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PERRIN LOVETT

~ Fiction, Freedom, and The West

PERRIN LOVETT

Tag Archives: racket

Crossed Signals: Season’s Greetings

10 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes

≈ Comments Off on Crossed Signals: Season’s Greetings

Tags

England, France, missiles, racket, Syria, War

Happy Tomahawk Slinging Season to All!

Seemed I got a little too caught up in the US Mega Budget-Debt details last night. My apologies.

I forgot that sometimes, in the Spirit of the Season, Jolly Old Saint Uncle Sam allows his elves the joy of tossing the traditional cruise missiles around.

Syria MISSILE STRIKE ‘within hours’: Eastern Mediterranean on ALERT for ‘possible launch’

BRITISH and French forces could launch an imminent missile strike on Syria within a matter of hours, aviation monitors have revealed.

A coalition force could fire “air-to-ground or cruise missiles” in the wake of a horrifying chemical attack on innocent civilians in Syria last week.

Aviation experts AirLive have reported this evening a “rapid alert notification” warning aircraft in the eastern Mediterranean to be wary of a sudden missile strike.

AirLive said the alert was issued by Eurocontrol this evening for a “possible launch … within the next 72 hours”.

AirLive said: “According to reports, British forces are mobilising at their bases in Cyprus and Rafale fighter jets could takeoff from St Dizier airbase in France for possible strikes against Syria.”

Reminds me of the Lighting of the Gaddafi Tree in Libya a few years ago. Maybe the Brits want to hold Assad’s sovereign wealth …. for the Syrian people of course.

Joy to the War! Blessed are the Warmakers.

nimbus-image-1523406283783

Up on the rooftop Tomahawk calls.

Down come shingles, truss, and walls.

Down from the air with lots of noise.

All for some report of … nebulous bad boys.

Get in the damned spirit, will ya! There’s a racket to run.

Legal “Education”

12 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

ABA, bar exam, case-law, changing the world, Constitution, education, Gospel, John Adams, judges, law, law school, lawyer jokes, lies, LSAT, Max Tucker, Muddling Through College, Natural Law, Neal Boortz, profession, racket, Scotland, Thomas Jefferson, trade, U.S. News and World Report, unprepared

This post follows Muddling Through College.  It is intended as a truthful assessment of what life in law school is like and the relationship between legal education and the practice of law and society in general.  As with my undergraduate article, I realize that my experience is dated by a good decade.  Actually, it’s been a pretty bad decade – especially for the legal industry.  Therefore, again, I have tried to incorporate “modern” materials herein as well.

I once heard attorney-turned radio talk show host, Neal Boortz state that when he began practice law in the early 1970s, the law was still a profession.  He then said when he left the law in the early 1990s to pursue radio full-time, the law had degenerated into a trade.  Several times I recall him saying the happiest day of his life was the day he put his status with the Georgia State Bar in the inactive category.  I will update his cycle now – the law has further degenerated into a racket.

The average attorney is greeted by society with all the warmth and affection people normally reserve for a visiting termite.  I hear lawyer jokes every week.  Most are pretty damn funny.  I am one of the few attorneys not offended by these jokes.  Most attorneys do get offended even if they don’t show it.  The reason is that most know the jokes have a great basis in truth and they don’t want to admit the facts.

Mr. Boortz once said, speaking of attorneys, “No other group has done more to help and to damage our society.”  He’s right.  Lawyers were behind the Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, the civil rights movement, and numerous other causes for freedom.  You never hear lawyer jokes in a criminal court.  In a jail holding area or cell block, we are greeted like rock stars.  However, pick any oppressive, illegal, dishonest, or otherwise unsavory law, business, or relationship and you’ll find lawyer DNA all over it.  As a judge I once clerked for said, “It’s amazing how bad most attorneys are.”

The bad begins in law school.  There are about 200 law schools in America which have received the ABA’s seal of approval.  There are more which operate by special rules within their respective states.  U.S. News and World Report ranks and categorizes law schools every year based on a set of semi-relevant criteria.  Schools fight hard to place high on the list.  I don’t see the point.  Judging by the performance of their graduates, all the schools seem equally bad.

prof law

(This cat never practiced law and won’t teach you anything.  Google Images.)

Max “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” Tucker wrote an awesome article, http://lewrockwell.com/orig14/max-t1.1.1.html, on reasons NOT to attend law school.  Read it!  I agree with every single thing he said.  By the way, I fell under the Want To Change the World category.  I learned its damn near impossible to change a neighborhood, let alone the world.  And, most people don’t want any change – they enjoy their serfdom.

After four (or 6, 8, etc.) years in college one must score decently on the LSAT and submit a rigorous application in order to gain entry into even the lowest ranking law school.  Once there, one is suddenly trust into an environment that eerily resembles high school.  That’s the law school effect, everyone reverts to teenager-ish behavior and attitudes.  Nothing is actually taught in law school except how to look up information and fill out forms.  You can learn a thing or two in a specialized elective class but nothing therein will appear on the dreaded bar exam of any state.  Given the sad state of the profession, dependant on the exam’s function as a brutal hazing to enter the fraternity, you would think law professors would concentrate on the subjects covered by the bar and the methodology employed for the tests (Byzantine).  They do not.  In fact, after graduating you MUST take a private prep course in order to have any chance of passing the test.  I theorize that any well-educated person could take such a class and pass the bar.  I was not supposed to tell you that.

The majority of instructional time is instead devoted to instilling reverence for the system.  Courts, judges, and their opinions (case-law) are sold as the Gospel.  Rebels like me are interested in core concepts behind the law and the betterment of humanity.  The average student simply accepts the drivel and becomes a system cog.  As I have stated elsewhere, the average lawyer does not know and does not care why we have law or where the law comes from.  Natural Law may as well be officially forbidden by the ABA.

Once one passes the bar and gets that first legal job another enormous short-coming becomes alarmingly clear.  Law schools do not prepare anyone to practice law.  A friend of mine, a Federal Magistrate Judge once asked me, “Remember when you got out, and knew nothing?”  New attorneys are thrown to the wolves.  Half can’t hack it; I think 50% is the current percentage who leave the law sooner than later.  The other 50% live in a nightmarish state, dreaming of getting out. 

In the old days, and in a few foreign countries (Scotland comes to mind), students of the law would apprentice with an existing attorney or law firm for a number of years in order to prepare for actually practicing law.  They would simultaneously “read the law” on their own to gain a full understanding of core concepts.  After satisfying their mentors, the apprentices would be admitted as attorneys, with or without examination.  That’s how Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Abradamn Lincoln and Cicero did it.  Today, only California, Maine, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington still allow “reading” and I imagine it is discouraged.  This process denies law schools reason to exist and deprives budding young lawyers of their $100,000+ school loan debts.  Students might also emerge ready to practice if allowed to study under a competent attorney.  I’m not supposed to tell you any of this.

I have applied for several positions, academic and administrative, at a variety of law schools of late.  I am hoping my experience will give me an advantage.  One would think it was.  I make a particular point to explain that I want to help as many young people as possible actually prepare for the racket….er…profession.  Oddly, many law professors have never practiced law a day in their lives, many aren’t even members of a bar.  It makes sense, in a way, as law school has absolutely nothing to do with practicing.  That evil bar exam (truly a horror worthy to justify the myths) has nothing to do with school or practice either.  Like the schooling, it’s just there – an unavoidable obstacle to tackle.

Law students become attorneys disillusioned, in debt, unprepared, and in today’s market, with slim job prospects.  Most new attorneys today, who can find a job, earn less than $60,000 per year.  The big bucks go to the elite few who land jobs with major law firms.  At those firms, newbies (with all the problems I mentioned) can start at $150,000 or better.  For that pay, they have to “bill” 2500 hours a year.  Billing 2500 means working 4000; that means working 80-100 hour weeks, every week, for about $30-$40 per hour.  Tucker gives examples of jobs that pay that well, don’t require all the time and hassle, and don’t necessitate wasting 3 years in law school.  Remember, those are the best of the best jobs.  Most big firm associates wash out quickly or else end up in mental institutions or under bridges.

lawyer

(Welcome aboard, young associate.  Google Images.)

Ponder what I have written here if you think you want to join the lawyer club.  Some people are meant to be attorneys and will do well at their chosen work.  Most will drudge on miserably until the retire, die, or go nuts.  Some, like me get out.  Well, I’m trying to get out.  Leaving the law can be like leaving a street gang.  You have to walk a gauntlet to exit.  Please pray I make it.  As for you, avoid the whole racket if you can.

PS: I issue a challenge to all attorneys and law school faculties!  Change the system!  Concentrate on the theory and the practice of the law itself and dispense with the case worship, the obsolete mysteries, and the false illusions of nobility.  For you, read Alan Watson’s The Shame of American Legal Education, 2d ed. (Vandeplas Publishing, 2006).  Watson, of Scottish legal training, nails the problems of the American system.  Let’s change it.

Muddling Through College

11 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by perrinlovett in Other Columns

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

academic, accounting, Athens, business, career, CEO, classics, college, corporations, deception, Donald Trump, education, failure, finance, GA, interests, law school, lay offs, lies, MSU, muddles, old people, people, philosophy, racket, real estate, scholarship, the American dream, The Time Given, Trammell Crow, truth, UGA, UVA, What Will They Learn, youth

Given the popularity of my postings on the law, generally and regarding specific topics, and given the inclination of so many people to ask me about becoming a lawyer and what it’s like, I thought I would write something about legal education in America.  It won’t be pretty but it will paint a good overall picture of the modern training lawyers undergo.  First, however, I thought I would write something about the undergraduate experience which precedes law school.  That’s what this article concerns.  It is mainly drawn from my experiences at the University of Georgia in the early – mid 1990’s.

As my personal collegiate experience is somewhat dated (ugh….), I have tried to incorporate a little news concerning more modern college education as well.  So, this piece is really about my personal muddling with an updated, universal background.  I hope it serves as a guide of sorts for those entering college or already there and struggling to decide what to make of the situation.  For those you who have already completed your formal education, I hope this resonates with you.  It’s up to us to enlighten the younger generations so that they may achieve their full potential.

College today is much the same as it was back then.  Modern students have a wealth of on-line information to assist them in picking the right school and program for them.  I wished we had had that.  I recently stumbled across a fantastic website that goes beyond the normal rankings and summary guides.  Check out this site: http://www.whatwilltheylearn.com/.  It’s an initiative from numerous alumni to assess what, if anything, colleges teach these days.  The results are eye-opening.  Of the 1000 or so schools surveyed only 21 got an “A” based on required core curriculum.  I’m proud to say my alma mater was among them.  Several famous and pricy schools did not fare so well.  Watch their video too.

cap

(Google Images.)

Back to yours truly.  I started college in 1993 immediately after graduating from high school.  I applied to and was accepted to three colleges (I think it was three, I’m lazy).  I got accepted to Mississippi State University (in my original home town) and the University of Georgia, where many of my relatives attended.  I think the other school was UVA; I attended classes for a week as a high schooler and was most impressed. 

MSU offered me a scholarship, I think it was a full ride.  My dad had been a professor there and apparently they needed someone from Georgia.  I probably should have accepted but, given my poor choices in college, I would have likely lost the scholarship anyway.  In the end, I went to UGA.  The Georgia HOPE scholarship was recently enacted at the time.  My high school grades were excellent and so I would have qualified.  Unfortunately, my parents made something like 50 cents over the family income maximum.  The next year they raised the maximum but by then my grades were so dismal it didn’t matter.  I must say I had a great time in Athens.  The city is overrun with bars and hot girls and there is always something to do.  Oddly, none of that matters looking back.

I have since analyzed why I did as poorly as I did in the early half of my college career.  I used to blame the school and several professors in whose classes I did poorly.  I have come to the conclusion though that any failings (pun intended) were my fault only.  I had considered that perhaps I was not ready for college.  Then again, I’m not sure what I would have done instead at that time.  I wanted to continue my formal education, I just went about it all wrong.  I was not true to myself.

I have devoted a whole chapter in The Time Given (not long now….) to being true to yourself.  My understanding of the concept comes from my own self-betrayals.  In high school and for the first few years I was at UGA I was under the delusion of the great “American dream.”  George Carlin once said, “it’s a dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.”  I know what he meant.  The dream went something like this:  You go to college to get a valuable degree.  The degree gets you a ticket to work for a big corporation for 30 or 40 years.  By working hard for your employer you get rich and enjoy a comfy retirement.  You can vacation in Destin, Florida and such.

I tried to take the dream to its extreme conclusion.  I just knew I had to major in business in order to get that golden job ticket.  I started out as a general business major and then switched to a speciality in real estate.  UGA’s real estate program is excellent and I did learn some things in my concentration classes which came in handy at Trammel Crow and in my brief real estate sales career.  I also found some of my advanced economics classes fascinating – but only from an academic standpoint.  The rest of the core business classes bored the ever-loving hell out of me.  My grades reflected this.  I recall mornings when I remembered I had to drop classes I had not attended all semester – on the last day possible.  Still figures into some of my nightmares.  I recall passing finance my reading the booklet for my fancy calculator the night before the final exam.  I wasted a semester in a business MIS class that covered things like floppy disks and the new-fangled internet, whatever that was.  That all says something – I’m not sure what…

The “hard” problem I found with an undergraduate business degree was that you studied based on scenarios only a CEO would encounter.  Then you get into the job market and discover only entry-level jobs are available.  It’s kind of depressing.  I really lucked out with Trammell Crow and it took me months of interviewing for scores of other positions to find.  Another problem is that once you’re on the job, they retrain you completely.  I’d say only 10% of what I managed to learn ended up being useful on the job.

If you want to enter business, I think it’s best to get an MBA. It also helps to study something you have connections to (the family business, etc.). Otherwise, you’re wasting your time.  I wasted a lot of the stuff.

The “soft” problem I had was that I didn’t really want to be a business major.  I look like a businessman but I have the heart of a history professor or a latter-day dragon slayer, neither of which benefit from a class in marketing.  This was made clear to me during my senior year.  For whatever reason I finished most of the required classes and had an abundance of electives to take.  Out of curiosity I wound up in a number of classics (ancient Greece and Rome) and philosophy classes. 

Suddenly, I was immersed in subjects that spoke to me about eternal issues I could relate to everyday American life.  I also got “A” after “A” and it wasn’t hard to do.  I liked the programs.  I identified with the programs.  I dig ancient wisdom and logical discourse more than ROI statements and accounting baselines.

It occurred to me a little late in the game to change majors and stick it out.  I probably should have done that.  At the time though, the same stubbornness that got me into my plight held me there.  I made excuses like “I’m almost done.  I need to settle, get out, and get that dream job.”  Ha!  The job I got was great.  I foresaw myself rising in the ranks and becoming a developer, another Donald Trump.  I was good at it.  I thought I could even open my own business and build skyscrapers.  Then, they called me one day and thanked me profusely for my hard work.  I smelled a raise.  Then they said the division was closing and I was no longer needed.  More depression followed.  This is the real American dream – you lie to yourself, waste time and money, and end up getting laid off after giving 150%.  Well, it was the dream.  I think most people have to settle for permanent unemployment or food stamps these days.

After a year of flopping around I headed to law school.  It was my attempt to right my ship.  It almost worked.  I know now that while I love the concept and theory of law, present and historical, these are not good reasons to go to law school.  I’ll have more on this in my coming column on the legal education racket.

I should have gotten a Ph.D. in political theory or history.  Then I would have been primed for a happier career in higher education, pondering the big ideas and helping young people seek questions and answers.  I’m currently trying to re-route myself that way.  This blog is a grand outlet for my academic pursuits.  I’m delighted by the support I have received so far.  I plan to press forward regardless of what kind, if any, formal institution I end up in.  I don’t mean an “institution” where I weave baskets…

Counting the four years I was locked up in high school, it’s been about 24 years getting around to being honest about my ambitions.  I have been extremely lucky in the alternative.  I’ve had the opportunity most people don’t get in the business and legal fields to interact with academics, statesmen, titans and ticks of all stripes.  I have also been able to strike a few blows for freedom over the years.  Everything happens for a reason and I have accepted my long way home.

I hope you, dear readers, find and accept yours too.  Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you.  I genuinely like helping people.  It’s really why I’m here.

Perrin Lovett

perrinlovett@gmail.com

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