What do student debtors and the unemployed have in common? No, not Benito (or the millions of others who are in the same boat). Selfishness. That’s not a criticism. I’m not judgmental. It’s certainly not praise. I am not Mike Triforce. It’s not even a challenge because I am not President Kennedy.

But I would be remissed if I didn’t point out two trends and suggest that perhaps one should rethink which hole their particular cog in the machine fills.

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Every now and then ATL posts a story about some law professor who botches their grades, lets the exam questions leak out, withhold grades after critical deadlines making their students less competitive and let’s not forget the TTT out in Los Angeles that simply upped EVERYONE a letter grade retroactively back to 2007.    News flash assclowns, that sort of thing happens all the time.

So here we go!  This was 2L or 3L year…a time that pretty much runs together on me.  One of my law professor’s questions leaked out.  What did Mike Triforce do? Hey guys, remember, it’s me.

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I just got another text from the African Goddess I met when I ditched a suicidal Icarus at Irish Pub the other day.  Apparently she found this blog, recognized Icarus’ post and figured out who I was…and yes she read the article where I repeated racist propoganda at my firm to ingraciate myself with the partners who hold those views because I deemed them to hold more power than the younger progressive ones…with smaller books of business.  So sad.  She really was beautiful, the kind of beauty where just talking to her (and fortunately that’s all that happened) was more than enough.  But before I start sounding too much like Icarus, I promised you another post about why Professional Responsibility is a joke.

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So I might have killed three people but some idiot 3L who just passed his MPRE wants to pass judgment on me because *gasp* I bragged about a famous client who shall remain nameless (rhymes with Drave Chrappelle). Now due to trying to find a new job at a better firm, the incident in April, KF Li’s crap AND a heartfelt desire to not be perceived as such a douchebag I was tempted not to write this or at least keep it as a single post.  I have failed.

Professional Responsibility is a joke. Read on for the context of my opening statement.

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Sigh.  I wish Alpha Man had gone to law school or had at least agreed to write this, but he said it was MY responsibility and to tap into my “righteous anger.” Well kids, here it is.

The New York Times reports that law schools are automatically raising grades on PAST EXAMS for CURRENT LAW STUDENTS and PAYING LAW FIRMS to accept their students.  The first question that comes to mind is, why not help out recent alumni who have been UNEMPLOYED FOR 6 to 24  MONTHS particularly since their grades lack the NATURAL GRADE INFLATION already present on the transcripts of more recent classes?  Well, once you no longer affect the employment statistics of these hallowed halls of learning, nobody cares whether you live or die. 

First let me post the link and then I will dissect what it means for us JD debtors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/business/22law.html

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Please Take What is Left of Me
Though I Must Admit
It’s Not Much

I Cannot Take Care of You
In the manner you deserve
I owe so much

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If you’re living off the grid summer is the best time to travel – less clothes to take, easier to hitch hike since more students are on the road, and you’d be surprised how much free food you can get if you know how to find a barbecque honoring a grad, dad, country or a vet, and that’s not even counting block parties.  Recently I have been traveling and I found myself in Washington, DC where I saw Laurence Fishburne at the Kennedy Center in the one-man bio drama Thurgood.  Just in case any next of kin ever read this, yes I wore a coat and tie.  And I was blown away.

Benito says he’d give back his JD, earned in the guilded halls of the ivy-league, if they would just relinquish his debt.  He calls the piece of paper worthless.  It is of course an understatement to say that Justice Marshall’s JD, earned in extremely more modest accommodations at a time where most law schools were still segregated was priceless, not just for him personally but for our country.  The play alludes to the fact that Justice Marshall saved up enough for tuition working in the service industry and that his mother sold her engagement ring and wedding band in order to help pay his way.  I know an author at the New York Times that would have frowned upon that.

Read on to find out why I think debt might be the new Jim Crow.

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Here at Debtor’s Prison, we’re not big on posting links within articles.  But here’s one

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/your-money/student-loans/29money.html?pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1275242514-wCTp6UtEV1S1hPtiShkU6Ahttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/your-money/student-loans/29money.html?pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1275242514-wCTp6UtEV1S1hPtiShkU6Ahttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/your-money/student-loans/29money.html?pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1275242514-wCTp6UtEV1S1hPtiShkU6A

I could respond to this point for point but that wouldn’t be fair to our readers too lazy to click the link and in order to provide themselves with the necessary context SO instead I will give the opposite scenario so my post stands alone.

Johnny and his parents approached college with a grim determination: to get through the process with as little cost and effort as possible.  Like many parents with their own lives Mr. and Mrs. Johnny were anxious to get another body out of the house and college savings weren’t what they could have been if certain cars hadn’t been leased and certain boats hadn’t been purchased.  But you only live once.  Besides, if Johnny possessed any particular gifts there would be scholarships.  There were no scholarships.

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The last epiphany I had was when I decided to create this blog, and it was nothing, I mean NOTHING compared to the earth-shaking revelation I experienced in a movie theater just a few short minutes ago.  As a man of few means, I normally catch movies right at the tail end when they are about to leave the theater (when hopefully tickets are reduced) and hence I saw the movie “Kickass.” And I was blown away.

First, all I can say is thank you.  I haven’t felt like that in a movie theater since before I can remember. 

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Well it looks like my run-of-the-mill post didn’t make the announcements. Whatever. Maybe Alpha Man is right when he says Benito caters to the more “entertaining” writers.  What will he ever do without Triforce? Anyway, Another by-product of tax season is that if you keep your ear to the ground you can find out what the heavy hitters are making. After all who doesn’t xerox their W2 at work? Turns out I am the third highest paid paralegal… and that makes me particularly expendable.

Here’s why. I make what I make because a certain partner, Eric, watches out for me knowing the office doesn’t run without me and in his niave mind I am still one phone call away from being back in law school where he no doubt thinks I belong. But partners have been jumping ship and the days when a partner brought his associates, much less his paralegals with him have long since past. Read on, it gets worse.

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