Public Defender Gets Shit-Faced In Court

That was too easy!

July 2008 Bar Exam Stats

Kind of interesting to check out the statistics on the July 2008 California Bar Exam. Of the California, but not ABA, accredited schools, mine ranked 4th among the 18 schools in that category, beating the average 37% pass rate with their 51% rate.

Of the California law schools that are ABA accredited, Stanford had the highest pass rate with 97% among first time takers. Out-of-state ABA accredited schools University of Utah and University of Virginia both had 100% pass rates for their first time takers.

8 + 6 Doesn't Add Up

More details are coming out about the woman who gave birth to live octuplets the other day. Like how she already had 6 children, aged 2 to 7, including a set of twins; like that she is single; like that she lives with her parents in a small home; like that she filed for bankruptcy and abandoned a home recently; like how she was using fertility treatments.

Who, in that situation, tries to get pregnant? With multiple babies? And keeps them all? Obviously, being intelligent and making rational decisions has never been a prerequisite to becoming a parent. And I don't advocate the government stepping in and telling people how many children they can have, but why didn't someone do something? Um, maybe her parents could have counseled her to think about the cost of raising 14 children (which now they will presumably be forced to share) or consider waiting until she was in a stable relationship with someone to help her raise the brood? Or perhaps a friend could have suggested that she concentrate on raising the large family she already had instead of taking on more.

I can't help but wonder if this woman, with stars in her eyes, thought this may be her way to fame and fortune. Get a reality show with a hefty contract and move into an extreme home with a fat paycheck. Who knows?

It just doesn't seem fair that people like this end up with so many children, who I'm guessing will not really have the kind or quantity of attention they deserve, while some intelligent, rational people struggle to have even one. I know, I know. Life's not fair.

Vegetarians Have Better Sex?

That PETA ad has been banned from Super Bowl Sunday as being too sexy. What do you think?

Interview #2

Today I had an interview with the second place that contacted me for one. This one was not with the actual department with the opening, but with the county's HR department, with a panel of 3 people from other counties. It was a rather short interview (though since I arrive quite early, I know mine was the same length as that of the person before me). Kind of boom, boom, boom, ok, walk her out.

I feel like I did well, but it was hard to tell much. They are going to speak with about 30 people over 2 days, rank them, and send out letters inviting the top 6 to return for interviews with the department. There are 2 openings.

Now the tricky part. Job offer #1 was made contingent on a background check. Since that contingency has not been yet removed, that offer cannot really be accepted. Until that time, it is not a sure thing, and I will continue to pursue other opportunities. However, since I know my background check will come back clean, it is really a matter of timing (and I suppose living in California, hoping the budget doesn't suddenly get yanked!). This job would have me starting 1/26 or 2/9, as the start date must be on the first day of a pay period. If I don't know by tomorrow, that would give me until 2/9 to see if I can get another offer, to have 2 to pick from.

Both jobs have attractive points. I'm clearly hoping that a certain one works out over the other, but when you aren't working, won't any do? I'm completely confident that I would do well and please my bosses at either. I'm just anxious to start doing SOMETHING!

Anyway, so my boyfriend and I are going to Las Vegas this weekend. We had talked about going to see Penn and Teller months ago, and once we found out that we both passed the Bar Exam, we booked this trip to catch their show. I haven't been in quite a while, so really looking forward to it. We have traveled to a few places in California so far (Carmel/Monterey, San Mateo (does the Bar Exam count?), San Francisco), but never out of state and not by plane yet. Of course, when you're in love, it probably really doesn't matter where you go or what you do, as long as you're doing it together. :) Yeah, yeah, I know that was corny (but it's true!).

Something else cool that we are doing is volunteering at the Fresno County Mock Trial Competition. The Fresno County Bar Association was looking for help, so we're going to be scoring attorneys for a couple of nights in the upcoming weeks for this event in which 10 local high schools are participating. We already received the packets describing the facts of the case and details about how to score the students. After law school (Moot Court and Criminal Trial Practice especially), it will be nice to be on the opposite side and be the one giving the evaluations and comments. Hopefully I can find something encouraging and helpful to say to all the participants.

Oh, and one more thing, Clint got robbed!

One Interview, One Offer

After finding out in November that I passed the California Bar Exam, I applied for 4 jobs. All 4 were with different counties, and 3 of the 4 were for positions as a deputy DA. Two I have not yet heard from either way, but the other 2 called and set up interviews. The first was this past Monday.

This first interview was for the only job that is not as a DDA. I had figured that the initial interview would be with the HR department, so I was kind of surprised when I showed up at the given address and found it was the actual department of the position. I was interviewed by a panel of 3 people: the director and deputy director of the 260 person department, and one of the 6 attorneys currently working there. I could not read them and had no idea what they thought of me or if they liked me.

Before I left, I asked what the next step would be and was again surprised by hearing that they would make a decision in 7-10 days without a second interview. I guess even though they stressed that this was a "no glamour" job, because it was for an attorney position I thought they would want to put the applicants through a little more hoop-jumping.

I received a phone call yesterday from one of the three on the interviewing panel. I thought maybe she needed to clarify something I had said during the interview. Nope. She was calling to offer me the job. It is contingent on a background check, though I'm not worried about that since I passed an extensive one for the Department of Justice prior to working at the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Now I'm not quite sure about the second job interview I have lined up. If the background check takes a while, I'll still go and see what they have to say. But if the check is completed rather quickly, it wouldn't really be appropriate to go if I would be starting a new job a couple of days later. We'll just see.

In any event, I'm thrilled to have a job lined up and to know that I'll be working soon, as an attorney. Makes it feel so much more official. :) This position will have me in court 2 full days a week, and preparing for those days the rest of the time. The department has 70,000 cases, so it sounds like exactly the crazy kind of work I prefer.

A Stiff Sentence...Hmmmmm

This story reminds me of a case I prosecuted last year. Gotta love those defendants who keep us laughing!

I need all the entertainment I can get these days. I'm so bored! Now that my move and the holidays are over, I have nothing to do. I have a couple of interviews scheduled for the next few weeks, but realistically I know that means I probably won't be working for at least a month. Ugh.

My boyfriend and I are going to see Frost/Nixon tonight and then to the Fresno Philharmonic tomorrow night, and I do have a couple of books I'm reading (Convictions, Principles of Roman Law), but I could seriously use some sort of project to work on.

Freaky!

Do you know what an apothecary jar is? It's like the one there at the left, used to decorate your house by displaying various things inside. I bought a set of 3 at Sam's Club a couple of weeks ago. I put apples in the medium jar and lemons (picked from a tree I planted myself from a seed!) in the large and small jars.

Anyway, the lemons were creating condensation in their jars, so every other day I would take the lids off to let that evaporate. The jars are not totally air-tight (notice that there is not a seal around the lid). I figured I should buy something else to use in those jars, but had not done so yet.

Last night when my boyfriend and I were in the kitchen, we heard a noise on the counter, but neither of us saw anything fall or look different in any way. However, this morning I noticed a crack in the smallest jar.

I removed all the lemons to get a better look and when I picked up the jar, the top portion came off! It had cracked all the way around, completely through the glass!

I've never heard of lemon fumes cracking glass before and don't know whether to just return the jar set for a refund and assume it is a poorly made product, or exchange it for another set and assume this one was a fluke.

Has anyone had something similar happen?

"I May Be a Ho, But I'm Not a Crack Ho!"

California's new no texting-while-driving law comes with a built in excuse. The law itself states that:

"A person shall not drive a motor vehicle while using an electronic wireless communications device to write, send, or read a text-based communication... (using an electronic wireless communications device to manually communicate with any person using a text-based communication, including, but not limited to, communications referred to as a text message, instant message, or electronic mail)."

But it goes on to say:

"A person shall not be deemed to be writing, reading, or sending a text-based communication if the person reads, selects, or enters a telephone number or name in an electronic wireless communications device for the purpose of making or receiving a telephone call."

So if you are pulled over for texting while driving, all you have to do is tell the officer that you were not texting but in fact just scrolling through your phone book on your phone to make a phone call. (Of course, I would never condone breaking any law. I'm just saying that, you know, I'm sure you would only be scrolling and not texting, right???) By the time you actually pulled over and the officer approached, I have no idea how he would know the difference. What is he going to do- confiscate your cell phone and look at the time of the last sent and received text messages and see if they have been read yet or not?

This law makes no sense to me. If the purpose of the law is to make dangerous behavior illegal, is there proof that scrolling through phone numbers is less dangerous than texting? Of course not, but I suppose they were forced to put in that exception since talking on our cell phones (with a hands-free device, of course) is still legal, and we could not talk if we couldn't scroll through the names in our phone and make a selection.

I'm sure Joe Simitian thought he was doing a great thing for our state by getting his law passed, but I have to tell you, I see a lot of other dangerous behavior in cars every day. I think he should also see about outlawing the following while driving: eating, putting on makeup, shaving, reading, listening to music, having conversations. I mean, all of those are distracting activities and surely accidents have been caused by drivers engaged in them. Senator Simitian, we are not truly protected yet. Can't you help us???

In the meantime, if the "I was only scrolling" excuse doesn't work if you are caught texting while driving, you can always try the one in the title of this post. I'm not sure it worked for the working girl who used it the other night on Cops, but it was pretty funny.

Don't Like Your Gift? Sue Someone!

Here's a lawsuit I would like to see filed, strictly for the entertainment value (from our friends over at Not Always Right):

(An angry, overweight female customer approaches me with a Nintendo Wii Fit and hands me her receipt.)

Me: “Hi, what can I help you with today?”

Customer: “I’d like to return this.”

Me: “What seems to be the problem with it?”

Customer: “I think it’s broken.”

Me: “All right, what’s going on?”

Customer: “Whenever it weighs me and calculates my BMI, it labels me as obese.”

Me: “And…”

Customer: “Well, that can’t be right!”

Me: “From what I’ve heard, the measurements on Wii Fits are fairly accurate. Are you sure you want to return this? They’re pretty hard to find.”

Customer: “Are you calling me fat?!”

Me: “No, I’m just saying that…”

Customer: “You just called me fat!

Me: “No, I was just saying…”

Customer: “Whatever. I still want to return it. It’s obviously not working right. And, I think someone should talk to the designer; make them use a different word. It hurt my feelings.”

Me: *soothingly* “Maybe you could contact Nintendo; write a letter or something.”

Customer: “You know what, I will! I’ll let them know that their stupid game called me obese and made me cry for three hours straight. I haven’t eaten solid food for two days because of it. I’m so hungry! I almost fainted last night. Do you think I can sue?”

Me: “Well, you can sure try. Have a nice day.”