Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Newbee…
B”H I’ve made a good living over the years. Professionally I handle the affairs of 5 generations of one family. Anything from their trusts, contracts, property transactions or the occasional aynekele who gets into trouble.
I’m paid a salary to do this and be on call for their needs all through the year. My arrangement does not allow me to take any other paid legal work, but does permit me to take Pro Bono Juvenile work. Not only do I find it rewarding, but my clients feel it is part of their efforts at Tikkun Olam.
And as both and adoptive parent and a licensed foster parent I know how badly children need qualified representation while they go through the court system, not the fleeting attention of a court appointed lawyer being paid $25 hr, who meets the child for the first time in court.
Gnug, I’ll get off my soapbox
Newbee…
FYI…
I am semi-retired, my income practice does not involve litigation. I only appear in court for Pro Bono cases, generally representing youth in the Juvenile Court or Probate (equivalent of NY Surrogate’s) Court System. It doesn’t cost these clients one cent for me to represent them or appeal rulings that are incorrect.
BTW, I understood the poster’s use of the word ‘listen’ to me ‘follow’ but allowed for the true meaning of the English word as to mean hear the expression, not adhere to the advice/instructions. We learn in law school to never ask a question to which we don’t already know the answer. So if you know from experience how your Rav will answer and feel it will be an answer you should not follow, don’t ask.
DaasYochid….
Yes, you should listen, that’s only polite. BUT if you know it’s wrong you don’t do it. The fact that your local Rav says something is permitted, isn’t the same as saying it is required.
I’m a lawyer, often I hear a judge make a ruling from the bench that I know is wrong. That’s what appeals courts are for.
Gamanit hit the nail on the head.
If I send a gift, hand it to a person at a simcha in charge of receiving the gifts, etc. I am not sure the intended recipient received it unless I receive a thank you card or other acknowledgement. I’m talking about a physical gift; not a check which clears the bank and appears on my statement.
If I have not rec’d a thank you card (or phone call, email, etc.)90 days after the simcha I contact the intended recipient and ask if the item was received or lost.
My children have been raised that a gift may not be used until a thank you note has been written, envelope addressed, stamped and placed in the outgoing mail.
33?
You’re just a pisher. I have neckties older than you.
Talk to me when you marry off your eldest child or become a zaidy for the first time
anywhere between 7 and 18 times per week on non-religion restricted days.
We have a private swimming pool and hot tub and I shower before swimming or using the hot tub and afterwards to remove the chlorine or other chemicals.
the use of the pool and hot tub are for therapeutic reasons, not bitul zman
I have my shvigger as my legal secretary and office manager. She keeps everybody in line.
I was doing my own laundry before I married, why should I change? Our youngest is 18, so everyone in the family does their own laundry.
I do the bed linens and wife does the table linens. We all have our own bathrooms, so we all do our own towels.
Guest linen is usually done by the person who invited the guest(s) usually one of our daughters.
I cook, and youngest daughter does the dishes (I do the heavy pots) Mrs. shouldn’t have to damage her nails doing dishes (and at her age she can have long natural nails).
The cleaning lady cleans and the gardener takes care of the yard. I vacuum and take care of pool chemicals, as well as maintain the hot tub.
Any frum teen who lives in a family with 6 or more kids, or had spent Yuntif bunking in with 24+ assorted relatives and guest, or gone to a school Shabbaton has already gained the ‘sociable’ skills that 4-7 weeks in a camp bunk bring.
The comment is a false front. What is really means is the teen’s parents can’t (or won’t) afford to send the teen to sleep-a-way camp.
BTW>>>My parents met at Sleep-a-way camp back in 1932. My wife and I met at Sleep-a-way camp in 1970. My niece and her husband met at sleep-a-way camp in 1990. All of us were staff, not campers at the time.
@catch yourself
Follow the link in my firs reply for all states information.
Connecticut exempts all camp employees.
NY specifically exempts counselors, BUT the exemption paragraph includes both clergy and ‘various employees of religious and charitable institutions’
Based on that verbiage a non-profit or religious institution operated camp could probably pay less than minimum wage to almost all seasonal employees. Whereas a day camp operated by a for profit hotel or bungalow colony would have to pay minimum wage to non counselors.
Disclaimer: I am not giving legal advice. I am merely citing the law as listed in the earlier link compiled by the American Camping Association. I attended and graduated law school in the State of Massachusetts and passed the Connecticut Bar. I do not practice in NY State.
@Joseph………..
Unfortunately you do not know the law and make untrue comparisons.
Waiters are subject to minimum wage laws, however in many states (including NY and CT) tipped servers are allowed to be paid a percentage of the state minimum wage by their employer. The servers are required to report their tips to the employer each shift. In any week where the wage paid by the employer and tips received don’t add up to the full minimum wage the employer MUST pay the difference.
For example, there is heavy rain for 4 of the 5 days the server works and business is so slow that the reduced percentage wage paid by the employer and tips received/reported only equal $6.50/hr. The employer must pay the difference to bring the paycheck to full minimum wage.
Counselors are exempt from minimum wage law by statute, they do not get a reduced minimum wage.
Camp Counselors in NY and Connecticut are generally not covered by the minimum wage laws. Laws do vary by state. In Connecticut, counselors at camps that operate less than 6 months per year are not considered employees and are not covered by the law.
NY Law specifically exempts camp counselors.
For laws from assorted states see: http://www.acacamps.org/sites/default/files/images/publicpolicy/regulations/print.pdf
I have both, my wife has both and our children have names that work well in both languages (example David and Tamara).
We live out of town. My wife and I used our Hebrew names in the home, in Day school, Yeshiva and Seminary, BUT we used English names in University, Law School and our professional practice.
The goyim out of town may want Jewish lawyers, but they don’t want them with names sounding as if they just came from the shtetl.
Things have changed since I attended an Ivy League University 45 years ago, but there are times my children are glad we have a non-ethnic last name.
BTW>>>Yiddish names or Jewish names pronounced the Yiddish way were never a consideration. This 5th generation American is of German Jewish stock. Mrs. CT Lawyer is first generation American born of German and Austrian born parents who made it to Palestine in the early 30s. Many a Yeshiva menahel had to be instructed that our David’s name was pronounced DaVeed, not Duvid. The language preferences in our home is Hebrew, followed by German (to speak to in-laws) and then English. Because of fluency in Hebrew and German, we all understand most Yiddish, but do not speak it.
None of the perpetrators of the atrocities you mention are still alive and can benefit from your buying English, Spanish or Italian products.
But there are still Germans alive who participated in the Nazi regime and army who’ll not be getting our money. They stole every pfennig my MIL had…should she go buy a Leica camera and give them more? I don’t think so.
I seldom wear a black hat. My great grandfather made hats, my father and grandfather were in the men’s clothing business. IO am an attorney who practices in the general public.
That said, I wear hats, but they match the suit I’m wearing, generally charcoal gray or midnight blue. Years ago, a wise old attorney (not Jewish) here in Connecticut told me. “The judge wears a black robe, you are not the judge and should wear a different color out of respect.”
So I wear Black for Shabbos and Yuntif when my life is revolved around Yidden.
Yes,
My MIL was born in Leipsig. She lost her family and belongings in the Shoah. After WWII the East Germans wouldn’t pay reparations as the West did.
When the Berlin Wall fell and Germany reunified, she pressed her claims for land, buildings, money, etc. The new Unified Germany said :we need to spend our money bring former East Germans up to the standard of living we enjoy in the Former West Germany. Tough Luck.
We don’t fly German owned airlines. We don’t buy German cameras or electronics or anything else marked made in Germany. If it was so important to use the funds she should have received in reparations to raise the standard of living in Germany, we won’t contribute to it.
popa_bar_abba
This is not the name of my niece, but I would be proud to have such an accomplished woman in the family.
@Popa-bar=abba
Only one member of my family teaches at at Harvard, my neice (by marriage) whose father and grandfather were Appellate Court Judges. It is not unusual that she would have married into a family of lawyers and that her FIL, MY BIL teaches at another Massachusetts Law School.
People often go into the family trade, be it shmattes, diamonds, Rabbinics, medicine or law. They’ve grown up listening t the dining table stories, seeing and hearing the experiences of the parents and helping out in the office from the time they can run a copy machine or file alphabetically.
Furthermore, my post is to show that NY is NOT the exclusive home to religious Jews in America. My family moved on from NY more than 100 years ago. My BIL’s family arrived in New England in the early 1880s after the first pogroms in Russia.
#1–I didn’t go to Cornell, I went to Pennsylvania, and it wasn’t the 80s
My niece is currently a Professor of Law at Harvard. She teaches Criminal Law. Her first year students have midterms.
My BIL teaches Property and Real Estate Law at another Massachusetts Law School. Property Law has weekly quizzes and a midterm. Real Estate Law has a midterm.
Legal Writing and Motions courses often have homework assignments that must be handed in. Courses in Constitutional Law and Torts generally do not.
I wouldn’t pity my students for the workload. I also provide them free tutoring for the Bar Exam. Last year, my students taking the CT and Mass Bar Exams had a 94% pass Rate on the first try, NY was 93%.
Your observation about getting a Government job being easier from a T14 school may be true in states such as NY, BUT in other states that have few Law Schools (Connecticut has only 3, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine each have one) a candidate will have a better chance getting a state or local government job if they graduated from a local Law School.
Many law schools focus on teaching the NBE tested major subjects and local state law. They may teach none of the law that is particular to another state.
Each year I give a CT Bar Review Class for Massachusetts Law School Grads who plan to take the CT Bar Exam. Almost no one takes Administrative Law during law school in Massachusetts, but CT tests it. There is an Admin Law Essay about 3 out of time times the Bar Exam is given. Similarly, Columbia Law will not teach CT Constitutional Law which is also tested.
I point all this out to show that there are no one-size fits all answers. Each state’s Bar Exam requirements are different. For example, many students fret about the MPRE exam that many states require (with varying passing scores). In Connecticut, a law grad need not take the MPRE if he/she passed a law school Ethics course with a minimum of a ‘B’ within 4 years of taking the Bar Exam, If not the MPRE with a minimum grade of 80 is required.
Lastly, For those who wish to initially practice in CT, MA, or VT and do not want to take the LSAT and spend $150K on their Law Education, There is a Non-ABA approved Law School-Massachusetts School of Law, in Andover, MA which does not require the LSAT, costs about half and whose graduates can take the listed Bar Exams. After practicing a certain number of years they are also eligible to take many other state’s exams including NY.
Since Wisey has resurrected this year old post, let me offer some comments (I am a Lawyer, I practice in CT, and I teach at Law School (as an adjunct in Juvenile and Family Law).
Not all Law Schools are the same, and if you are not looking to join a major downtown firm and work 2000 plus hours the first few years, it doesn’t make much difference where you go tgo Law School. Only that you pass the Bar Exam and probably use connections to get interviews and a starter job.
There has been much false information posted above. Some professors teaching certain courses do give homework in Law School. A Law student should figure to spend 3 hours in outside study or work for every class hour. Thus a fifteen credit semester means 15 hours per week in class and 45 hours additional preparation.
It is also false that there are NO tests except for semester finals. I attended an Ivy League Law School and Property, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law and Ethics all had weekly tests as well as finals. Except for senior level courses all my law classes had midterm exams.
The classes I teach have midterm, final and 3 major research projects each semester.
Back to the BTL or Conventional degree question. If you are taking the Bar Exam in NY or Maryland, the BTL is not so unusual.
REMEMBER: When making application to take the Bar Exam the candidate must supply his/her College Transcripts as well as Law School Transcript. Out of town a BTL may not be recognized as a legitimate degree. Last year the Bar Committee contacted me to find out what it was. In the specific applicant’s case it really wasn’t equivalent to a 4 year BS or BA and he was not permitted to take the Bar Exam…and lost his $750 application fee.
Before taking any of these comments seriously, make some calls to the Law Schools you’d like to attend and the Bar Examining Committee in the State in which you’d like to practice. Then make your decision.
Since the girls use my last name and the fact they had a different birth father is unknown in our community and we don’t know if their late father had remarried or had children before he died, it’s a heads up for the Schadchan if the potential bochur has their birth father’s last name possible relationship needs to be checked out.
It is important to know how long ago the parents divorced, how old was the child, are parents now married to someone else, was the child raised in shared or sole custody and was/is there contact with the divorced parent and his/her family?
My current wife and I both are divorced from our first spouses.
I had no children with wife number one. She asked for a divorce after two years of marriage to return to the country of her birth to care for an ill parent. I could not get a work visa for that country and we could not get visas to mover her parents here.
My wife was divorced by her first husband after 4 years of marriage. Her ex decided he wanted to see the world and shouldn’t have married right out of Yeshiva. My wife got sole custody of their one and three year old girls. They never saw the father again (in fact he died a few years after the divorce in a car accident) his parents and sibling are long dead as well. The girls had no contact with paternal relatives.
I married her before the girls were two and five and now fifteen years later the girls know no other parents, but our happy nuclear family. There are no 1/2 siblings. They have no real memory of a father other than myself and there is no reason that these early divorces should affect a shidduch. I adopted the girls legally before they turned 6 and they have my last name.
It is not common knowledge in our community that my wife and I are previously divorced, BUT I disclose it to the shadchan for purposes of avoiding mamzeros issues only.
Know all the details before you make a blanket statement about disqaulifying children of a divorce from marriage consideration.
M