Marvin,
I know I should edit my writing. Don't assume b/c I just want to fling words on a page or forum that I am anything remotely like a personal injry lawyer or some TV show lawyer. Unless you happen to live in Manhattan or Washington,DC, it is unlikely that you have ever met any lawyer of my kind. We laugh so hard at those fools! It is very sad that lawyer connotes some clown.
Histrionics will get you nothing if you graduate from about the top 70% of American law school. Your peers are laughing at you. The judge will laugh at you. Some lawyers attend atrocious schools and must do anything for money because they have no other schools. Look for offices and secretaries. Never meet a lawyer at Starbuck's.
I was taught the following: 1. civlity. Never screw another lawyer. Bend over backwards to comply, Don't dump thousands or hundred of thousands of documents at the last minute right before trial. Your enemy today may be your best friend tomorrwo. 2. It is not personal. 3. Confidentality and privilege. 4. Talk about problems in the office at the office or in a secure, closed room, not at the local bar or with your cousin. Never talk about details on an elevator, train, or bus. The person who looks like a bum may be an industrial spy in disguise.
I would suggest reading any famous landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision to see if lawyers are fools. The Supreme Court will not televise oral arguments. This is a bummer. The idiots you are discussing would never get in the door to listen to a case. They don't have the bus fare to DC.
There is an intense effort underway to gear up for the better lawyers to stop practice and go forth and teach basic legal principles to the public at a junior high school level for a while. Too many people have no respect for any lawyer, judge, or the law itself b/c of those fools. I cringe when I encounter them. They make me vomit. I would never do what they do.
If my first encounter with law was through those lawyers, I would die before doing law. Fortunately, because of the Witnesses and First Amendment cases, I met ACLU lawyers when I was young. Regardless of what you believe about their political view, they are the best lawyers around that normal people can meet. If there is ever an ACLU case in your town, visit the court. Listen to the prosecutor or civil lawyer representating the United Staes of America. The best ones are in NY and DC. Your opiniion of lawyers would be utterly transformed. The U.S. Attorneys are amazing, too. All you need to do is go the nearest federal courthouse and just sit for a little while.
It is not good news that the general public sees the creeps.