Week 5 EOC: Lawyers Looking For Fame

In today’s world many people are out for fame and fortune, included in this bunch of individuals are the lawyers who are taking cases that they think will land them some face time in front of the nine justices of the Supreme Court. Many of these new breed of lawyers are finding cases that they think will give them the chance of a lifetime. Some might ask why it is a bad thing to want to present a case in front of the Supreme Court. To that I would say it isn’t a bad thing if done for the right reasons. However this was a statement in a New York Times article on this subject “There’s one and only one reason they’re interested,” Barry A. Schwartz, a criminal defense lawyer in Denver, said of many of the dozen or so lawyers who called him after he had won an appeals court decision on an issue that was likely to reach the Supreme Court. “It’s not because they love your client or believe in the legal principle your case presents. They want to get the case into the Supreme Court.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/us/10lawyers.html?_r=1)
Barry may be on to something with more and more lawyers wanting to try cases in the Supreme Court hoping to bring in bigger clients to their firms. In fact, in another article I found relating to this subject “David Mills, 33, was on the partner track at Jones Day but decided to set up a solo practice focused on federal appeals cases. Only two years into operating The Mills Law Office, he's about to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.” (http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2010/10/young_cleveland_lawyer_to_argu.html) Looking over the article you can make your own opinions as to whether David took on the case for the right or wrong reasons. You have to wonder though was it because he believed in her case or was it because he believed that her case could get him in front of the Supreme Court justices to argue on her behalf? Which in the end it did just that.
At the Stanford law school one can partake in a clinic designed for the purpose of getting one’s self ready to be one of these so called elite lawyers. “Stanford’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic—the first of its kind at any law school—gives students the opportunity to explore a realm few lawyers experience in their careers: the Supreme Court of the United State.” (http://www.law.stanford.edu/program/clinics/supremecourtlitigation/) This just goes to show you where the practice of law may be headed if you and a student looking for fortune and fame. I do not think that all those who want to argue before the supreme court do it solely for the purpose of money of fame, but after looking through a few articles it seems that there are a few that want to do it for that sole purpose whether they admit to it or not.