Monday, March 18, 2013

Does society need another JD bartender?


“Scott Prouty, the 47 Percent Video Source, Opens a Legal-Assistance Fund,” by David Corn (Mother Jones)

David Corn reports that the former bartender who videotaped Mitt Romney make the infamous 47% comments is establishing a legal-assistance fund with any remaining funds being spent for him to go to (wait for it) law school.  Does society need another JD bartender? Is there a synergy between law and bartending that will actually help land some clients?

Money Quote: “I've been bartending for eight years and I'd like to move forward with a job that lets me help others.”


“Problems persist with law school jobs data, watchdog says,” by Karen Sloan (National Law Journal)

NLJ reports on Law School Transparency’s efforts to curb misleading or incomplete employment data. LST claims close to half of law schools haven't met the expectations set by Standard 509, the ABA's tougher reporting requirements and that the ABA has taken no enforcement measures beyond emailing law schools to remind them of new reporting requirements. The ABA disputes this saying it is working “behind-the-scenes.”


“Law Life: Student Loan Law: A niche for a few good lawyers?” by Sylvia Hsieh (Daily Record Newswire posted by Detroit Legal News)

Money Quote: “’Everyone has student loans. It’s a uniquely American thing. There’s over a trillion dollars in student loan debt,’ said Adam Minsky, a lawyer from Boston….[whose] own student loan problems drew him into representing clients with similar issues.”

8 comments:

  1. I honestly can't think of a job that helps people more than bartender. It's definitely not lawyer.

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    1. Bartender and lawyer are professions that are linked on so many levels.

      Employed lawyers rely on bartenders to provide daily booze.

      Unemployed lawyers rely on bartending jobs to pay their rent.

      I bet that 99% of the time, the person serving a lawyer is an unemployed lawyer.

      In fact, we need to stop calling unemployed lawyers, "unemployed lawyers". They never were lawyers. They were scammed. They are victims, not self-made failures.

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  2. This is more of the same "thinking" that afflicts a sizeable portion of society. When they are in "dead end" jobs, they think, "I need a degree that will allow me to do something that REALLY is important." Instead of buckling down and studying chemistry (for Medical School), sales/pitching practice (for any sales job), or math (for accounting, engineering, etc), they gravitate towards the "versatility" of a JD. Thing is, once you're out, employers are going to still ask, "what can you do?" In most industries, if you can't sell -- if you're not pitching -- you're not much use to the organization.

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  3. I'd kill for a baetending job, especially the kind of high end service job that this guy has/had. I would never get one because they are hard to come by and I have no experience. But man, it would certainly make a nice supplement to my street-hustling of defendants.

    (I say this as I wait in court after 8 months of adjournments on an A misdemeanor, waiting for eternity just to "check in" with the defendant and judge. Those pretrial flat fees sure have to stretch for a long time. The kicker: I will have to wait another 4-5 weeks for a response and a hearing/ruling. Sorry, off topic).

    If you want to slide down ever further on the 47% income spectrum, by all means trade high-end bartending for law skool.

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  4. Can you lend me a magnifying glass?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, please edit this post to bring the text size back to something normal. It looks careless and unprofessional, and people give up half way through if they can't read.

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    2. I'm happy to edit it back. The last post people were complaining because I was using the "normal" size feature so I switched to something smaller. I'll go back to "normal" again.

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