This … and this … and this … oh, yeah, this too.

Jordan Rothman’s post about how being an inexperienced lawyer can be a good thing (yes, it can) reminded me of my very first criminal jury trial when I was a baby DA.

It was a petty theft case and there were two defendants, two defense lawyers, and me at the opposite table, alone. The police officer, also my investigating officer, was testifying about something he observed. I don’t remember what, but whatever he said was not in the copy of the police report provided to defense counsel.

Sponsored Managing Your Contingency Fee Law Firm: What They Didn’t Teach You In Law School Successful contingency fee law firms view their business functions wholistically. From Esquire Lawyer

Using what I always called the “jack in the box” method of objection, first one defense attorney and then the other jumped up and objected to the testimony since it was not in the police report. They both then moved for a mistrial. What was a mistrial? I was mystified, and so I asked the court for a brief recess, and raced out into the hallway, while I looked for the first deputy DA I could find. Fortunately, Harry was walking down the hall, and I dragged him into the courtroom while trying to explain the situation. The matter was resolved with the two defendants pleading to lesser charges, and I learned what a mistrial was.

Another DA colleague of mine was busy voir diring the prospective panel. She introduced herself to the venire. One of the prospective jurors asked if she didn’t use to be somebody else. Hmmm. Say what? No, she didn’t used to be somebody else, and that juror was excused.

googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display("div-id-for-storycontent-440x100"); }); googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display("div-id-for-in-story-youtube-1x1"); });

There is so very much to learn as a lawyer, especially if you plan or do trial work. That is why preparation is key. I don’t think you can overprepare for trial. Trial notebooks, outlines of direct and cross, references to depositions, page and lines, references to written discovery, pinpointed, and on and on it goes. Understanding what objections may be made and how to rebut them. Trial prep and then the actual trial are not things you can do on the fly. Nor should you. Now your prep can all be contained on a laptop, instead of schlepping a multitude of boxes as in dinosaur days.

Every lawyer has a horror story about bar exam screw-ups; too bad if you are not in this group, as you have no horror story to share. What could be worse than bar exam horror stories? How about a law school losing exams? GWU lost some exam papers recently. Whoops. How could this happen? Easy-peasy. Except to the students whose exams were lost. Now what? Do these students have to retake the exam? Any reason to think that the exam papers might not be lost again? What confidence would the students have in any retaking? Same exam questions or different? How do you balance equities in this snafu?

Sponsored Seeking Junior To Senior Litigation Associate Attorney Position can be located in Los Angeles, San Diego, or San Francisco/Silicon Valley. From Kinney Recruiting

While there are law schools that are strongly supportive of women as shown by this listing of the best law schools for women, the graduates need to practice for 30 years or so before there’s parity between men and women lawyers appearing before the Seventh Circuit. That’s not exactly an encouraging statistic.

A recent study in the 7th Circuit by the ABA Commission on the Status of Women reported that in 2009, 24% of the attorneys appearing in that circuit were women, and in 2019, only 28% of the attorneys appearing were woman. Hardly something to crow about. How to correct this gender imbalance? Law schools and firms that are considered best for women, in fact all law school and firms, should implement these suggestions:

“Law schools should work to correct gender gaps in students’ experiences and achievements, should provide opportunities for hands-on argument experience, and should help women obtain federal clerkships.

Law firms could provide appellate argument experience to female attorneys by allowing them to argue in court-appointed cases, by giving them credit for participating in pro bono cases, and by giving split argument time to senior and more junior attorneys.”

Oh, puhleez. Do these suggestions sound familiar? Of course they do; they are just a restating of what has come before, more times than any woman lawyer would care to count, for years and years, even decades. Frustrating? Of course. Explaining the obvious? Yet again. Has anything substantively changed since a 2015 report on the dearth of women as lead trial counsel in federal cases?

Are any other women lawyers as tired as I am in trying to change an incredibly hide-bound profession? Are we truly having any luck doing so? What else should we do? What else can we do? To me, it’s all just blather, rinse, repeat.

And now, as we careen into the new year with omicron all around us and delta refusing to let go, what will be the prognosis for women and minority lawyers in 2022? We’ll still be working from home, at least for a while, still exhausted from billing hours, still exhausted from zooming, still exhausted from parenting, still exhausted from watching over elders, while hoping for light at the end of this seemingly never-ending COVID tunnel.

And for all of you vaccination holdouts, stop whining and get those shots.   Although we lawyers are not known for our empathy gene, concern and compassion should trump over selfishness. And, speaking of Trump, even the former president got his booster. What does that tell you?

Jill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for over 40 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact — it’s not always civil. You can reach her by email at [email protected].

 

Topics

Biglaw, Coronavirus, Courts, COVID-19, Gender Equality, Jill Switzer, Law Schools