Are We Unprofessional? Do You Give a Shit?

In arguing a point, when statistics and logic are not on your side, what do you resort to?  An ad hominem attack.   Many people may disagree with my points, and the points that are made by other scam bloggers.  But very few, if any, have resorted to attacking the scam bloggers as people.  Not if they have any sense.  After all, none of our readers have a clue as to how we compose ourselves in our personal and professional lives.  Most realize that this is our outlet, but we don't appear rabid in person.  I'm telling you right now, I'm not frothing at the mouth.  Now, one little lemming, has resorted to the lowly last resort in arguing that we, the scambloggers, should shut the hell up.  He states:

The main problem I have with scam blogging lies in their decorum.  These scam bloggers are future lawyers.  When the economy picks up, they will be drafting wills and contracts and complaints, arguing about truth and justice to judges and juries, and advising individuals and businesses on how to comply with a multi-faceted legal system.  It reflects poorly on future lawyers—members of a profession that prides itself for critical thinking and searching below the surface for the truth—that they would so quickly say that even they, the next generation or lawyers, would be so easily fooled by employment statistics.  And when many of the legal profession’s future caretakers can be seen in public on the Internet throwing tantrums about their job prospects and debt, however valid those concerns are in their own right, what does that say about the future of the legal profession as a whole?  What of the legal community’s sense of exceptionalism?  Of being special?  Of being held to a higher standard?

Of being professionals?

Let me get this straight, by calling attention to the fact that so many lawyers are idiots (in the financial, cost-benefit analysis sense, of course) we are making lawyers look like idiots?  Oh, so we have to make sure to maintain the pristine image of lawyers among laypeople by not pointing out the scam.  Gimme a break!  The "sense of exceptionalism,"  i.e. elitism, went out the window when 200+ law schools opened up and started churning out attorneys like widgets.  There is no exceptionalism, or "being special" in the law.  I will not stop blogging until people are flatly unimpressed with my profession.  It's not impressive.  Frankly, it was easy to become a lawyer.  The hard part starts when you begin paying for it.  As for our sense of decorum, we would not have been as successful as we have been in drawing attention to the white elephant sitting in the middle of the room without blogs like Nando's Third Tier Reality.  How many people would take the time to read his shocking facts and stats if not for the picture of steaming shit in toilets?  His writing style, more so than my own, is of the "shock jock" type--which has been widely successful in drawing the victims in--as well as significant media attention.  This is what Andrew Spillane, i.e. Marquette Lemming, has to say about the content of the scam blogs:

These blogs are dripping with anger and vitriol.  Some are littered with curse words.  One website even refers to law schools not as schools but with various names for toilets, restrooms, and garbage cans and will even post piles of fecal matter and vomit to begin a rage-fueled rant about a particular legal academic institution.  And what of professionalism? Not for us, says one scam blogger, for that is a concept imposed by the elites in the legal profession upon the rest of the bar.

The "anger and vitriol" may be penned by Nando, myself and other scambloggers--but we are just reflecting the general consensus of our readers.  If you read the comments on many of the scamblog posts, they can be more dirty and "low" than the original post.  More than once, I've taken a comment and made it a post--because it was just that good (or bad, according to Spillane).  We are bringing the feelings of the community to the forefront.  Why should attorneys, victims of a Ponzi scheme, feel alone in their victimization?

Let's go back to the day that I started blogging.  I want you to know how I felt.  I lost my big law job.  I felt like a loser.  I did everything that one is supposed to do to succeed in life and as an attorney (I know some of you disagree, but no one would have pictured me so down and out).  I was a failure and I felt like a bigger loser because I didn't know anyone else who felt scammed by my profession.  I started the blog in the hopes that someone would reassure me that I wasn't alone.  I may have been an idiot for going to a Tier 1 law school on a partial scholarship, but I wasn't alone in that my efforts didn't lead to the intended result.  As it turns out, there are thousands of others who regret their decision as much as I.  So, whether I was unprofessional in whining about it, or calling attention to the scam, or reaching out to others who are similarly situated--I don't care.  My alleged unprofessionalism does not extend to my courtroom behavior or to my decorum with clients.  I am still an excellent lawyer--but this is not an excellent or exceptional career.

We are trying to clean house from the basement up.  Maybe being a lawyer will be exceptional one day--but not until being a lawyer is an exception to the rule--and not the natural fall back option for all of the college grads in the country.

Here's a pic of vomit for shits and giggles.

  If you find it offense, there are a couple of arrows at the top of the screen that you can use to navigate away from this page.

Lawyers AKA Pompous A-Holes?

Ran across this letter and I nearly fell over in my chair:

I've been dating this guy who is a young, successful lawyer for a couple of weeks. I really like him but whenever we go out with my friends, he talks A LOT about the fact that he went to law school and is a lawyer. He doesn't even talk about specific law experiences. He just continuously reminds people that he is a lawyer. Most of the time, it doesn't even relate to the conversation, he just throws it out there.

Don't get me wrong, he should be proud because he worked really hard to get where is, but it just comes across as too much. Even my friends have noticed and have said how they really like him but "he talks about being a lawyer a lot." They weren't mean about it and just dismissed it as his way of trying to impress them, but he does it often, even among his own friends or new people he meets.

The fact of the matter is that I hang out with very down-to-earth people who aren't pretentious. So here is my issue: some friends and I are planning on going away and sharing a vacation house. I don't know everyone in the group that well and I am concerned that this problem will happen again, only it's a bigger deal because we'll all be stuck together for a few days. One friend even said "just make sure he doesn't constantly talk about being a lawyer."

I definitely don't want him to hide who he is and what he does, but I don't want him to gloat about it either. How do I tell him to cool it with the bragging without hurting his feelings or undermining his success?

– Cool It, Boston 

See what I mean?  Ha. If you recognize yourself as this guy, please shoot me an email!  Love it!

Oh yah, here's my answer.

Dear Cool It,

You're reading him all wrong.  He's ecstatic to have landed a job as a lawyer.  This is an achievement.  It's the gold medal of going to law school during this recession.  He probably realizes how lucky he is. He keeps interjecting it in conversation because he can hardly believe it himself.  Because you're assuming that all lawyers are well off and employed, you do not value his great success.  If he had  completed an Iron Man in record time, would you feel the need to silence him?  No. You'd let him talk about it a few times to many people--because it would be the accomplishment of a lifetime.  So, let him gloat.  He'll probably be let go from his Big Firm job in a few years, then you'll be wiping the tears off his face when he tells people he WAS an attorney.

Love, hugs and kisses,
Angel

National Be Kind to Lawyers Day!

Remember to hug your lawyer today! 

Don't shoot him/her. 

Thanks!