Sunday, April 28, 2024

A Friendly Reminder

Jonathan Turley has never tried a case in his life. He’s been a law professor for his entire career. He teaches criminal procedure, but he’s never practiced it in a court of law (there IS a difference).

When I was a legal assistant (before law school) , I had a law clerk (student at UT Law) get sent to me by a lawyer he was clerking for. A partner told the lawyer to send the clerk to docket call. The lawyer sent the clerk to me to find out: a) where the courthouse was; b) what room to go to; c) when to be there; and d) what to do when he got there.

After law school I had more sympathy for him. They don’t teach you how to practice law in law school (not at UT, anyway), and they don’t teach you how to be a pastor in seminary. Been there, done that.

Turley is that law clerk. If you plunked him down in s courtroom, he wouldn’t know how to conduct even a direct examination. I doubt he’d be better than Habba. It’d be a close thing if he even knew how to get an exhibit entered (practice varies based on local rules. You can look like a real idiot in front of a jury if you can’t do that correctly.)

Besides, the man clearly doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. (This is why Steve Vladeck doesn’t comment on trials. Not his bailiwick. Man got to know his limitations.)
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