Members of the Bar by Tami D. Cowden

Members of the Bar
by
Tami D. Cowden

Time was, every mom wanted her daughter to marry a lawyer. My mom certainly wanted me to marry one! Nowadays, moms can wish for lawyers to marry their sons, too. And, lawyers jokes notwithstanding, lawyers make for popular characters. Just ask John Grisham!

My life is no where near as exciting as that of any attorney appearing in the potboilers, but you can take my word for it, lawyers can be romantic (Just ask John Grisham ... um, I mean, my husband!). So if you want to make a lawyer out of your hero or heroine, step up to the bench, counselor, and I’ll fill you in on the particulars of life in the law.

On Being a Lawyer:
Just what do lawyers do, anyway? I mostly sit around writing, and get paid for it, too! A dream job, except I rarely get to slip witty lines into a brief.

Like medicine, law is increasingly specialized. A small firm or solo practitioner might do a little of everything, especially in a small town, but anyone working for a large firm or the government will have a fairly narrow practice. Some typical fields, and what those lawyers do:

Criminal litigator- either prosecutes or defends persons accused of crimes. Every one I’ve known, on either side, is committed to the point of zealotry. By the way - it’s not just a TV fact, prosecutors and police officers frequently do hook up. I’ve known three such couples.

Civil litigator- prosecutes or defends civil cases in court. A civil lawsuit is any case where somebody sues someone else. Subspecialties of this type of law include:

Divorce- represents individuals in divorce and custody issues. Most will represent men or women, some do specialize in one gender. Good for a crusading type hero/heroine.
Personal injury- represents persons injured in accidents. Also good crusader, but proverbial ambulance chaser.
Insurance defense- represents the people accused of responsibility for the accidents, actually work for insurance companies. Hard working, conscientious types, but not sympathetic to underdogs.
Environmental- prosecutes or defends claims regarding pollution or other with environmental impact. Many work for the EPA. This is a great field for Colorado hero/heroines- CU Law School is known for its strength in this area. Also a crusader type.
Collections- represents creditors, usually collecting smaller (under $5000) debts. No one wants to grow up to do this. Actually, it is a good field for a villain lawyer. (Sorry, guys!)
Corporate lawyer- represents corporations, usually in business related activities, such as mergers and acquisitions, government regulations, preparing contracts, etc. May give tax or intellectual property advice, but on a basic level. Usually won’t litigate, unless cases is small time. A good field if the lawyer’s job isn’t a big part of the story.
Bankruptcy attorney- represents debtors (individuals or corporations, rarely both) who have filed bankruptcy; also, some specialize in representing creditors, particularly in Chapter 11 actions where large debtor corporations have assets worth seeking. Good field if you want a compassionate attorney helping folks who’ve had bad breaks (for example, catastrophic illness is frequently a factor in bankruptcy), or a high powered type who helps turn failing companies around.
Tax attorney- if not working for government, gives advice to individuals or corporations regarding taxes, may represent clients in tax court. A tax attorney is going to be detail oriented.
Patent attorney- assist clients to obtain patents for inventions. This field, unlike any other in law, requires scientific training and special licensing from the federal government. I can envision a ditzy inventor and the strait laced patent attorney!

Passing the Bar:
A lawyer must be licensed, and every state has a bar exam (licensing exam). It’s given in February and July, over two to four days, depending on the state. The test includes major fields of law similar across the country, areas particular to the state, ethics, and, in some states, a practice portion, which requires the examinee to write a motion or brief.

If you want a stressful period for your hero or heroine, taking the exam is a biggie in a lawyer’s life. The only thing worse is waiting for the results, which are not released until several months later. This is a period when those sweating the results have trouble passing any bar or tavern in their path!

How Lawyers are Born:
No, I don’t mean why people become lawyers - although it is a good bet that your lawyer character is somewhat inclined to be argumentative and analytical. But how do people become lawyers?

In every state except California, a lawyer must graduate from an ABA (American Bar Association) accredited law school to take the bar exam. In most, if not all, accredited law schools, an incoming student will already have a degree. Many lawyers were history or political science majors, but I went to law school with folks with fine arts, forestry, and chemistry degrees.

Law school is usually a three year program, and students are prohibited by ABA accreditation rules from working more than 20 hours per week. If your heroine worked full time while putting herself through two years of night law school, you have a credibility problem! Night or part time programs are usually four to five years, and not every school offers such a program.

In California, a person can “read for the bar,” a phrase that has no specific meaning. Some people study on their own, some go to unaccredited law schools, and some serve a sort of apprenticeship in law firms. About 50% of examinees fail the California bar exam. Nevada and Alaska have no law schools within their states. Your character didn’t put him/herself through school as a Las Vegas poker dealer or a Juneau salmon fisher.

Final Thoughts:
Law school has been proven to change personalities permanently. A study tracked law and medicine students, testing them before they started school, during the middle of their programs, and a few years after graduation. Both types of students showed an increase in paranoia and competition during the program. After graduation, doctors returned to their prior personalities. Lawyers did not. So that’s why I am the way I am!

Tami Cowden is an attorney who’d prefer to make her living writing. She is starting out by writing what she knows—her short contemporary manuscript features a hero and heroine who are both divorce lawyers.