(Image via Getty)
Some good news, at least here in California, amid all the heartache and turmoil across the country: the July aka October California bar exam results are out, and the passage rate is the highest in 12 years at 60.7%. Given all the distractions, the remote exam, claims of “cheating” made against almost a third of the test takers (and what’s happening with that?) bar examinees showed that they could succeed under pressure and stress, useful skills for when a response to an ex parte is due at the end of the day, along with several other pleadings. That happens more often than one would like to think.
The State Bar is also looking at provisional licensing for law school graduates back to 2015. There are several options for the trustees to consider, but the good news is that the bar is listening to the recommendations by the Provisional Licensure Working Group that has, in turn, listened to law school deans and others who have urged the widening of the group eligible for provisional licensing.
We lawyers have a bad enough rap as it is … the perception is that we screw the little guys while raking in the big bucks from corporate clients. While that may be true in some ways, the rap that lawyers participating, inciting, encouraging, egging on (get the picture?) have gotten from the Capitol chaos of last week is well deserved and doesn’t go far enough. Anyone familiar with Edward Munch’s famous painting “The Scream”? I think probably a lot of people feel exactly that way right now.
Updates about what happened at the Capitol last week continue to be shocking: Molotov cocktails, caches of weapons, pipe bombs, hardly evidence of any intent for a peaceful protest. Even if there wasn’t a single lawyer in the mob that stormed the Capitol, there is the concept of “aiding and abetting.” Five are dead, including one Capitol police officer who was killed by a fire extinguisher blow to the head delivered by one of the so-called patriots. Just how does that homicidal act fit into the framework of “law and order?” Not in my book nor in anyone else’s book who has any shred of decency, of integrity, of humanity. That horrifying murder by an alleged “patriot” didn’t need to happen. Any acceptance of responsibility? What do you think? Don’t wrap yourselves in the flag on this one. The federal death penalty still exists, and this death may justify its use.
Lawyers involved? Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Rudy Giuliani, (aka “America’s Mayor” almost 20 years ago) Lin Wood, the Republican Attorneys General Association, whose executive director has had the good grace to resign.
The list goes on and on, and don’t forget John Eastman, a tenured law professor at Chapman University in Orange County, standing by Rudy Giuliani’s side as he exhorted the crowd, which then turned into a mob. Eastman has decided to retire from Chapman, effective immediately.
The backpedaling of some of those in D.C. reminds me of the famous line about Ginger Rogers (Google her). She was Fred Astaire’s (Google him) dancing partner in many movies of the 1930s. She followed his lead, but she was the one dancing backward in high heels. That image fits today’s news. Backpedaling aka dancing backward seems to be the exercise du jour.
I am disgusted with all of them and all the other lawyers who thought that this purported banana republic coup was a good idea, and I am ashamed that they are just as able to practice as I am. Do the Rules of Professional Conduct have any meaning at all?
While I have friends, who have been “Trumpers,” and we never discuss politics for that reason, (and yes, I still want to regard them as friends since I am hopeful that they will eventually realize that their support was misplaced, at best), I hope that they think storming the Capitol was not a good idea, even for die-hard conservatives. Patriotism seems to have different definitions these days.
A lack of evidence that the election was stolen has not stopped them. Again, another law school lesson not learned. Did these lawyers take evidence, a required course in law school? Do they understand the concept of facts to lay a “foundation”? Obviously not, but courts throughout the country did, even those appointed by Trump, who believed that those appointees owed him loyalty. This country is not a Mafia-run fiefdom. We pledge allegiance to the country, not to the president. Remember that, Bill Barr.
The words of the attorney, Joseph Welch, who represented the Army in the Army-McCarthy hearing in 1954 ring as true now as they did then, and for those who have blank looks, read your American history. It’s time. Welch asked the red-baiting venomous, reputation-destroying bullying Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, who claimed that Communists were in the Army (remember these were the days of the Red Scare), “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” Watch the entire three-and-a-half-minute video. It’s instructive. Parallels to today? What do you think?
Let’s hope that we can get through the next week in something that passes for civility and respect for democracy and our nation as a republic. We are all exhausted, but we can’t let our guard down for one minute. The specter of domestic terrorism requires constant vigilance. We must do no less. I hope for a peaceful transition of power, the way the Founders intended.
Jill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for over 40 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact — it’s not always civil. You can reach her by email at oldladylawyer@gmail.com.