Читать книгу How to Be a Lawyer - Jason Mendelson - Страница 29

While you may believe this is only useful if you become a criminal defense attorney, a prosecutor, or a judge, keep in mind that being a lawyer is a lot like being a doctor (or owning a pickup truck). Once friends and family know you've graduated (or even before), they will start asking you for help all the time. To these people all doctors and lawyers should know everything about medicine and law, respectively. Jason's father, who was a radiologist, also got questions about cats and dogs. Anyways, just know that as a lawyer, you'll get asked a lot of random things. And this is where the value of criminal law can come in for everyone. Plus, in line with our overall advice, don't assume in law school that you will never practice or need some knowledge of a specific specialty.

We hope you won't get asked a lot of questions about manslaughter or homicide, but there's a good chance you'll get questions about search and seizure, Miranda rights, Fourth Amendment rights, and DUIs. If nothing else, pay attention to the differences between manslaughter and murder as there are some interesting interplays with how foreseeability works in torts. Also understand the differences between criminal and civil actions that deal with the same subject matter, as you'll look smarter when reciting the latest celebrity blowup on TMZ. Lastly, criminal procedure is more useful in this context than civil procedure, and also more interesting.

Bottom line: Every lawyer needs to know something about criminal law even if it's not what you practice. It's the “price of admission” to be able to call yourself a lawyer amongst friends and family. Putting aside the glib nature, if you are at all interested in criminal justice reform (what Jason spends a lot of his time on these days), then this class is a good foundation. You may not ultimately practice in the area, but you may decide to dedicate some of your time to issues around justice reform.