An Accidental Lawyer
Another Memoir
by
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Chapter 6 Law School’s Over, Now What? Suddenly, it’s 1977 and I’m a Senior. That four years sure went by fast. During my time as a law school student, Carolyn and I had welcomed a new member to the family. Ashley Elizabeth Melton was born in Birmingham on May 18, 1975. My class elected me vice-president of the senior class. I didn’t even know I was running. With this honor, I found that it carried the task of planning the graduation program and lining up a guest speaker. That involved quite a bit of work, but I got it handled. I graduated in May,1977, and was continuing my employment as a Social Worker, a job intense but rewarding. Sometime before the end of that last year, Ted talked with me about his plan to take the Bar Exam in February,1978. At that time, the Alabama Bar Exam was given twice a year, in February and July. The first one after our graduation was scheduled for July 1977. The word was that the bar exam in February was the best one to take because there were fewer candidates taking the test, for whatever that means. Ted asked me if I wanted to ride down there with him, and maybe take the test myself. I said yes, not sure why though. But, if I was going to take the bar exam, I wanted to be ready for it. Ted was using his class notes and textbooks to study. I discovered there were other resources to help me prepare, companies that specialized in teaching students how to pass the bar exam. I selected one located in Chicago called the Nord Review. Everything was handled through the U.S. mail. The Bar Exam lasts three days. The first two days consist of a series of fact situations for which you must set out the legal parameters of the case, and the applicable law, in essay form. Testing lasts eight hours each day, and these essay problems are long and complicated. The third day consists of one hundred multiple choice questions, referred to as the ‘multi-state.’ The questions are difficult, because all four choices are correct. The object is to select the answer which is the MOST correct. Not easy. Nord sent me a package of sample essay questions that had been used on previous bar exams. I would complete a response, mail it back. Nord would grade it and let me know what I hit and what I missed. Of course, these samples would not actually be on the test. Only the Bar Examiners knew what the test questions would be, and they created new ones for each exam. These were just samples of past tests. Nord then sent me several multi-state exams that had been used before. I completed them and Nord would critique my answers, telling me why I was right on some and wrong on others. The more of these I took, the better my results. I began to understand what the bar examiners were looking for in essays and multi-state questions. The Nord experience gave me confidence, I felt ready for the test. Bring it on. Ted and I drove to Montgomery the day before the test and checked into a motel next to the venue where we would be tested. As Nord had recommended, I didn’t do any studying that night. I knew they were right. If I wasn’t ready by now, one more sweaty night of study would not make a difference. Instead, I sat back and relaxed. Ted and everybody else I saw were cramming. The next morning, those of us taking the exam assembled, and the monitors gave us instructions on how the tests would be structured. The first essay question was handed out, a page and a half single-spaced. We were given one hour for each essay. All at once, I realized that even though I had never seen this set of facts before, I knew exactly how to answer it. Thank you, Nord! On the second day, it was obvious that there were fewer test takers than the day before. On the final day, the multi-state, even more people had bailed. And then it was over. Three days, eight hours each day, was mentally exhausting. Ted and I loaded into his car and headed north. We talked about the test, and while I was very upbeat about how I had done, Ted apparently wasn’t quite as confident. “If you don’t stop talking about how good you did, I’m going to pull over and put you out of the car!” I kept quiet for the rest of the trip home. Besides, I really had no reason to worry about whether I passed or not. After all, I had no plans to be a lawyer.
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About the Book
In 1963, my brother and I decided to create a rock band that could play at a skating rink on Friday night. Five years later, this band, The Rites of Spring, had a recording contract with Cameo-Parkway Records, a management contract with the Bill Lowery Talent Agency, and had appeared on the Dick Clark national TV show, ‘Where the Action Is.’ The Viet Nam war ended our musical journey, when several of the band musicians were drafted. Lead guitarist Ron Parr was trained to drive a tank, sent to the war, and six weeks later was killed in action. I joined the Air Force to avoid the draft, and spent four years in Washington, D.C. in the Intelligence Service, with a Top Secret Crypto clearance, gathering covert information. I was mustered out in December, 1972. My next job was a mechanic with the Firestone Tire Company for six months. From there hired by Johnson, Rast and Hayes as a surety and fidelity bond agent, and became a law school student in the evening, with no plan to become a lawyer. I just wanted to collect the G.I. Bill benefits of $385 a month. I soon left JR&H to become a Social Worker with the Alabama Department of Human Resources. After four years I graduated and decided to take the Bar Exam to see what it was like. I passed, and a lawyer, Leo Costello, called and offered me a job in his law firm. I said yes. So, two years in private practice, then Public Defender. Next, administrative assistant to Birmingham City Council, prosecutor, law school professor, and finally Principal Attorney in the city’s law department. And much more..
About the Author
Michael never planned to be a lawyer. He didn’t know any lawyers, had never been in a courtroom, and had never watched Perry Mason. But a series of unexpected events, with many twists and turns, led to becoming one. A lawyer.