt Speaks

The Fitness Diva

Juicy Alligator

Small Town Mommy

Lilly’s Life

Stacy’s Random Thoughts

Frugal Angel-Guided Psychic

Windmill on the Hill

Life, Marriage, and Kids

Signe Says

Now, for the 6 Things People Don’t Know About Practicing Law:

1. Just because we went through three (or four, for part-timers) years of law school, passed the MPRE (ethics exam), and passed several days of the state bar (2.5 here in Texas) doesn’t mean we know everything there is to know about the law.  No, we can’t answer all your legal questions off the top of our heads.  We learned how to THINK like a lawyer by analyzing and applying rules of law.  We also learned how to find answers to legal questions through research.  There are waaaaay too many laws and they change waaaaay too much for us to know them all.  When we graduate from law school, we earn our ticket to sit for the bar.  Once we pass the ethics exam and the bar, we earn our ticket to PRACTICE law—heavy emphasis on practice.  By completing all these steps, we have shown the bar examiners that we are competent enough to spot the important issues in a case, apply the rules of law to the facts, make intelligible inferences from previous court cases, know how to research and network to find solutions, can write a decent memorandum or brief, and that we can do these things ethically… or that we are really good at fooling the bar examiners in to thinking so.
2. We have to pass the bar or be waived in to the state in which we want to practice.  For example, I’m licensed only in Texas, so I can’t practice in my home state of North Carolina until I either take and pass the bar there OR pay some money and get a waiver approved.  Some states do not allow waivers and others are fairly easy to waive in, like Washington D.C.  There are other ways to practice in another state, such as ad hoc, where you can get permission to practice on a particular case, usually under the supervision of a licensed attorney of that state.  Some federal issues can be handled across state lines, such as writing a will, intellectual property (my husband is a licensed patent attorney who can practice IP in any state because it is federal), disputes arriving from multiple states, and business formations (LLCs, PLLCs, LLPs, Non-profits, etc…).  You just have to make sure your attorney knows the state nuances if he or she is not licensed in your state.
3. Our legal preparations are usually general in nature and very flexible (partly why I chose this field).  Once we have earned the Juris Doctor degree (in the US), we can practice ANY law we choose and change as often as we like.  It’s usually better to find a niche and specialize in a field, but there is no obligation to do so.  Some specialties require additional bars or certifications (like IP).
4. So, you hired an attorney and—from what you can tell—you paid a lot and he or she only did a few minutes of work.  What’s up with that?  You could have done it yourself, right?  Right.  You could have.  But, would it have taken you a lot longer?  Probably.  You probably would have spent more time just trying to figure out where to start.  You paid for the attorney to complete the task using his or her wealth of knowledge and experience and that’s what was done.  Don’t expect them to call you everyday with updates or meet with you every week…unless you want to pay more.  You should know that attorneys spend time in preparation that you never see.  What’s better is they took a load off your shoulders and freed up your time to do something else.  Was the service performed?  Great.  Get over it.  Now, if you happen to have one who ran off with your money and didn’t perform the task, you should report him or her to the state bar.
5. Maybe you hired an attorney and were charged $10,000 more for a case than your homeboy was charged and you had the same circumstances.  Well, for one, the circumstances are probably not exactly the same.  Secondly, each attorney can charge anything he or she justifiably feels is necessary to complete the task.  Here, in Houston, Rusty Hardin or Dick DeGuerin may charge $100,000.00 for a case that another attorney would charge $20,000 to work on.  Rusty and Dick have been practicing law for a long time and are very experienced, they have a lot of overhead, they have a lot of prestige and connections, they have a history of winning BIG cases, they have limited time…and so forth.  An attorney, fresh out of law school, will charge less for the same case because he or she is just getting started and want the experience.  Rusty and Dick can charge hefty sums because you are paying for their expertise.  Attorneys can charge more depending on the amount of work involved.  This means, if you are a bothersome client, you may be billed more.  If you have two children and two houses in a divorce settlement, you will probably be billed per child and per house.  Each attorney has his or her own formula.
6. Do you have a friend or relative who’s an attorney?  Fantastic.  Should you call them with every single legal question that comes to your mind?  Absolutely NOT.  Maybe you’re hoping they’ll do you a “favor” for free?  (I’m exhaling deeply and shaking my head at you)  Please understand that when you go to work everyday you expect to be paid.  If your boss looked at you and asked you to work, but he wasn’t going to be able to pay you, you’d think he was crazy.  Well, folks—this is our profession.  Don’t insult your attorney friend or relative by taking up his or her precious time to be your personal legal database… unless you are going to pay.  Remember everything your friend went through to earn the privilege of having that bar card.  Do you think it’s right to use them?  Would you want them to do that to you?  Would you be ok with him or her calling you every week asking you to cut their grass or wash their dishes or type up a research paper?  I’m sure your buddy won’t mind a question or two here and there, but don’t overdo it.  You may be someone like my dad who has ALWAYS been there for me.  Yes.  Of course–I will answer any question and discuss anything legal with him his heart desires… and be flattered by it.  But, more than likely the ones who are asking all the questions are the ones who were MIA when we were hungry in law school.  Ask any attorney and he or she will probably tell you this is a BIG problem.

Since this is a blog about family life, I think #6 holds true to this category.

PLEASE NOTE:  THE CONTENT OF THIS BLOG POST DOES NOT FORM AN ATTORNEY/ CLIENT RELATIONSHIP NOR DOES IT PROVIDE LEGAL ADVICE FOR ANY SPECIFIC LEGAL MATTERS.  IF YOU HAVE A LEGAL ISSUE, PLEASE SEEK COMPETENT LEGAL ASSISTANCE FROM AN ATTORNEY.

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