Manners Again

I went to a summer clerk seminar/lunch thing yesterday at the federal courthouse. Most of the people there were from law firms and another handful worked there every day as judicial interns. I think I was the only one from another government agency (the Federal public defender). I was also the only one from Baylor so far as I could tell. It was a little weird because everyone else seemed to be interning all at the same firm and/or from SMU.*

After a morning of overviews of the federal courts and the magistrate courts and a little mock trial, which was rather amusing, we had lunch with a panel. All the panelists were present or former clerks and I was pleased to hear from them until the organizer read their credentials - Yale or Harvard came up in all of them. Cue the slumping into my seat in recognizance of my futility. They reminded me of those people from the beginning of Legally Blonde, when everyone's talking about their master's and PhD's while Reese Witherspoon talks about her successful mixers.


After lunch, we were given tours of the courthouse departments, including probation, bankruptcy court, the clerk's office and the US Marshal. The Marshal's office was by far the most fun. And this is where my little rant on manners begins.

The US Marshal, whose name I never caught, was a really nice guy in his 40s who happily led our group around the training facility. You know those movies where they show army or police trainees running around a mock-up or a crack house or terrorist cell safe-house with night vision and plastic guns and they shoot each other? Yeah, they have one of those in the federal courthouse. It was pretty cool. He walked us all the way through, including the stress room, which isn't very big but they turn out the lights and the AC and make you feel like you're really fighting for your life. And the Deputy Marshal was just so excited about all of this, talking about how he brings in police and army reservists (he being a reservist himself) on weekends so that they can learn things that will potentially save their lives.

He obviously loved his job and loved teaching us about how the Marshal's trained for close combat. I thought it was really sweet. Meanwhile, some of the students began snickering at his enthusiasm as he led us from room to room, admittedly taking up way more time than we had been allotted.

But still, what snobs! If I one day loved my job as much as that deputy clearly did, I would thank my lucky stars. And if I ever have the luck to become a federal judge, I want someone exactly like him to be protecting me in court.

Don't be like those jerks. Be happy for someone who enjoys their job, especially a job that entails protecting you. In short, don't act like you were born in a barn and instead act like you have some civility and good manners.

*I'm really not trying to pick on people from SMU. I was considering going there myself. One of my close friends does go there. But in Dallas, SMU is the prevalent source for law students so this is just the result of statistics.