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

[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.