Everyday is a cloudy day in the life of a disenchanted lawyer.
Email tips to Angel at angelthelawyer(at)gmail(dot)com or Hardknocks at hardknockslaw(at)gmail(dot)com
I have a couple of guilty pleasures. I like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Canada Dry, LOST and Modern Family. With the last episode, Modern Family may have knocked Reese's off the top of the list.
This episode is in the spirit of our career-life balance discussion--Mitch gets a little pissed off because he is called into work on weekends (btw, Mitch is a lawyer at a BigLaw Firm) and his chubby, lovable partner witnesses their adorable baby daughter engage in her "firsts" in his absence. Watch the episode to find out how this situation unfolds.
Best Line: "I'm used to nice things!"
I contemplated writing in to the producers to suggest that Mitch register with temp agencies and do document review to tide the family over until better times.
wrong partner... his significant other is a man... so i have to say "partner" until the government let's me say "husand." If you don't want the show, you have to. It's so funny.
He can start a solo, but check out their house! Can he afford to be a solo in that crib?
Remember in the 60's there was the "Feminine Mystique"? Not just the popular book that has often been cited by latter day feminists by title only rather than content (that's a whole different topic) but an actual social reality. Perhaps there is also a "Jurist Mystique."
The gist of the "Feminine Mystique" was some "mystery" phenomena experienced by countless housewives across the country. Even though these women were "busy" and hard at work applying their well earned high school/college "home economics" education to meals, dishes, and cleaning, in fealty to their husbands who should never be questioned *rolls eyes*, they felt that something was lacking.
Society told women that to be a housewife was the highest good and the greatest role of the woman (I also remember alot of case law where male judges actually go on the record for eternity saying something to this effect). Going all the way back to the Victorian days where there were separate spheres for men and women with women at home being the gatekeepers of morality. Women who weren't married housewives with kids were failures or throwaways, the untouchable spinsters. To create this cultural ideal required not only the consent of the governed, so to speak, but also an idealized form that can be expressed and lauded in media outlets (you can no only watch old television shows or commercials when they first began appearing but also newspapers and magazines to find the common thread).
Today we juris "doctors," at least to many of our virgin eyes, find ourselves in a similar position to the housewives of the 1950s and 1960s (although many of the housewives only had to "economize" rather than face the very real threat of not meeting basic physical needs like food as many of us graduates now face). Going back to the premiere of shows like L.A. Law, Law and Order, To Kill a Mockingbird, or other countless media portrayals of the lawyer, our society has an idealized cultural form of what the lawyer should be and what his/her life looks like. It relies on genuine ignorance, not stupidity, of the masses as to what the reality looks like. There are so many TV shows about cops, lawyers, and doctors today not just because their roles may lend themselves to drama easier, whereas the Office shows that such a life can really only be explained via absurd comedy, but because they represent an ideal.
I think this idealized form more than anything else is what drives most people into law school and keeps driving them into law school. The ideal holds more sway now than ever as we have entered the wilderness of the Great Recession. We see our lives as they are and wish for what they might be.
We've hedged our bets from the idealized form of the lawyer to, "if I could only get a job at a small firm or go solo!...to "Sweet christ jesus! I'll settle for a decent doc review job that pays enough for me to try and at least start unshackling the iron yoke of student loans!"
As this latest generation of grads, and even weathered vets of lawyers, struggle to maintain and persevere in today's legal world, the idealized form soldiers on in the mystic chords of memory. The power of its myth only growing as media outlets, from the Modern Family to the heinous Deep End, continue to manifest our individual and collective ignorance about the role and life of the lawyer. It's been well over 40 years since the "Feminine Mystique" was identified and disseminated which should have helped lead to its downfall...but ask any of my female classmates from college or law school who are successful, independent women about their goals, dreams, and fears of failure and the Feminine Mystique still comes out of the corner of their mind smiling in a knee length skirt holding a casserole of fulfillment in oven-mitted hands.
Wow, that last comment was convoluted and longwinded.
This was what I felt like when I was reading : fbfbfbfbbrrrrrroliopoleio folieophotofoejoejewjewiiojoeooouuouooooooouuuuaop;jnfgpoasigjpf%s%&)jgloj@#$%^&I#%$#@!$#$%^&*(^&^%@$#@^%@^*#$%//////////////////////////////////////////////////////^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^^*^*^*^*^* joe
I'm sorry but the feminist mystique is just total bullshit perpetrated by a few pampered rich women that simply wanted to dilute wages by increasing wage earners, so that their corporations would have increased profits.
If you actually watched TV or read anything from those time periods you're talking about you'd notice that women had jobs in those shows, and quite a few were very well off and owned their companies. If the only occupation a woman had was house wife you wouldn't see women having these positions in these shows. Furthermore they actually would spout the same "independent, intelligent, professional" women lines that people are spouting now, as if it was entirely new.
The problem is nobody actually watches this stuff or reads anything. You can read stuff from Ancient Greece or even stuff from Russia a hundred or so years ago, women weren't these oppressed housewives as feminism wanted you to believe. Women simply had more options and better work-life balance when they wanted it. Now that option is gone, as it takes two wage earners and earning power is greatly pushed back for young women, and for young men as well because of increased educational requirements.
I agree that yes, law is in a similar position, but not quite the way you think it is. Law is the same now in that most people won't question what they are told about it and don't care about reality.
For the record, I come from a family where the women are high achievers and I encourage all my female relatives and siblings to seek to achieve their dreams, and most have done so. Most of them are doctors actually, but some have quit because that's a full time profession and they wanted to have children and actually be with those children.
Oh yeah and just to add about homosexuality, all this "increased tolerance" is nothing compared to the open culture Ancient Greece had some thousands of years ago. Western culture is completely backwards and tries to re-write history, it's so stupid that it's hilarious that this junk is still propagated in the media and even so called "intelligent feminist attorneys" are so misinformed.
I missed the last episode of Modern Family. I had a feeling he would quit because he felt envious of his partner for being able to record and see all of their baby's milestones but quitting a six-figure job in this economy when you have a baby to raise seems ridiculous. That said, I know people in business and the law who have quit their jobs in this economy because they were really miserable at work.
Maybe they have substantial savings to fall back on.
A wise man once said "you shouldn't work for your money. Your money should work for you." Obviously, it's a little bit of both columns. You should work and your money should be wisely invested. But once you reach a certain threshold, your money can be the gift that keeps on giving, and you don't "have" to work. I place that threshold at about 1 million liquid. It's reasonable to just live off dividends or interest from 1 million principal. (and maybe BigLaw attorneys can squirrel away that much in several years). If anything, even if interest and dividends aren't cutting it, they can certainly draw down the principal for a year or two.
Feminists are just one of the many groups of Ideologues to rewrite history. You have to read many different perspectives to come close to a true sense of what happened
The producers and writers should show this character working in a roach-infested doc review basement. Or better yet, they could show him start up a solo practice - where he takes on weak-ass PI cases, slip and falls, minor fender-benders, and gets put on the court-appointed list at traffic court.
Imagine the hilarity that would ensue when Mitch is ordered to continue representing a wife-beating pig who has not paid him in months for his legal services. And who wouldn't laugh tears of joy and bitterness when you see a judge rip Mitch a new one in open court - especially, when the judge is to blame?!
Please contact the network with these suggestions. It might also help young people see that law is an embarrassing "profession."
Again, another media portrayal of the rich lawyer. Too bad that law students, especially 1L's believe that this is the life that awaits them after law school. They start moving back to earth as the 2L and 3L years creep up without a single job offer.
The Blacktron Invader Was My First Hot Rod
-
Ordering a new USB-C cable, I pondered what I could add to my cart that
would qualify me for free shipping. Not exactly a question dating back to
Thales, b...
Rekomendasi trik Berjudi Bola Bakal Member Baru
-
Judi bola. Ya, sudah enggak asing bagi penggemar sepak bola tanah air.
Taruhan bola adalah sebuah judi besar dari masa kemasa. Salah satu pemberi
hasil.....
Quaranfew
-
Photo credit Cristian Castillo, Unsplash Greetings from quaranfew! It's a
combination of quarantine and curfew, brought to you by a mysterious,
deadly viru...
It has been a while, but this is important.
-
99% of those who apply for loan forgiveness are rejected. Who is in the 1%
whose application was approved and can they hold a seminar?
Student Loan Forgi...
What Happened to JD Underground (JDU)?
-
At about this time a decade ago, I had recently graduated from law school
and was on the cusp of taking what would be both the most intense and the
most...
Resurrection
-
I realized it's Lent, but this blog, bless Jesus Christ, can't wait.
Ok, so with that said, I plan to discuss Class Action suits in existence,
as well as w...
Thank You and Take Care
-
*Starting Position:* When I started this blog, we had the following sources
for info regarding the law school scam: Temporary Attorney, Big Debt Small
La...
30 Hour Shifts?! Never Again!
-
It’s been nearly 8 years since I’ve worked longer then 8 hrs straight! I
still can’t wrap my head around how this was ever “ok” and that I actually
had ...
A Ramble from the Other Side of the Paper Curtain
-
I don't know if anyone still has this internet way station on their
information superhighway maps, but I'm now multiple years into practice,
civil litigati...
Mencari Kursus Online Bahasa Inggris
-
Apakah Anda seorang mahasiswa internasional siapa yang tertarik dalam
memajukan pendidikan Anda? Mungkin Anda memiliki impian besar dari karir di
bidang k...
Where the fuck have you been?!
-
Having my hopes and dreams train-fucked to death by MS-13 gangmembers would
be the easy answer for whoever the fuck might still be reading this?
Meanwhile, ...
Halfway home
-
"Politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards."
-- Max Weber, *Politics as Vocation* --
For understandable reasons, the law school ref...
Chipping away at Goliath
-
I took a long break from following economic news and in depth analysis as
the cardiac arrest the country went through was dealt with by the powers
that ...
Hey...so...blogging?
-
Yeah, so, as it turns out, I don't really blog anymore.
I started working at another startup company in the freight industry
several months back. It's an...
Profound Thought for the Day
-
*"If everyone went to college we would have the world's most highly
educated Walmart and McDonalds employees."*
-- Origin unknown.
A Few More Rejection Letters
-
Rejection Letters 2013: 08/08/2013 We received your online application for
Attorney Advisor, GS-905-13/14 (Excepted Service) ARC, GS-0905-14 which was
adve...
Yes, I am still here....
-
It has been one year since I last posted and a lot of changes have
occured in my life! I am still working and trying to hustle may way through
the corpo...
A Guide When Purchasing New Workplace Furniture
-
Purchasing new workplace furniture can be quite complex and difficult job
for any person simply because from the overpowering options in designs,
colours, ...
-
Back in the summer of 2010, I was feeling lonely and hopeless.
I guess I was depressed, but I was not desperate or suicidal. I was just
really unhappy. A...
Why Making Money From Home Is Changing Lives
-
Many individuals are being introduced to the concept of earning cash from
house for initially. They see all the opportunities that claim to create
you mil...
Nancy Pelosi And The Student Lending Scam
-
*"It's not often that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi camps under the
GOP tent, but that's just what happened recently when she broke ranks with
B...
An Apology
-
It has been a long time since I updated this blog, and since I made some
friends among the scamblog community, I thought I should at least pop in
and offer...
Ch Ch Ch Changes…
-
So, I’m starting a new blog: Shameless Domestic Hussy. You can read all
about the whys and whatnot over there, but suffice it to say, Southern
Female Lawy...
Hiatus Explained
-
My loyal fans, it’s been almost a year since I last posted to
joblesslawyer- the reason why I have been missing in action is because
shortly after my last ...
Exercising My Right Not To Forbear
-
*I hate to restate the obvious, but I have been receiving like 15 calls a
day from Sallie Mae and Access Group regarding the 2 loans my husband and I
had t...
Almost Forgot
-
Total Black: $237.43 Total Red: $227,317.62 Today was a long but productive
day. I had put in eleven hours at the contract attorney position and then
anot...
Posts
Is Mitch a partner or an associate? He looks old enough (if that's him in the pic) to start a flailing solo practice.... : )
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeletewrong partner... his significant other is a man... so i have to say "partner" until the government let's me say "husand." If you don't want the show, you have to. It's so funny.
ReplyDeleteHe can start a solo, but check out their house! Can he afford to be a solo in that crib?
husband!
ReplyDeleteRemember in the 60's there was the "Feminine Mystique"? Not just the popular book that has often been cited by latter day feminists by title only rather than content (that's a whole different topic) but an actual social reality. Perhaps there is also a "Jurist Mystique."
ReplyDeleteThe gist of the "Feminine Mystique" was some "mystery" phenomena experienced by countless housewives across the country. Even though these women were "busy" and hard at work applying their well earned high school/college "home economics" education to meals, dishes, and cleaning, in fealty to their husbands who should never be questioned *rolls eyes*, they felt that something was lacking.
Society told women that to be a housewife was the highest good and the greatest role of the woman (I also remember alot of case law where male judges actually go on the record for eternity saying something to this effect). Going all the way back to the Victorian days where there were separate spheres for men and women with women at home being the gatekeepers of morality. Women who weren't married housewives with kids were failures or throwaways, the untouchable spinsters. To create this cultural ideal required not only the consent of the governed, so to speak, but also an idealized form that can be expressed and lauded in media outlets (you can no only watch old television shows or commercials when they first began appearing but also newspapers and magazines to find the common thread).
Today we juris "doctors," at least to many of our virgin eyes, find ourselves in a similar position to the housewives of the 1950s and 1960s (although many of the housewives only had to "economize" rather than face the very real threat of not meeting basic physical needs like food as many of us graduates now face). Going back to the premiere of shows like L.A. Law, Law and Order, To Kill a Mockingbird, or other countless media portrayals of the lawyer, our society has an idealized cultural form of what the lawyer should be and what his/her life looks like. It relies on genuine ignorance, not stupidity, of the masses as to what the reality looks like. There are so many TV shows about cops, lawyers, and doctors today not just because their roles may lend themselves to drama easier, whereas the Office shows that such a life can really only be explained via absurd comedy, but because they represent an ideal.
I think this idealized form more than anything else is what drives most people into law school and keeps driving them into law school. The ideal holds more sway now than ever as we have entered the wilderness of the Great Recession. We see our lives as they are and wish for what they might be.
We've hedged our bets from the idealized form of the lawyer to, "if I could only get a job at a small firm or go solo!...to "Sweet christ jesus! I'll settle for a decent doc review job that pays enough for me to try and at least start unshackling the iron yoke of student loans!"
As this latest generation of grads, and even weathered vets of lawyers, struggle to maintain and persevere in today's legal world, the idealized form soldiers on in the mystic chords of memory. The power of its myth only growing as media outlets, from the Modern Family to the heinous Deep End, continue to manifest our individual and collective ignorance about the role and life of the lawyer. It's been well over 40 years since the "Feminine Mystique" was identified and disseminated which should have helped lead to its downfall...but ask any of my female classmates from college or law school who are successful, independent women about their goals, dreams, and fears of failure and the Feminine Mystique still comes out of the corner of their mind smiling in a knee length skirt holding a casserole of fulfillment in oven-mitted hands.
Wow, that last comment was convoluted and longwinded.
ReplyDeleteThis was what I felt like when I was reading : fbfbfbfbbrrrrrroliopoleio folieophotofoejoejewjewiiojoeooouuouooooooouuuuaop;jnfgpoasigjpf%s%&)jgloj@#$%^&I#%$#@!$#$%^&*(^&^%@$#@^%@^*#$%//////////////////////////////////////////////////////^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^^*^*^*^*^* joe
I'm sorry but the feminist mystique is just total bullshit perpetrated by a few pampered rich women that simply wanted to dilute wages by increasing wage earners, so that their corporations would have increased profits.
ReplyDeleteIf you actually watched TV or read anything from those time periods you're talking about you'd notice that women had jobs in those shows, and quite a few were very well off and owned their companies. If the only occupation a woman had was house wife you wouldn't see women having these positions in these shows. Furthermore they actually would spout the same "independent, intelligent, professional" women lines that people are spouting now, as if it was entirely new.
The problem is nobody actually watches this stuff or reads anything. You can read stuff from Ancient Greece or even stuff from Russia a hundred or so years ago, women weren't these oppressed housewives as feminism wanted you to believe. Women simply had more options and better work-life balance when they wanted it. Now that option is gone, as it takes two wage earners and earning power is greatly pushed back for young women, and for young men as well because of increased educational requirements.
I agree that yes, law is in a similar position, but not quite the way you think it is. Law is the same now in that most people won't question what they are told about it and don't care about reality.
For the record, I come from a family where the women are high achievers and I encourage all my female relatives and siblings to seek to achieve their dreams, and most have done so. Most of them are doctors actually, but some have quit because that's a full time profession and they wanted to have children and actually be with those children.
Oh yeah and just to add about homosexuality, all this "increased tolerance" is nothing compared to the open culture Ancient Greece had some thousands of years ago. Western culture is completely backwards and tries to re-write history, it's so stupid that it's hilarious that this junk is still propagated in the media and even so called "intelligent feminist attorneys" are so misinformed.
I missed the last episode of Modern Family. I had a feeling he would quit because he felt envious of his partner for being able to record and see all of their baby's milestones but quitting a six-figure job in this economy when you have a baby to raise seems ridiculous. That said, I know people in business and the law who have quit their jobs in this economy because they were really miserable at work.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they have substantial savings to fall back on.
ReplyDeleteA wise man once said "you shouldn't work for your money. Your money should work for you." Obviously, it's a little bit of both columns. You should work and your money should be wisely invested. But once you reach a certain threshold, your money can be the gift that keeps on giving, and you don't "have" to work. I place that threshold at about 1 million liquid. It's reasonable to just live off dividends or interest from 1 million principal. (and maybe BigLaw attorneys can squirrel away that much in several years). If anything, even if interest and dividends aren't cutting it, they can certainly draw down the principal for a year or two.
Feminists are just one of the many groups of Ideologues to rewrite history. You have to read many different perspectives to come close to a true sense of what happened
ReplyDeleteThe producers and writers should show this character working in a roach-infested doc review basement. Or better yet, they could show him start up a solo practice - where he takes on weak-ass PI cases, slip and falls, minor fender-benders, and gets put on the court-appointed list at traffic court.
ReplyDeleteImagine the hilarity that would ensue when Mitch is ordered to continue representing a wife-beating pig who has not paid him in months for his legal services. And who wouldn't laugh tears of joy and bitterness when you see a judge rip Mitch a new one in open court - especially, when the judge is to blame?!
Please contact the network with these suggestions. It might also help young people see that law is an embarrassing "profession."
Again, another media portrayal of the rich lawyer. Too bad that law students, especially 1L's believe that this is the life that awaits them after law school. They start moving back to earth as the 2L and 3L years creep up without a single job offer.
ReplyDelete