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March 02, 2016

Partner Emeritus: On the State of the Legal Profession.

If you are a lawyer who loves what he or she does for great clients, you may have more worries these days about the future than what happens after Super Tuesday. See comments last week at David Lat's Above The Law made by the incomparable, highly-regarded Partner Emeritus, a New York City-based patrician BigLaw god and North Star to serious corporate lawyers, and cherished friend, to the post "What Happens When Gunfire Breaks Out During The Bar Exam?" Excerpts:

I have seen the end of this profession. Currently the cabal of law school deans and the ABA are pushing for a uniform bar exam which will segue into a no bar exam standard (e.g., Wisconsin). Today the GRE will replace the LSAT. Tomorrow the TOEFL will replace the GRE as the law school entrance exam.

Lately, I have refrained from visiting courtrooms as all I see is mediocrity running amok with tablets and iphones. Two months ago, I witnessed the following exchange between a young "lawyer" and a judge:

Young Lawyer: "Judge, I just googled this issue and found a case which supports our position."

Judge: "Counselor, are you aware of our Electronics Device policy? You cannot operate that device without prior consent. Did you obtain consent?"

Young Lawyer: "Your honor, the courthouse has open public wifi, if it really wanted to restrict access, the clerk of the court would have set a password."

Judge: [Shaking his head in disbelief], "Counselor, that is beside the point and the case you 'googled' was reversed last August by the appellate court."

Young Lawyer: "Judge, can you provide the appellate court's decision? Google did not find that case and says my originally cited case is still good law."

After witnessing that exchange, I lost all hope for this profession. Even if scientists were able to clone me a million times, the profession is beyond repair. Heaven help us.

And even more poignantly:

Dan, we've lost the good fight. Look around you. The Golden Age of Law will never return. We will always have memories of they heydays in the '80s. We live in a society where the average citizen believes Donald Trump is a legitimate GOP candidate (he is not, he is a Hitlery Clinton operative who was set up to run as a candidate to sabotage the GOP) and will vote for Hitlery because she is a woman and it makes us feel good inside when we vote for the "underdog." Look how that worked out for AmeriKa when it elected the first Black man to be the Kommissar. We are doomed Dan. When Hitlery becomes the Regina Kommissar, I will become an ex-pat in a remote country and watch this country become consumed in conflagrations. I hope you have your exit plan already mapped out.

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Partner Emeritus

Posted by JD Hull at March 2, 2016 12:27 PM

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