After trolling around libraries for a week, I finally finished summer semester.
And last night, around midnight, I got a little tab-happy:
After trolling around libraries for a week, I finally finished summer semester.
And last night, around midnight, I got a little tab-happy:
Today was a beautiful, sunny day, which made Professional responsibility extra awkward.
Our professor brought in the head of the Minnesota chapter of Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers.
She gave us the “1 in 4 of you is going to be messed up so please get help” lecture that we got about five times last year.
Our PR class is in a smaller room with tiered seating. The window is in the back of the room.
Jill and I were at the convenience store near the law school. We talked about our summer classes while waiting in line at the register:
Me: “Yeah, people aren’t thrilled with my Professional Responsibility class.”
Jill: “Oh, that’s what I’ve heard! A lot of people really dislike that class. I’m glad I didn’t take it this summer. Hopefully it will be better in the fall…”
Just then the older lady who was standing in line ahead of Jill turns around and says:
Lady: “I graduated from the law school in 73. And trust me, professional has always been a bitch.”
The lady pays and then leaves.
The cashier is laughing.
Jill is shocked.
Me: “That might have been the best thing ever.”
In professional responsibility, Professor R and Jack discussed what constitutes legal advice, who can give it, and when it leads to liability:
Jack: “What about jailhouse lawyers?”
Professor R: “Hm…Well they are already in jail, so what the hell?”
In Wills & Trusts we reviewed some of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct:
Professor W: “Well, these are just about as useful to a lawyer practicing in the field as a valentine would be to a surgeon who is operating in the operation room…”
Our first real case for Professional Responsibility is Converse v. Nebraska State Bar Comm’n (In re Converse), 258 Neb. 159 (Neb. 1999).
The case is about a law student who was not admitted to the bar because of his various…uh, indiscretions:
One of the final issues addressed by the Commission in its hearing was that of a T-shirt [the student] produced and marketed on which a nude caricature of [the law school dean] is shown sitting astride what appears to be a large hot dog.
That’s not even the worst of it.
The bulk of the fact section is after the jump: