Feed on
Posts
Comments
«
»

Bucking the system?

Jul 7th, 2010 by

I like stories like this.

A man who was arrested and served time for dealing drugs is now suing the state of Indiana claiming that the requirement that all aspiring attorneys attend law school is unconstitutional.

While behind bars Clarence K. Carter spent time in the prison’s law library working on his own appeal and since his release he earned his bachelor’s degree from a local college. As a free man he wants to be a lawyer. And even though that might not be the wisest career choice right now, I still am a sucker for giving people a second chance. Carter is asking for the opportunity to prove his competency in his chosen field, but he doesn’t think he needs to go to law school first. Is this because he doesn’t want to take on nearly $100,000 in debt to pay for it?

At one point in our country’s history, and our state’s, aspiring attorneys apprenticed with lawyers to learn the trade, much like plumbers and electricians. The thinking being that you learned how to perform a trade by watching and learning from experienced people in the field and then slowly doing the work yourself. And then Minnesota made it a requirement to graduate law school first. (I’m sure someone knows the date this happened, but I asked around to a few people I know who basically told me that this has been the practice for as long as they can remember).

My question is why did this change? When my mother needs surgery I want to know that the man or woman cutting her open is experienced and educated. That the surgeon knows what he is doing, has done it before and will not make a mistake. The framed diploma on the office wall is comfort I guess.

But surgery isn’t like practicing law. It’s more technical and I would argue fewer people could perform a bypass than could draft a response brief. I suppose Mr. Carter could have spent his 10 years behind bars studying how to perform even the most complex procedures, but I still wouldn’t let him operate on my mom unless he had gone to medical school first. But, I might let him help her fight a traffic ticket or draft a will though.

[Print] [Email] [Facebook] [Twitter]

Posted in Uncategorized

2 Responses to “Bucking the system?”

  1. Torita Grinstead says:
    July 7, 2010 at 7:58 pm

    All Mr. Carter wants is a chance u will not even give him a chance. It’s a shame he has to fight 4 his right. He paid his dept to society. But u know what….GOD has his back!! IF U CAN BELIEVE THAT! THANK-U, GOD BLESS U

  2. Jahi says:
    July 22, 2010 at 8:28 am

    Until the late 1850s, no sitting member of the Supreme Court of the United states had ever received a law degree. In fact, most lawyers were self-taught, apprenticed, stood for the bar, and proved their jurisprudence in the “free market.” After reading Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Friedman, I’d already come to the conclusion that the requirement that a citizen attend law school incurring massive amounts of debt in the process was unconstitutional. I look forward to following this case as it moves through the court system. The scarcity of law schools ensures that many qualified individuals will be shut out of taking the bar. This benefits the law schools more than anyone, as this allows them to hold a “monopoly” on entrance into the practice of law, hence charging outrageous tutition and fees to overburnded students.

    There are (2) major questions here: (1) is the monopoly the law school cartel holds on the entry into the legal field a violation of the Sherman anti-trust laws? (2) Is it constitutional bar an American citizen from taking the bar on their own dime?

    I wouldn’t argue that law school is unnecessary, as it is clearly beneficial to society to have such institutions in place. However, the more democratic thing to do is provide people with OPTIONS, which is also the best form of cost control. One does not have to attend college to become a carpenter, they can read up on carpentry and apprentice, and the same path was typical to become a lawyer in America. If a citizen is capable of “reading the law”, apprenticing, and passing the bar this will be another option available to entrants.

    The fact is that, the requirement to attend law school will not hold up at the Supreme Court level. I hope this case ends up on the SCOTUS docket.

    We shall see…

Leave a Reply