Here is a little humorous story about my first task as a lawyer.  This is a true story.

Excited about passing the February 1989 bar exam, I was anxious to get started.  I had no clients, no cases and no job.

A friend of mine, who had passed the previous bar exam offered me an opportunity to help him with one of his client's cases.  It involved enforcement of a judgment.  My friend was more in the dark how to proceed then I was.  He suggested that I go to the court clerk and explain to them that I am new and do not know what needs to be done to procure a writ of attachment.

I took his advice and went to the court.  The court was a small Municipal Court in Encino, California that is no longer in existence.

I put on my suit.  Grabbed my brand-new brief case that someone had given as a gift (although I had nothing to put in it), and proceeded to the court that was approximately a fifteen minute drive from my home.

I arrived at the court, and found the court clerk in the civil division.  I explained to her that I was a brand-new attorney, and did not have a clue what I needed to do to obtain the writ that I needed.  Hearing this, she became very sympathetic, and spent the next twenty minutes with me giving me various forms and explaining to me how to fill them out.

This was great.  I had a purpose now.  Off I went to fill out the forms on my Sears typewriter.  Half way home, while on the freeway, I realized that in my excited state, I forgot my brief case.  I left it in the clerk's office.

I got back off the freeway to go back to the court.  When I arrived, I saw that the court was completely locked shut.  Chains on the doors ECT.  A sign said "gone for lunch."  I figured, no problem, I will go home and call, and pick it up later.

I called and the recording came on stating when the court would reopen.  My plan was to go back then.  I started typing my forms.

I drove back to the court at 1:30.  When I arrived in the area, I noticed a large amount of police cars and fire engines (even a couple of helicopters).  As I got closer, I noticed a large amount of people gathered around the court and in the parking lot.  Many had on "jurors" badges, and I saw several Judges fully robed.  There were police and fireman running all over the place.  Some police were running around in what appeared to be lead suits.

I parked to check it out.  I tried to get into the building, but it was still locked but now guarded.  I then heard a police officer yell from outside in the back of the building, "IT IS A BROWN CASE," "A BROWN BRIEF CASE."

I started to wonder if they were discussing my brief case for which I had come back.  I approached an officer and explained to him that I had come back for a brown brief case.  He called the Captain who was on the scene.  He came over to talk to me and asked me to describe it.  He told me that they had x-rayed it and saw something electronic and suspicious looking, and they concluded that it was probably a bomb.  (Smart like hammers!).  I explained to him that it was my hand-held tape recorder.

He told me that they were getting ready to blow up my brief case in the back of the building in a metal container.  They had already torn off the hinges in an attempt to open it.  They brought it to me, and I opened it for everyone to see that it was harmless.  It contained a pen, a tape recorder, and the file of the case that I was working on.

The Captain then asked me for my bar card.  I told him I had not received one yet.  I gave him my drivers license.  He informed me that he was going to discuss with the City attorney the possibility of suing me for the Cities expenses of the event.  I explained to him that I might be suing the City for damaging my brief case.  I noticed that many officers and firemen in the area were in states of uncontrollable laughter.

I was then released "O.R."  I went back to finish my project thinking to myself, boy, so this is what it is like to be a lawyer, this is great.

Of course, I never heard from the City attorney's office, and I was able to put my brief case back together.  Therefore, I did not sue the City.

Thinking back, would not this be a good Bar examination question? Back to Steve Brodie's Home Page