I'm going to take the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam(MPRE) tomorrow and that promises to be such a load of fun (sarcasm being used here) or BS depending on your view. From the mouth of someone who took it last year, "It was like being raped" and this was coming from a guy. I'm not exactly sure what he meant by that phrase, but I think that his general meaning was that the test was not a pleasant experience. You know, I think I will need a good dose of mental bleach to get that image out of my head.
Ahh...much better now. Back to a clean mind in such a short amount of time. I might need an extra dose after the test.
I can now understand why people do not consider lawyers to be the most upright or most morally outstanding professional people out there. In Trial Advocacy, the professor said that politicians ranked higher than lawyers in credibility. Haven't they seen all those negative ads? Come on.
Actually, they might not be so far off with their thinking. I was taking a practice exam and the questions I got wrong, I chose the obvious common sense answer. This was based upon my personal beliefs, so I should have known it was wrong. Well, at least with the judiciary, it's more cut and dried. Doing bad things is definitely wrong and will get you in trouble.
So basically, in order to do extremely well and get a near perfect score, I will have to lower my personal ethical standards down to the level of a lawyer. Go figure.
HANDY TEST TIP:
Remember, with the MPRE, it's not what you would do, it's what you could do and still sound respectably ethical. The best answer is the second-most ethical answer. After all, lawyers and humans in general, are not perfect.
Then again, why do the state bar associations and the ABA say that lawyers need to be trusted as professional and ETHICAL people if you're allowed to do stuff that may not be the most ethical thing to do?
Like for instance, try the following test to see if you can think like a lawyer and survive among a sea full of sharks. It's only one question.
1. Which of the following actions, if done by a lawyer, will most likely result in a suspension of their license or result in a permanent loss of license in the state they can practice in?
A. Showing up to court during a trial while under the influence of alcohol and the scent of alcohol is noticable, even by the judge sitting twenty feet away.
B. Showing up to court during a trial while visibly strung out on cocaine and such conditions are noticable since you are jittery, acting paranoid, and a ring of white powder is visible on your shirt. While under such condition, you fail to give a proper legal defense of your client and he gets sent to jail.
C. Having repeated acts of sexual intercourse of all types with a female client thereby clouding your judgment.
D. Putting your client's money (any amount what so ever) into your personal bank account and not into a separate account.
E. A, B, C and D.
F. None of the above.
If you chose A, B, C, E, or F, you are wrong. The correct answer is D. If you show up drunk or high on drugs during a trial and your client gets sent to the slammer or loses a case due to your habitual drug use, you get a slap on the wrist punishment like drug rehab and a censure, plus a possible malpractice lawsuit. That's it and this is based upon actual case law. Even if you do it four, five, six times. Having sex with a client is bad, but not that bad. In fact, it's perfectly fine, though not an activity one should do. You might get disciplined but not disbarred. The ABA adds that if you've been having a sexual relationship with a person and they later become a client, that makes having sex with them while a client OK. But it's not like if you're having sex with them it will affect your responsibility of being fair and impartial in any way...
If you chose D, you are correct. It's the rule that many lawyers have broken throughout the years. Then again, many lawyers have gotten drunk and used drugs many times throughout the years, but that's not serious enough as comingling funds. Doing a crappy job in being an advocate, that's not serious. To be a total cynic, I guess this proves that MONEY and getting paid is more important than being a vigorous lawyer who does their best for a client.
Oh yeah, I've got another installment of NaNoWriMo on Gray Hall. It's a really long section as writing a convincing psychological report can be tricky.
That's all for now.
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