College graduates are being laid off in record numbers. Currently there are 4.1 million out of work.

Most of the jobs that the stimulus plan creates are general construction or data entry and nothing on the horizon to employ the out of wok college graduates that we have already….

You want to comment on lawyers? Have at it. But using this guy’s misfortune as entre to do that was unnecessary.

Here’s to you never having a copyright issue or getting arrested for urinating in public.

Peace,

Sergeant Hulka

And, while my chosen profession earns much ridicule, disparaging this person’s misfortune is unnecessary and regrettable. His avocation makes his hardship no less difficult or real for him and his family. As a partner of mine once cautioned me in a moment of my arrogance, Mr. Huston, sometimes it pays to know your audience.

It takes the client’s mind off the problem, to let that person get on with life, while the lawyer gets to participate in what can be a really intellectually interesting profession. I get paid to argue with people and I get paid to reach a reasonable resolution.

Rejoicing in the present misfortunes of lawyers might be fun, but don’t forget that we’re human beings with families, just like you. And in today’s raging political battles, many of us are on your side.

True and any lawyer worth his alt would have seen that I DID cover my bases well enough not to make my piece an unthinking diatribe.

On the other hand, all I can say to your comment is…

kill joy.

But that doesn’t mean I subscribe to the small-minded school of thought that says “kill all the lawyers” and argues that all of us are a drain on society. Many lawyers do a great deal of good in promoting free enterprise and American liberty. When unscrupulous plaintiffs’ lawyers target businesses large and small with frivolous lawsuits, the defense bar is there to beat them back. When the District of Columbia infringed its citizens’ Second Amendment rights, a determined band of lawyers stepped in to vindicate those rights all the way to the Supreme Court. When Al Gore tried to steal the 2000 election, respected legal advocates like Ted Olson fought to make sure he couldn’t. And all of this ignores the many small, un-sexy ways lawyers contribute to society, like preparing wills, advising businesses, prosecuting crimes, and yes, defending the accused.

Lastly, it makes little sense to indict “lawyers” as a whole for supposedly writing laws that helped us “create our own nirvana.” To pick one example, I was in college when Sarbanes-Oxley– an odious law, to my mind– was passed; I had nothing to do with writing it. But when a SOX-affected company, perhaps fearing the ire of the Obama DOJ, comes to the law firm that I work for to ask our advice as to whether it’s in compliance, what should the firm do? Say “no thanks, you’re on your own?” What should I do if the firm accepts– refuse to work on that matter, because that could be construed as somehow benefiting, in some odd, indirect way, from the passage of SOX? Realistically, I don’t see why I should. Yes, we live in an over-legalized world, but in this circumstance my refusal, or the firm’s, would do nothing to change that.

Rejoicing in the present misfortunes of lawyers might be fun, but don’t forget that we’re human beings with families, just like you. And in today’s raging political battles, many of us are on your side.

That said, as a lawyer who opened her own practice to help those who can’t get BigLaw to notice them, I find these “oh the poor out of work lawyers” story hilarious. Once you have that license to practice, you can work for yourself if you have the gumption to do it. But, so many of these lawyers are so used to someone else taking care of them, they have no clue what to do when fired. Biglaw paid their bar study expenses, for computers, even a clothing budget. When fired, they expect these benefits to continues for several months and are quite upset when they don’t. They are SHOCKED to discover how much healthcare costs when expected to pay for it themselves. Then, never think of adjusting how much they really need (I kid you not, healthy 25 year olds that want everything in the world covered). They are ready to curl up on the floor and give up when another BigLaw firm doesn’t immediate hand them another job. They have almost zero coping skills. Hence, the guy in the story going to work selling sofas rather than taking the risk to go out on his own. These are supposed to the best and brightest lawyers in the country. Would you want someone who falls apart like this representing you in court?

great book on this

LIFE WITHOUT LAWYERS

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1874370,00.html

And why is it that those who study Constitutional law do so largely for the purpose of amending it via the courts and political judges than by the method provided in the Constitution itself?

Then again, I’m an unemployed licensed attorney 10 months post-graduation, so YMMV.