Life of a Lawyer

Jerry Zaslow

Description

All of the stories contained in this book actually happened. There are many other stories which have been left out because there are just too many cases to cover over fifty years of law practice. Every lawyer has legal stories to tell provided that clients cases must be kept confidential. The “attorney-client privilege” must always be maintained.
Lawyers are all bound by a “Code of Ethics.” They are not permitted to do just anything they feel like doing. Honesty, scruples morals, respect and integrity are key to being a good lawyer.
The work of the lawyer is to help people in legal need.
As stated in Deuteronomy, 16:20
“Justice, Justice Shall Though Pursue.”

Sujets

• Autobiography
• Biography

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 10 avril 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665571616
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

LIFE OF A LAWYER
 
 
 
 
JERRY ZASLOW
 
 
 
 
 

 
AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
 
 
© 2022 Jerry Zaslow. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse 04/06/2023
 
ISBN: 978-1-6655-7163-0 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-7162-3 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-7161-6 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022917688
 
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments
 
Chapter 1       Law School
Chapter 2       Prep School and the Bar Examination
Chapter 3       Preceptorship
Chapter 4       My First Job
Chapter 5       Martin, Brodie and Castor
Chapter 6       Madson & Morris
Chapter 7       A New Law Firm
Chapter 8       Appointment as a City Solicitor
Chapter 9       You Are on Trial
Chapter 10     Mathews and Douglas
Chapter 11     Moss, Parker, Hines and Reise
Chapter 12     A Growing Law Firm
Chapter 13     Reise Gets a Client
Chapter 14     Merger and New Circumstances
Chapter 15     Fighting for FCC Air Rights
Chapter 16     Trial in Atlantic City
Chapter 17     Another Senior Partner
Chapter 18     Reis
Chapter 19     Workers’ Compensation and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Chapter 20     The Weasel
Chapter 21     Another New Law Firm
Chapter 22     Be Thankful for Friends
Chapter 23     Forward and Onward
Chapter 24     California, Here We Come
Chapter 25     Life with Henry
Chapter 26     Life with Mitchel, Nate, and Steven
Chapter 27     Another Loser
Chapter 28     Troubles Continue
Chapter 29     Troublesome Clients
Chapter 30     The Bank Is Relentless
Chapter 31     Two Former Partners in a Lawsuit
Chapter 32     Bankruptcy Court for Henry
Chapter 33     A New Location and Practice of My Own
Chapter 34     Money Problems
Chapter 35     The Wangler Firm
Chapter 36     Merger of Firms
Chapter 37     The Effect of Conversion
Chapter 38     On the Road to Nowhere
Chapter 39     The Pursuit of Justice
Chapter 40     On Our Own
Chapter 41     A Florida Lawyer
 
Questions for Consideration
PREFACE
The events described in this book are all true and actually happened. In order to protect the people involved, I have changed their names.
The life of a lawyer is not what you see in the movies or on television. It is a profession that may have adverse consequences when actions are done without thought or careful consideration. Lawyers usually have no compunction about suing another lawyer for malpractice on behalf of a dissatisfied client or reporting the lawyer to the state’s disciplinary board or advising a dissatisfied client to go to the bar association fee dispute committee.
Being a lawyer is like playing a game of chess. You must think of your strategy based on what is likely to happen—and then beyond if it does happen.
Many students have a goal of becoming a lawyer. They may think of the law as a glamorous profession. The truth is far from glamorous. Lawyering is a life of continuous problems to be resolved for clients, who can be demanding and even threatening. Sometimes, they want to tell their lawyer what should be done or not done. Sometimes they expect a result that is far from what an experienced lawyer would expect, and the lawyer’s opinion is often unacceptable to a client.
Lawyers have to deal not only with clients but also with opposing lawyers and, of course, the judiciary system. A lawyer is not supposed to take a case if he knows it cannot be won or settled.
When a lawyer takes a case, puts it in suit, and wants to get out of it, the court must give the lawyer permission to withdraw from the case.
As in so many other professions and occupations, to be a successful lawyer, you must have courage, stamina, belief in your cause, and a desire to do the very best that you can. However, as the old expression goes, you win some, and you lose some. Be prepared either way.
A lawyer who is disrespectful to the court may be sanctioned and held in contempt of court.
At times a lawyer can be consumed with festering thoughts and concerns about a case that she or he is currently handling. In this situation, lawyers usually find it difficult to be at ease during an average day because of constant worry and thoughts about the problems that confront them.
Anyone who is thinking about becoming a lawyer should think very hard about such a decision.
The legal profession is overcrowded in many places, and the competition can be grueling.
However, if you definitely want to be a lawyer, go for it, and be the best you can!
PERSEVERANCE CONQUERS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I acknowledge the assistance and time spent by my wife to help me write this book.
CHAPTER ONE
LAW SCHOOL
“Look to the person on your right, and then look to the person on your left. Three years from now, only one of you will still be here. The auditorium in which you are seated holds about 165 people, which is about the size of this entering class. The second- and third-year classrooms hold about sixty to sixty-five students. Do the math, and I am sure you will understand,” said Dean Bayer. This was the first of an uncountable number of intimidating comments that we would hear for the next three years.
There were two women in our class, which was unusual at the time, and a middle-aged man called Craig Wilson who was an engineer and minister.
Whenever Mr. Ward, the real estate instructor, would give a set of facts for students to legally resolve, he would first say, “Padre, what do you think?”—referring to Craig Wilson.
On the day of the final exam, Mr. Ward came into the classroom wearing a cowboy hat, a holster with two guns, a cowboy belt, and two saddlebags, which contained the question sheets and blue books (small writing books with blue covers in which the answers to the questions were to be written). The next thing the class heard was bang-bang-bang , as Mr. Ward shot off the blank bullets from his two guns toward the ceiling.
Our corporations teacher, Mr. Bernard, had a small mustache and metal-rimmed glasses and was of slight physical stature. We called him Buzzy. He gave assignments to read in a casebook (a volume full of decided cases in a certain area of the law), which had about one hundred pages of cases, for the next class session. When the next class started, he would walk into the classroom holding four to five large textbooks under his two arms. Slowly, he would lay the books down on his desk. Then he would proceed to teach the first case in the casebook for the next two hours.
At the end of the class, Buzzy would say, “Even though we did not have time to discuss all of today’s assignment, you are responsible for knowing each case and understanding it. In addition, for our upcoming class you will be responsible for the next five chapters of your casebook. I would also suggest that you read your contracts textbook regarding offer and acceptance.” So it was. Many books on the desk, no time to ever review designated materials, and homework that was beyond completion considering the assignments for the other courses we had.
Our criminal law and labor law instructor, Mr. Bern, seemed to be a nice guy. He told us that the final examination in labor law would be with an open book. For the entire semester, students had made notes in the margins of their books, as they did in other classes.
At the time of the final examination, the class was waiting for Mr. Bern. When he arrived, he said, “You have two hours to complete the examination. You may keep your books open, as this is an open-book test.” He gave out the examination questions and the blue books. The class began reading and writing answers to the questions.
Then Mr. Bern began walking down the aisles between the rows of desks. He began closing open books and asking those students to leave the classroom. The next day, there was a notice posted on the bulletin board outside Mr. Bern’s office saying that all named students were to report to his office on stated dates and times. We feared that we would be flunked out of law school for dishonesty or otherwise. During Mr. Bern’s office meetings with students whose books he had closed, he gave a date and time for a new test. Each student was told by Mr. Bern that they would have to take a new test without any open books.
Further, the students would be required to take an extra course based on the weekly court reports, known as the advance sheets (a paperback volume that reported the week’s cases in advance of their publication in the hardcover law books). Bern had known that the students had made notes in their textbooks but had not been able to resist misleading and intimidating them.
Our contracts teacher, Dr. Ferdinand McKeen, had an LLD (a doctorate in law). Even though he was apparently very learned, in class he had only two things to ask a student: “Did you read the case?” and “What