Category: Law

Please, can I have a hug?

The day before the bar, I intended to take a few moments to write about the impending doom that has kept me from falling asleep at night this last week or so and apologize to my family and friends for being such a testy, irritable sot the last two months. Alas, someone beat me to it and explained everything much better than I ever could. The full post is available here and is worth reading if you have the time. If not, here are a few salient highlights:

To set the scene:

I am not a panicker. I never have been. I’m a major proponent of the Seriously Just Chill The Hell Out school of major life event prep, and I’ve been known on more than one occasion to tell 1Ls, OLs, and everyone else who will listen that they need to stop taking life quite so seriously. But right now? I’m panicking.

The reason?

$100,000 ... and three years later, this is the test that will determine whether we actually get to be a lawyer.

The pressure is enormously high:

Nothing [in law school] actually prepare[s] you for this exam. So here, in this 2 1/2 month timeline, you must cram everything there is to know about this state’s law into your head, and hope that most of it sticks come exam time. It’s an extraordinary amount of pressure, akin to nothing else I have done in life.

We fear the horror of having to repeat this dreadful experience:

I’m not nice. But this experience? It’s so miserable, I don’t even have the heart to wish it on someone else.

Failure is spectacularly public:

Unlike the LSAT, you can’t hide out, and pretend that your score wasn’t totally shameful, or that you aren’t studying for the test, or that you didn’t really care. You do care. Unless you live in a cave, everyone knows that you’re studying for an exam, because you look haggard, miserable, and short tempered, and they never see you anymore. The list of bar passers is publicly posted. So, when the final results come out ..., and your name isn’t on that very public list, everyone knows.

If you fail, there is no way to really feel good about it:

You can’t even claim that you just got desperately ill halfway through and couldn’t finish, because Jan Honisberg has been telling us BarBri kids all summer about all the appendicitis-ridden, in labor, concussed bar-takers who have taken the exam and passed. This, ultimately means that not only are you a failure: you’re less competent than a concussed person. Fantastic.

Telling me “you’ll pass the test” really doesn’t help. Really.

The specter of failing is just as real, and just as terrifying, as a child who’s been left at a grocery store, convinced he’s alone for good. No, your parents haven’t left you forever, and no, you may be right. We may pass. But in this moment, we feel alone, and overwhelmed, and totally terrified ... We don’t need assurances that we’ll pass, we need your help to mitigate the crazy. We’re looking for damage control. Tell us you understand how we’re feeling, and you think we’re smart. Give us a hug.

So, if you see me between now and Thursday, please accept my apology for my horrid behavior the last few weeks, and please, can I have a hug and a prayer?

Tribute to BarBri

I’ve noticed that my stress level and youtube watching time are directly proportional. The advantage, of course, is that I come across gems like this that help soothe the nerves just a little.

Thank goodness for dual monitors

They are good for many things, including watching the Tour de France and bar review lectures simultaneously! 

Frustration breeds creativity

After a near daily barrage of solicitors interrupting my bar studies program, I decided to post a no-solicitation sign on our door. (Thanks Patrick for reminding me.) It reads as follows:

NO SOLICITING!

(Unless you are someone under the age of 12 selling something sweet, like cookies or candy, at a price not to exceed $2 for your scout troop, sports team, or church group. I’m sympathetic to child slave labor, I like kids, and I like cookies even better.)

But if you do not fall into that category, I don’t want your magazine because I already have a subscription. I don’t want your newspaper because I can read it online for free. I do not want to pay you to run, walk, swim, jog, jog-walk, swim-jog, or walk-run. I do not want to pay you to cure AIDS. I don’t want to fund your fraternity’s trip to Mexico. I genuinely hope that together we can help stop breast cancer, and while I’ll be more than happy to give you a free exam, I do not want to pay you to examine others. I do not want a “trial” anything. I don’t want you to “inspect” anything. I do not want to pay you to leave me alone. That’s what this sign is for! I do not want you to keep standing in front of my door, reading this sign in the hopes that I might have posted an exception for your particular breed of leech. If you want my money, feel free to try robbing me. I carry a knife with a 4-inch blade and will gladly extend your smile to your ears. Thank you, and the best of luck screwing over my neighbors.

Think that’ll help?

IRS to go after companies who misclassify independent contractors

Last year I advised a client in the Community Development & Entrepreneurship Clinic at Seattle University on proper classification of workers - how to tell if they were employees or independent contractors. I stressed the importance of classifying them correctly because it told the company what responsibilities it had to both the workers and the government. A misclassification could lead to all sorts of trouble if the government ever figured it out and decided to go after them. The business could owe back taxes (what you should have paid if they had been treated as employees), plus hefty penalties.

At the time, the danger seemed a little more theoretical than actual, but now that the government is $7 trillion in debt, it looks like the gloves are off. The President’s 2011 budget provides for a hundred new IRS agents to ramp up their enforcement efforts. Mislabeled contractors are among their priorities with 6,000 companies already targeted as potential violators. Yikes!

If you own a business that has hired independent contractors, I hope you’re starting to wonder whether there a chance you are at risk. Without knowing the specifics, of course, it’s hard to tell, but the Department of Labor estimates that 30 percent of companies misclassify employees as contractors. (The General Accounting Office estimates the cost of misclassification at $7 billion a year in underpayment of social security taxes, unemployment insurance, and income taxes.)

If you have hired an independent contractor, it may be time to refresh yourself on the rules of classification. Start here, on the IRS Web site. When in doubt, however, make sure to contact your lawyer.