#real lawblr

[attorney-anon]

Things I wish I could do in court, just sometimes

We've been working with toddler on using his words instead of screaming when something happens that he doesn't like

Which has lead to:

Toddler, upon accidentally dropping a toy: ANGER ANGER ANGER!

[vividstardustrevolution]

Disabled people (both people with physical disabilities and people with psychological disabilities) should be able to get housing, food, medical needs, etc met without having to work or stay in school. ...Okay, really, everyone deserves access to free or affordable housing, food, and medical care, but disabled people ESPECIALLY deserve it because if I, a law student with "low support needs" autism, depression, GAD, OCD, and ADHD, cannot afford to take a break from school and take a semester off because I'd have to start repaying my loans because I had to drop down to three credits last fall and because I would have to get a job, so it wouldn't really be a break (which, I have had one job in my life, and I'm not fully convinced it wasn't a fluke, and also, trying to maintain a job when you have disabilities is difficult), I can only imagine that disabled people with higher support needs are even more fucked than me when it comes to being able to get housing and food and medical care without much, if any, funding.

Yes, Medicaid, Medicare, Food Stamps, and housing programs exist in the US, but, uh, I hate to break it to y'all, but that doesn't fully fix the problem, at all. There are a lot of old apartment complexes that are straight up inaccessible if you use a wheelchair. I'm living in one now. Applying for Medicaid and other programs can be a pain in the ass, especially when you're disabled.

"Just live with your parents!" My parents were emotionally abusive and emotionally neglectful, transphobic, and they literally harassed me so much during my 1L year that I still have nightmares.

"Live with a roommate!" I tried to. It went fucking terribly.

"Are you really disabled if you're able to be in law school?" YES. YES I AM.

Actually, on that note, law schools and the law profession need to become more accommodating for disabled people ASAP. Buck v. Bell needs to be overturned. Courts should be wheelchair accessible. Having to get past seven plus different forms of ableism just to graduate and pass the bar is ridiculous. Seriously, can we get some resources for disabled people in law school and the law profession, please?

Disabled rights matter, and we have every right to be able to live in peace and get our needs met, regardless of our support needs, disabilities, or anything else.

[ziggyevenstar]

court employed lawyer off duty!!🎀🍃 i feel so laid back now compared to when i was in law school and reviewing for the bar. am i really living a happy lyf???

[shadowed-yet-vibrant]

Today, our firm hosted a CLE about mental health and substance abuse in the legal profession. It was a well-done presentation, trying to fit the breadth of a decades-long systemic issue into a neat PowerPoint while keeping it at only one hour long (not .1 more or .1 less).

It feels like a pointless uphill battle. You're asked to make 2100 billed hours per year (or more). As a junior associate you need to achieve perfection - but you don't even know where the standard is, not yet, you're too new and you're trying your best. You're asked to attend non-billable CLEs and networking events and participate in bar associations and look ahead to business development and go out with your colleagues and socialize with clients in non-billable events and. and. and. You know who at the firm is an alcoholic - maybe you are too. You laugh at jokes about online gambling - you know the partner who gambled away his last paycheck, and he's laughing. You know who's filing for their third divorce. Who's about to lose the kids. Who missed their son's state-level championship game because they had a call with a prospective client (he won't forget, he'll never forget).

But they ask you to take care of your mental health (but you're chastised if you don't respond to the 1am email from the partner within 10 minutes). But they ask you to take care of your physical health (but there's a beer fridge in the break room). But they ask you to practice well-being (but they expect you on-call 24/7). But they tell you to get enough sleep (but the junior associate got less than an hour because of the partner's poor planning). But you need to look out for signs of mental health concerns in your peers (but you're also thinking about dying).

I could write a novel on this. Many attorneys have written similar ramblings, articles, studies, surveys, so I don't really need to. It's a problem. But there's been no real attempts at change. Sure, yes, there's awareness. But billable demands keep rising. So do standards in not just federal court, but state court. But you're at a firm that pays so well you'll endure whatever demands they put on you because that's just too damn good to lose. But you feel like shit every day. But- hey, well, the partner has been doing this for 45 years now. Why can't you?

[themirokai]

It gave me a 1.2 percent performance reliability drop. I tapped Pin-Lee's feed and sent to her, Make a legal thing so I don't have to do that.

I stg “make a legal thing so [we] don’t have to do that” is like 25% of what my clients ask for.

Another 40% is “make a legal thing so we CAN do that.”

Well done, Murderbot, you have successfully imitated human legal clients. Obviously Pin-Lee did not blink at this request.

[saul--transman]

"In the workforce you have to argue things you don't agree with"

how about we don't make minority students argue against their own humanity so the white cishets can have a fun little debate about topics that they'd never give a shit about otherwise

[lawbyrhys]

Lawyer Breaks Down The Imane Khelif Lawsuit

I am an American attorney, and even though this lawsuit was filed in French court, I can still break it down and give my thoughts on the situation.

Let's get into this high-profile criminal lawsuit.

Algerian boxer and Olympic gold medalist Imane Khelif has filed a criminal complaint in French court last Friday, August 9, alleging that "acts of aggravated cyber harassment” have been perpetrated against the star athlete since her appearance at the Summer 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The lawsuit was filed with the anti-online hatred center of the Paris public prosecutor’s office and names X as the defendant; X as it refers to unknown persons in French law. Doing so "ensure[s] that the ‘prosecution has all the latitude to be able to investigate against all people," including those who may have shared hateful messages under pseudonyms and screen names.

To discuss another X in this case, though, Elon Musk finds himself named in the lawsuit, as does author J.K. Rowling. The pair have found themselves at the center of the controversy, having taken to their respective social media channels to post their takes and stoke the flames surrounding Khelif. "J. K. Rowling and Elon Musk are named in the lawsuit, among others,' says Nabil Boudi, Khelif's Paris-based attorney.

What about former president and 34-time convicted felon Donald Trump, though? He's shared his own remarks on the Algerian boxer. "Trump tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution."

Khelif's time at the 2024 Olympics—despite winning gold in women's 66kg boxing—has been overshadowed by speculation regarding her gender. It's important to note that Imane Khelif is a cisgender woman; she was born female and does not identify as transgender or intersex. The International Olympic Committee backs these facts, too, stating that "scientifically, this is not a man fighting a woman." Yet, the vitriol continues; the internet at large has been having a field day with it.

Adding to the flames are Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling. Musk, who is the owner of the X site, shared a post from swimmer Riley Gaines that read, "Men don't belong in women's sports," approving the message with one of his own: "Absolutely." Additionally, Rowling posted an image of Khelif and Italian boxer Angela Carini mid-fight with a caption accusing Khelif of "[being a man who was] enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head." She posted this to her 14.2M X followers. Donald Trump piped in—as he's known to do—with his own caption for the image of Khelif and Carini, with a vow of sorts: "I will keep men out of women’s sports!" A campaign promise, maybe?

Interestingly, even Logan Paul had something to say. As if Paul isn't busy enough with his frivalous defamation lawsuit against fellow creator Coffeezilla, he added to the mix with his denouncement of Khelif's triumph over Carini:

"This is the purest form of evil unfolding right before our eyes. A man was allowed to beat up a woman on a global stage, crushing her life’s dream while fighting for her deceased father. This delusion must end." Paul later deleted this post, though, admitting that, "might be guilty of spreading misinformation." He doesn't want yet another lawsuit on his hands—that's my take.

Khelif's attorney isn't buying any of the bullshit, though, and nobody's apology will absolve them of their legal liability in his eyes. "That lawsuit is filed and the facts remain."

About the intentions of the lawsuit, Boudi said:

"What we’re asking is that the prosecution investigates not only these people but whoever it feels necessary. If the case goes to court, they will stand trial." As it pertains to those on US soil, he adds that "[the lawsuit] could target personalities overseas. The prosecutor’s office for combating online hate speech has the possibility to make requests for mutual legal assistance with other countries." Boudi cites an agreement between the French and American equivalent office per the online hate speech.

The lawsuit is intended to prosecute individual social media users and not the platforms themselves. As Boudi states, "It’s the responsibility of lawmakers to issue sanctions to platforms, not ours," going on to note the severity of similar cyber harassment cases, and that in some cases, "there are prison sentences."

Judicial systems worldwide have begun to take cyber crimes like these more serious in recent years. As use, popularity, and reliance on the internet grow, so must the laws and protections.

Khelif's coach, Pedro Diaz, has even weighed in on all the controversy surrounding his champion athlete. He states the hate has "incredibly affected her and everyone around her."

What do you think of this case? Let me know!

[lawschoolruinedme]

Law school may have been one of the worst decisions of my life, but it did also give me the man who is currently muttering "come on Mr Grinch I believe in us" as he tries to tape a Grinch Doll to a child's toy to surprise my daughter in the morning with a toboggan

[noirandchocolate]

I reviewed another opinion for a judge in a case I worked on, and she not only copied my supervisor on an e-mail glowing with praise for my memo and how quick and helpful my editing was, she asked me to call her just so she could 'thank me properly' for explaining a complicated area of the law she was unfamiliar with and 'making her job so much easier.'

^(^o^)^ I am gooooood at what I do and everybody says so!!!

[ramblingandpie]

I don't often talk about work here but today I moved So Many Things forward! And I successfully navigated office politics to do so!

One of my huge months-long projects is so close to being complete!!!

[attorney-anon]

Goodnotes Stuff

So lately, I've gotten into using Goodnotes to keep track of my work because I have a large enough case load that it really, truly helps to give myself a running checklist, and I prefer digital notetaking because then I can use stickers without actually losing them (because commitment is scary).

I even made myself a colorful to-do list template with my firm's branding colors on it so that it serves as a reminder that when I have it open, I'm supposed to be working. And I've set up a way to color-code my notes so I can tell at a glance what's done, what's urgent, and what's on the horizon. For tasks that I am dependent on someone else doing their job, I have a way to notate who/what I'm waiting on. And I converted my handwriting into a cute font, so that it feels personalized.

To the extent that any of this is helpful to anyone else, here are the non-self-identifying papers, covers, stickers, and color palettes I've made for myself. Not everything is in every color, because I do these according to my attention span. Feel free to recolor/reshare/whatever.

I will add on to this as I remember to do so.

[bemusedlybespectacled]

Hi! I'm in law school rn and having a lot feelings and thoughts about it. Would ou share some thoughts and positivity? Am I in the right path? Cries and panics in finals are coming and I don't know if this is for me

IMO there are two potential reasons for these kinds of feelings:

You don't feel like this is the right path for you because you feel incapable/incompetent and lawyers are supposed to be Very Very Smart And Capable And Good At Shit All The Time.

You don't feel this is the right path for you because you just genuinely don't like law: you don't like compiling big piles of data into neat bins that match the elements of a particular statute or a specific holding or a coherent argument.

(The third potential reason is for later in your career, in which case it might be that you don't like certain elements of the practice of law: dealing with needy clients, meeting a billable hours requirement, working long hours, etc. In that case, you can always try changing the type of law you're doing - like, if you hate litigating in courtrooms, you might prefer going in-house, or becoming a law librarian, or being a clerk.)

If it's that you don't like law, you do not have to keep doing it. You are allowed to find something else that you like better. A couple of people in my law school class dropped out to be teachers; my clinic partner has a law degree and a PhD and has only ever taught as a professor; you do not have to throw good money after bad on a career that you don't like.

If it's that you feel incompetent and stupid and not like A Lawyer™ because lawyers are geniuses: first of all, I bet you are perfectly fine and can totally do this, because you got all the way here and that's pretty fucking hard already. But let's pretend that fear is actually true and you really are that bad (I doubt it): I promise you, I promise you that there are people practicing law right now who have no idea what the fuck they are doing. Not even in a cutesy "we all get imposter syndrome sometimes" way, I mean "holy fuck how are you still practicing" way.

The CPS attorney I worked across from in my old job did not know any of the rules of evidence, had no legal writing skills whatsoever, and couldn't handle making or defending objections to save her fucking life. She was the attorney for the entire fucking county.

I once got a response to a multi-page motion (like four pages of argument and another 25 or so of exhibits) that was two pages with enormous fucking margins and paragraph spacing, spelling errors, and no actual argument from a guy who had been practicing longer than I've been alive. I actually saved his reply (and the judgement with the footnote that says "as Attorney Bespectacled correctly notes in her brief") as a pick-me-up for when I'm feeling like a fucking idiot.

There are lawyers with a shitload of experience, who make millions of dollars taking on high profile cases, who fucking suck at it. Seriously, watch either of the Sandy Hook trials on the Law and Crime Youtube channel (or listen to any of the depositions that get covered on the Knowledge Fight podcast - they're all titled "Formulaic Objections") if you want to see just how bad a person has to be at being a lawyer in order to get sanctioned.

At one point when I was studying for the bar exam and panicking over it, my partner said, "Michael Cohen passed the bar exam, and I know you're smarter than him, so if he can pass it, so can you." I'm certain you're both smarter and a better person than, like, any of Trump's lawyers, or even a good chunk of my law school classmates (like the entirety of FedSoc cough cough).

But even if you're not, remember: there's only ever one CALI winner per class, so most people aren't going to ever get one. Most people who graduate law school and pass the bar and practice law are just incredibly fucking average. Like, that's just math. You're not a failure if you aren't the best, because most people aren't the best. You can still do very well in life as a lawyer even if you're just Some Person, because that's what most lawyers are.

(Also, sidenote: law school and actual law are very different environments. How you do in one has very little bearing on how you do in the other.)

tl;dr: You're going to be fine no matter what you end up deciding.

[vividstardustrevolution]

Do I enjoy learning about law? Yes. Do I regret going to law school? Not really. Do I have an intense love-hate relationship with US law? Yes.

Am I burnt out on law school? Also yes. I want to be here, but I'm so, so tired.

If you're considering law school, there are four questions you need to ask yourself. 1) Do I like learning about law? (If you answer "no," do not go to law school; law school is tolerable for me because I enjoy learning about law, even subjects like property and torts.) 2) Am I prepared to read a lot, write a lot, and want to yell at certain judges and justices without being able to do so? 3) Do I have a social support system or mental health support system? 4) Am I prepared for the sheer workload and the bullshit that comes with law?

If you don't answer yes to at least two of those questions, do not go to law school. I'm begging you.

[wittyno]

So you may not have heard of this story. But two paralegals in North Carolina are suing to be given the right to help give legal advice and legal counsel to clients.

For this discussion we need two important pieces of context.

One. You need to know there’s such a thing as legal deserts. Legal deserts, like food deserts are places where there are not enough lawyers for the number of people who need them in a certain area. And much like food deserts these often happen in rural communities where there is limited access to resources including legal resources.

Two. You need to know that lawyers are the only people who can give legal advice. Anyone else giving legal advice would be committing malpractice. Yes, people who aren’t lawyers can be guilty of legal malpractice.

So these two paralegals want the right to give legal advice to the clients and help them fill out basic forms to help reduce the cost and increase the availability of proper and good legal advice.

There are people, lawyers, who think this is a bad idea, because only they can give legal advice, and how this would be a downgrade for the profession. At least, in my opinion that’s a bunch of huey because you don’t need a fancy and very fucking expensive law degree to help someone get divorced. Getting divorced depending on your situation can be relatively easy at least legally speaking. Well-trained paralegal should be able to help people so they can keep housing benefits, and or get divorced more easily and more affordably.

What lawyers don’t want to talk about is that a lot of people cannot afford their services. Now I’m not saying that lawyers are overcharging. And if you are engaging a lawyer, you should pay them on time that’s how it works money for service. But being a lawyer is pretty expensive and so you need to charge higher rates to be able to sustain yourself in your practice. but some of that strain can be alleviated. If you have paralegals that can give legal advice. In 21st century, lawyers should not be the only people giving legal advice.

And while people are always going to get their good advice from cheaper sources. Let’s make sure the cheaper sources are actually well educated and well informed on the subject.

I think overall this is a great idea. And several states have started to implement programs that give paralegals and other para-professionals more when giving legal advice.

Next up: why R/legaladvice is absolute dog shit and you shouldn’t use it.

[shadowed-yet-vibrant]

Big decisions about abortion and LGBTQ rights make better headlines but SCOTUS just eviscerated the Chevron doctrine and no one but my dork-ass lawyer colleagues knows how immense this is (even if Chevron was arguably dead in the water before, and they just finally pulled the trigger to put it out of its misery).

[themirokai]

Federal contract my company might get: You need to comply with the ADA.

Me: Cool. No problem.

Asshole CFO: Have we reviewed that?

Me: The… the Americans with Disabilities Act?

Asshole CFO: Yes. It’s part of the contract. We should review it.

Me: It’s longstanding federal law. We’re totally compliant with it.

Asshole CFO: How do you know if you haven’t reviewed it?

Me: Because I am generally familiar with its provisions and we pay an HR company to make sure our handbook complies with federal and state law.

Asshole CFO: The HR company says lots of stuff. I just think if something is in a contract we should review it.

Me: I agree with you generally but are you saying that I need to review every single federal statute?

Asshole CFO: I just think if something is in a contract we should review it.

Me: See, just saying that makes it sound like a reasonable thing. Having me actually review the entire ADA and the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act on top of the Federal Acquisition Requirements (which I *am* reviewing) is not reasonable.

Fml.