Biggles Distracts a Law Student

[ermingarden]

It's happened – I've jumped aboard the Biggles bandwagon! After hearing about these books for a while from what felt like half the people I know on DW, I finally took a peek at rachelmanija's Fic in a Box stories canon-blind on the 4th, and immediately said: "Oh help, I took a look at your Biggles fics and I think I’m going to have to read these books now!" She very kindly advised me to start with Biggles Flies East.

That was the afternoon of December 4. As of the afternoon of December 7, I have read not only Biggles Flies East but also Biggles Buries a Hatchet, Biggles – Foreign Legionnaire, Biggles Follows On, Biggles & Co., Biggles – Secret Agent, and Biggles Looks Back. That's an average of one Biggles book every ten hours – leaving aside the fact that I've also been tearing through the Biggles fics on AO3. All this during a time period when I need to be studying for final exams (my first exam is on Monday) and, theoretically, sleeping.

I never read Biggles as a kid, but they're exactly the sort of books I would have loved at a certain age, and I like them a great deal even now. There's a lot of unexpected depth. My favorite so far has to be Biggles & Co. – it has a great kind of rollicking humor in parts, without veering over into farce. I love the scene where [minor spoilers]

Biggles warns Ginger about the German guard by singing to him – it's both hilarious and extremely clever.

Anyway, back to studying – but consider me Team Biggles!

Comments

[troisoiseaux]

That's an average of one Biggles book every ten hours – leaving aside the fact that I've also been tearing through the Biggles fics on AO3.

That is impressive!

(Good luck on your exams! Just one more semester to go after this!!)

[ermingarden]

Thank you! We're almost done...

[bunn]

Ah, I loved Biggles when I was a kid. No idea what happened to all my Dad's Biggles books that I too tore through with fascination. I remember liking the WWI books best, though ISTR they are heart-wringing in their treatment of the death rates.

[ermingarden]

They really are, yeah!

[scioscribe]

Yes! I'm so delighted to see the Biggles love catching on and spreading even further. The books can be so irresistibly readable and the fandom is lovely.

[ermingarden]

Everyone's amazing fics are really blowing me away!

[sheron]

Welcome to the fandom! (Here by way of friend circle) This is exactly the journey I completed over the course of 3 days when I read nothing but Biggles because I accidentally started Biggles Flies East thinking I could just read that book and write 100 words for Sholio for a flash exchange. Oops! :D

Sleeping? I suppose if you must.

(I love Biggles & Co so much!)

[ermingarden]

Thank you! And yes, I don't know if one really can stop after a single book!

[independence1776]

I saw them mentioned somewhere and bookmarked the link. I'll take your endorsement and move them up my to-read list!

[ermingarden]

I would not call them uniformly good, and they are in many ways decidedly products of their times, but they are certainly fun!

[atamascolily]

That's an average of one Biggles book every ten hours

I hear this in the scientist's voice from Pacific Rim, when they're explaining the exponential growth in kaiju attacks, lol. Glad you're having fun with this!

[ermingarden]

*ahem*

This line represents Biggles per hour. You will see that it has a roughly inverse relationship with both study hours per day and sleep hours per night....

[rachelmanija]

I am so delighted and thrilled about this! Welcome to Team Biggles!

Enjoy Biggles, good luck on your finals, and FYI I am writing a sequel to "Biggles in the Dark" picking up immediately after it left off. It's 7K already. Help.

[ermingarden]

Thank you (I think?) for pulling me in!

Thank you very much! And oh. my. gosh. That will certainly give me something to look forward to!!

[rachelmanija]

Study for your exams!

But if/when you need a break... Von Stalhein in the Light.

[ermingarden]

You are getting me through preparing for Professional Responsibility! I absolutely adore it. <3

[rachelmanija]

Aww, that's great to hear!

Is Professional Responsibility what it sounds like? Maintaining records, keeping confidentiality, that sort of thing?

[ermingarden]

That's part of it! There's also a lot about resolving conflicts of interest between current (or former, or prospective) clients, and what to do if your client perjures themself; also things like "Do not send personally insulting emails to opposing counsel!", which unfortunately seems not to go without saying.

A decent amount of it is actually irrelevant to me unless I end up moving to private practice later, because as things stand, starting next September I will have exactly one client, and that client is the People of the State of New York! But definitely still important to know.

[rachelmanija]

WTFFFFF!!!!!

[ermingarden]

For anyone else skimming the comments: An attorney representing the mother in a family law case sent the following email to the attorney for the father (redacted in the opinion):

I have a client who is a drug dealer on . . . Street down town [sic]. He informed me that your daughter, [redacted] was detained for buying cocaine and heroine [sic]. She is, or was, a teenager, right? This happened at night in a known high crime/drug area, where alos [sic] many shootings take place. Lucky for her and the two other teens, they weren't charged. Does this make you and [redacted] bad parents? This incident is far worse than the allegations your client is making. I just thought it was ironic. You claim that this case is so serious and complicated. There is nothing more complicated and serious than having a child grow up in a high class white family with parents who are highly educated and financially successful and their child turning out buying drugs from a crack head at night on or near . . . Street. Think about it. Am I right?

Interestingly, although many jurisdictions (such as South Carolina, where this case is from) have professional conduct rules that include a duty of civility toward opposing counsel, the Model Rules of Professional Conduct promulgated by the American Bar Association do not include a duty of civility as such. (The Model Rules don't themselves have force in any jurisdiction, but they are influential, and most states have adopted them in whole or with modifications.) The Model Rules include a provision that the duty to advocate zealously for a client's interests never compels one to behave uncivilly, and certainly one can argue that this sort of behavior undermines one's practical effectiveness as an advocate and thus violates other duties owed to the client, but there's no freestanding duty of civility.

[chestnut_pod]

Team Biggles!!

(That is an incredible rate -- good luck on your exams!)

[ermingarden]

Thank you!! (I shall need it.)

[elwendell]

I seem to remember watching a Biggles movie some years ago. It may be worth you looking up. I have never read any of the books, but remember the movie being OK.

[ermingarden]

Thanks! I'm usually a book person much more than a movie person, but maybe I'll check it out!

[philomytha]

It's a highly contagious fandom! And the books do go down easy when everything else is stressful, I find - best of luck with your exams!

[ermingarden]

Thank you! It absolutely is...and they not only go down easy, they give rise to plot bunnies very rapidly as well!