The Bench & Bar magazine is published to provide members of the KBA with information that will increase their knowledge of the law, improve the practice of law, and assist in improving the quality of legal services for the citizenry.
Issue link: https://kentuckybenchandbar.epubxp.com/i/546018
Let me explain my lack of knowledge about bar admissions. There are several relatively autonomous pieces to the governance of Kentucky lawyers. The Office of Character and Fitness and Bar Admissions are separate from the KBA; their budgets are under the Administrative Office of the Courts. Departments that fall within the KBA's budget include CLE, Bar Counsel, the Kentucky Lawyer Assistance Program, the Client Security Fund, and the Inquiry Commission. The KBA works with Character and Fitness and to a lesser extent with bar admissions, but their areas of responsibility are distinct from ours. You have made your bones as a trial lawyer over a 39-year career. Can you share some advice for attorneys just starting out who are interested in building a career of trying cases? I have six bits of advice for young trial lawyers. First, a trial is a battle to earn and maintain the confidence of the judge and the jury. This requires that the lawyer be consistent and be scrupulously honest in everything he or she says and does in the courtroom. Second, I believe a lawyer should be himself or herself when presenting a case to a jury. It took years for me to gain the ex- perience and confidence to be able to ac- complish this. There are a number of excellent movies about trials. In one of my favorites, "Anatomy of a Murder", Jimmy Stewart played the defense lawyer, Paul Biegler. Stewart's character had credibility, dry humor, and intelligence – all qualities that we associate with Jimmy Stewart. The point is not that the young lawyer should try to be like Jimmy Stewart. The point is that we need to figure out who we are and then be that person in the courtroom. Third, a trial lawyer needs to know the pertinent facts inside and out. As part of my effort to learn about a case, I visit the place where the events occurred. Whether the place is an intersection, an operating room, or a grocery store, going to the scene al- ways helps. Fourth, direct examinations matter. Prepare your witnesses and plan and organize your examinations. You tell the story of your case through the direct examinations of your wit- nesses. Fifth, figure out the themes of your case, then craft your presentation in each part of the trial to communicate those themes. Sixth, keep in mind that all the players in a trial have a different role. The lawyers represent their clients, the judge does his or her job, and so on. We are not responsi- ble for what all the other players are doing, but we are responsible for trying to lead the process to the best outcome for our clients. Taking this approach removes a bit of the angst that goes along with trying cases. The theme of the bar convention this year was Justice for All: Securing Access in a Di- verse Society. How good a job are we doing in Kentucky of meeting the need for legal serv- ices, particularly in rural areas, among eco- nomically disadvantaged Kentuckians, and among non-English speakers? We are not doing as good a job as we should in serving Kentucky's poorest citizens. Our colleagues who work as public defenders have caseloads that far exceed the recommended number of cases that a criminal defense attorney should be handling. Our legal aid programs are also underfunded. Lawyers who work as public defenders and who work in the legal aid arena do a terrific job, but as a society we owe them and their clients more than we are providing. Tennessee has an excellent and efficient program of matching volunteer lawyers to citizens who need legal advice but who may not be able to afford to hire a lawyer. We are seriously evaluating adopting a similar program in Kentucky. Law school admissions are down nationally and among our three law schools. The job market for attorneys has been down for years. We all hear horror stories about the amount of debt with which new lawyers are saddled as they begin their careers. Are you concerned that being a lawyer is just not the career choice it once was, and that the quality of the services we are rendering may become impaired over time because of these conditions? My sense is that the market may be overcorrecting and that now may be a good time to go to law school. As I recall, in the early years of the recession, law school enrollments climbed due to the lack of jobs for new college graduates. As the larger number of new law students gradu- ated from law school, the recession was still ongoing and there were not jobs for them. So, law school admissions dropped significantly. 6 B&B; • 7.15 FA R N S L E Y Q & A