Is anyone else outraged about the $1.776 billion slush fund for Trump’s cronies aka supporters that is coming out of our tax dollars? How do we say “no way”? Time for another Tea Party revolt? Not the one in 2010 but the original one in Boston in 1773.
My ATL colleagues are similarly outraged as every taxpayer should be. Steven Chung’s analysis lays out the the details of the Trump lawsuit, the settlement, and why Trump has access to the government judgment fund.
Remember how Stephen Colbert characterized the “settlement” by Paramount over Trump’s lawsuit against the CBS network’s “60 Minutes” as a “big fat bribe”? How about characterizing this latest money grab for Trump’s cronies and followers as a “big fat theft”? This latest Trump foray into litigation land puts both the Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920s and Watergate in the 1970s to shame. Both those scandals were in Republican administrations, first Warren Harding in the 1920s and Richard Nixon in the 1970s, and now Trump. Three for three. Res ipsa loquitur.
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Time for another Boston Tea Party? Given that this year is the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, that may be appropriate. Hopefully, there will be a lot of taxpayer lawsuits ahead. We can only hope.
Meanwhile, the world continues to turn, burn, or churn. Choose a verb.
With the general bar exam just about two months away, after the graduations, parties, and other celebrations, it will be time to hunker time and study, trying to cram in all the material necessary to pass.
The goal is to pass the first time. What kind of confidence should you have in order to prepare for that exam that is the start of your professional future? For many people, studying for the bar is a full-time job. It’s reviewing the bar tested subjects over and over again (rinse and repeat), taking practice exams after practice exams ad nauseam, ditto multistate (or, as I prefer to call it, multiguess.) It’s taking a bar review course. It’s studying almost nonstop. This is the chance to make it to the other side, from law student to practicing attorney.
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There are many peeps who didn’t pass the bar the first time who went on to very successful legal careers. But the delay means added expense, added time, and usually the start of repaying whatever student loans are out there.
By the way, the California State Bar Board of Trustees is recommending the implementation of the Next Gen Uniform Bar Exam in 2028 and the addition of a California component as soon as practicable after the statutorily required two-year notice. What will comprise that California component? That’s up to the State Supreme Court to advise as to what subjects and skills should be tested.
How confident should you be going into the bar exam? Confidence can range from a negative number (what I had all those years ago) to what Michael Milken (the junk bond king of the 1980s) called “highly confident.”
There is now a new type of confidence: “toxic confidence.” Although it may not have been called that, toxic confidence has been around as long as there have been lawyers.
Remember the old days of self-effacement, self-deprecation, and making sure that everyone involved gets a share of the credit for whatever? Those days are so pre-2016. Everywhere you look, there are lawyers (and others) who gladly embrace being numero uno. It’s gone way beyond marketing. At the conclusion of the classic noir movie, “White Heat,” James Cagney says that he is on top of the world. (And if you have never seen this classic, add it to your streaming queue.)
Toxic confidence is expertise on LinkedIn, but is it really expertise? It’s often the belief in supreme self-confidence. The issue is to what extent ego creates a level of unwarranted confidence that can play havoc with a healthy dose of trepidation. Just as no one knows what a judge or jury is going to do, the same holds true for the bar exam. Be prepared, but not overconfident.
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 [email protected].