Spoke to Ben Stein about law school

[ridenrj]

Ben Stein was a guest speaker at a Whirlpool Leaders dinner on Thursday and I had a chance to speak with him after the event. He was signing copies of his new book "How to Ruin Your Life" and when I was getting my copy signed (they gave us free copies) I asked him about his attending Yale Law School - I told him that I had applied to Yale and not only did they promptly send me back a rejection letter but they had sent me an audio cassette with a note that read "listen to this". He said, "oh really, what was on the tape" - I told him it was a laugh track.

He went on to ask whether or not I had really applied to Yale and I told him that my numbers were no where close to justify losing the application fee but that I had applied to other schools.

His final comment to me was "at the end of the day, go to the very best school that you can - but if you don't get into one of the higher ranked schools, relax, it will still pay off... try to get a job teaching at the school, that is where the real money is anyways".  He congratulated me, shook my hand and then said, "who's next, anyone, anyone".

[USBlues]

did he at least laugh at your joke? seem to have any sense of humor?

[ridenrj]

He chuckled but seemed to be clueless about the competition to get into law school. Of course - I only had a couple of minutes to talk to him. The thing that impressed me was that he had 100 people in line (that's how many free copies they gave out - they taped tickets to the bottom of the chairs and if your chair had a ticket then you got a free book) and he took a couple of minutes out to talk to me. Granted, he is not a huge celebrity but the few words that he did offer were very encouraging.

His humor came out during his presentation, he opened with 3 jokes that involved quite a bit of set-up. He told one joke that I have heard before about a trial attorney who dies and ends up at the Pearly Gates at the same time as the Pope. St. Peter tells the Pope that he is going to be living in some little trailer while the trial attorney is going to be living in a huge mansion. When the TA questions why he is going to get to live in the mansion while the pope has to live in a dumpy little trailer, St. Peter responds by saying that heaven has had hundreds of popes but in 2000 years this was the first trial attorney.

The majority of his speech was about politics and the economy. The guy was ultra-conservative. He totally bashed Hollywood. He said that Alec Baldwin lives on one side of his Malibu house and Barbara Streisand lives on the other - he said that he has been encouraging them both to move for years.

[ccorsi]

Not sure if Ben really lives next to Babs or was just joking, but I am attaching a link about her hypocrisy as it pertains to the environment.

Saving the environment is OK with Babs it seems as long as it doesn't effect her.

http://www.stargeek.com/item/34334.html

If Ben really lives next door - he is no small time celeb as those houses go for big $$$.

C2

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

The trail attorney joke actually made me laugh, but why are attorneys always the but of so many funny jokes

[ccorsi]

Because most are scum bags.

C2

[ridenrj]

People see lawyers as scumbags because they do not recognize that his/her (lawyers) value system is not necessarily aligned with their clients. i.e. representing a child molester must mean that the attorney condones the molesting of children. Although this may be the case in a limited number of situations, a good attorney separates their personal beliefs from those of the client - the lay person is either unable to see the separation or the particular emotional climate of a case is so charged that someone has to take the blame for unpopular decisions.

Lawyers catch it coming and going - ridiculed for representing the unsavory type and slammed again if they are successful at defending them.

Mark Garagos is a perfect example - he goes from being a respected (for what it's worth) analyst for Fox News to being a "scumbag" for representing Scott Peterson.

In the end - negative press or attention is still press and attention - the more the better. Big Cases generally spawn more of the same and the more press and attention you get the more you get to charge for each of those billable hours.

Who would you want to be in the Michael Jackson case - Tom Sneddon (prosecutor) or Jacksons attorney Tom Mesereau? If Sneddon wins - his checks still looks the same next week. Mesereau on the other hand, even if he loses, he is going to be depositing some serious bank.

I don't know how we went from Ben Stein to scumbag attorneys but I would like to hear how others feel

[LaneSwerver]

Great story. Ben Stein is a brilliant man...not just on his old game show, either. Anyone can check out his dossier for some of the things he's done...and he is damn funny.

[F05HOPEFUL]

I agree.  Lawyers are represented as scumbags because most people cannot mentally comprehend the separation between representing a client and condoling thier behavior.  Most people are stupid.

Some lawyers of scum, but most get that rep b/c lay people are dumb!!

[Il Stupido]

I agree.  Lawyers are represented as scumbags because most people cannot mentally comprehend the separation between representing a client and condoling thier behavior.  Most people are stupid.

Some lawyers of scum, but most get that rep b/c lay people are dumb!!

Along the same line, the circumstances under which most people encounter lawyers aren't the best (a death in the family, an arrest, etc.). When it comes time to pay the bills, people don't grasp how lawyers can be so "cruel" to demand a large sum of money at such a time.