WOULD YOU WANT YOUR CHILD TO BE A LAWYER?

By: Guy O. Kornblum, Certified Civil Trial Advocate, National Board of Trial Advocacy and Member, Million Dollar Advocates Forum

Would you want your child, niece or nephew to go to law school and pursue a career in law? While young people are having difficulty finding jobs, it is just as difficult to gain entrance to an accredited law school. Officials from the nonprofit Law School Admission Council expect a final head count to show that more than 100,000 applicants – the highest number in years – applied for admission to American Bar Association approved law schools nationwide this year. California, Hawaii and Nevada schools have shown a much higher than average increase in applicants. Preliminary figures are that ABA approved law schools in the western region experienced a 25% increase in applications. Hastings College of the Law, University of California, San Francisco, saw a one year increase from 5000 to 7000 applications for 420 seats. McGeorge Law School in Sacramento had an estimated 40% increase! And, the applicants are even more qualified than in previous years.

While this is usually what happens in tough economic times, what is different this year is the size of the increase. Apparently, some believe that being a lawyer is not all that bad after all. Whatever the reason, the interest in law as a career is strong. With nearly 180,000 attorneys eligible to practice law in the State of California, why this significant increase in interest in becoming a lawyer?

Times have changed since the late 80's and early 90's when "lawyer bashing" was predominant. Nearly every other profession or industry was taking pot shots at lawyers. I am sure you heard as many lawyer jokes as I did, and we all told a few. I laughed along with others who were not lawyers, but inside I felt a bit sick thinking that the profession I had chosen had dropped so low in prestige and image.

Now, however, others have been dragged into the limelight: Politicians have become the brunt of jokes about sex scandals; accountants have been caught in major frauds and embarrassed their firms and colleagues; and business professionals, including stock brokers and financial managers and executives have seen a significantly demolished image. And, let’s not forget priests and clerics whose wrongs have shocked the public, although perhaps not those who have acted in complicity by not revealing what they know. In retrospect, lawyers may not look too bad.

But I prefer not to have judgments made about the legal profession by comparing it to others who have fallen below the line. Let’s see what has happened this past decade to improve my profession. Maybe when we look at this picture we will see a profession that does provide a rewarding career for our sons and daughters.

First of all, lawyers and their bar associations have worked hard to clarify and heighten standards, by amending their codes of ethics and increasing the intensity of their self-policing efforts. Every month I read in the California State Bar Journal about the effort made to improve the professional. There are amendments to the Rules of Professional Responsibility which serve as the written ethical standards for members of the California Bar. The State Bar Court, which oversees attorney discipline, and its Prosecutors, while suffering budgetary woes, have renewed their efforts to investigate and prosecute breaches of the Rules of Ethics and violations of law by California lawyers. And, in addition, California’s mandatory continuing legal education requirements now require at least six hours of CLE per year and 25 hours in three years, including at least four hours of legal ethics, one hour on the prevention of substance abuse, and one hour on elimination of bias in the profession. These are fairly recent changes in the CLE requirements.

There are also rules for the censure, removal, retirement or private admonishment of Judges, as well as disciplinary rules for lawyers. These have been reviewed, recast and structured to permit a more vigorous effort to discipline those who do not live up to the rules.

Our State Bar Board of Governors, which oversees the profession, now has 23 members, two of which are not lawyers who are appointed by the Governor. The remaining members are members of the profession elected from districts around the state. The California State Bar has made a major turn around during the past several years when it faced a political and financial crisis and almost went "out of business." It has survived and is stronger than it has been in years.

At the national level, the American Bar Association, which is the major national organization for lawyers in the United States who are members of a state bar, has increased its efforts to improve the lawyer image by doing much the same as the California bar has done, except that the ABA does not prosecute violations of ethics standards or statutes. That function is left to the state. Yet, the ABA has cooperated with the states in fashioning approaches to developing ethical standards, investigating breaches, and educating lawyers.

One development during the last decade is that there are now certification programs for specialists such as trial lawyers, family lawyers or tax law specialists. The prestigious National Board of Trial Advocacy certifies specialists in Civil Trial Advocacy, but only after a rigorously screened application and written examination, plus an investigation to confirm the applicants’ skills and experience as well as ethical standards.

Even law schools are doing more. Law schools now require that a student complete a full semester course in Legal Ethics to graduate. In addition, ethical issues are addressed in may other courses such as Trial Advocacy, Mediation and courses in Negotiation. Further, students have opportunities for clinical experience working on the "front lines" with experienced lawyers learning the "real world." That was not true when I was in law school, where the emphasis was solely on "learning law," not learning how to practice our profession.

In addition, each applicant for a state bar, not just California, but elsewhere, is required to pass a multi-state examination in Ethics before he or she is eligible to take a state bar examination. This means there is a uniform ethics examination given to all applicants for a state bar’s admission, which must be completed and passed before that applicant can take any state bar examination. I should add that each state bar has a separate examination. With some exceptions for the very experienced lawyers (in some instances there is reciprocity for one state bar for a member of another state bar), a lawyer must pass the examination in each state in which he or she seeks admission.

So, what does the future hold for those who join our profession in the next few years? In my view, the profession as a whole will be even stronger, perhaps a bit more regulated, with a more definite view of what the standards are. Hopefully, there will be even more emphasis in the law schools about ethics, standards and what is required of professionals. In addition, my sense is that the legal profession has learned much in the last decade about itself from its own and from others, as well, about what should be expected of us. We are part of the social engineering process and have a strong role in asset allocation and transfers from generation to generation, social policy in the form of the rules of civil and criminal behavior, dispute resolution, and corporate behavior.

As to careers, those who come to the profession in the future will be more highly specialized and practice less as "generalists." They will be invited, if not compelled, to choose an area of the law and become technically competent in that arena, developing a level of expertise, whether it be in litigation, family law, corporate matters, federal and state regulation, or estate planning. There will be a chance to become involved in pro bono and community activities as well, particularly in major areas such as San Francisco, where the local Bar Association prides itself on its activism in the community.

It will be a rewarding career for those who are interested in serving others, for that is what we, as lawyers, do. Financially, our profession will offer the opportunity for a good living, but it is not the road to pursue if one is seeking wealth as a primary goal in life. While many lawyers have achieved high levels of wealth, it is only a small percentage who have achieved that goal primarily from the practice of law.

As one who has practiced over 37 years and has been a part of the San Francisco legal community for nearly all of that time, I can safely say I would not choose a different career path. For those who are committed to serving others as a professional, the intangible rewards of helping others are great. I look forward to welcoming new members of the bar who find the legal profession an opportunity for as active and attractive career as I have.

Mr. Kornblum invites your comments to him at gkornblum@kornblumlaw.com.

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