Lawyers!

The Nevada Statute -- Heard in Court -- Court Reporting -- Woe unto you

In reality, Heaven isn't above Hell.
Heaven and Hell share the same plane and are separated only by a long wooden fence.

One day, the Devil decides to throw this huge bash. Lots of bands perform with some of the biggest names, and the Damned start having a heck of a party. Toward the end of festivities, a big fireball fight breaks out and, sure enough, one lands on the fence and burns it down.

God complains to the Devil and insists that the Devil rebuild the fence. The Devil says, "Sure, no problem. I've got all the union leaders over here as well as most of the building contractors." So, the fence is rebuilt, but it's three feet to one side such that Hell now has taken over three feet of Heaven.

God is upset. "If you don't move that fence back," says God, "I'm gonna sue you."

"Yeah, right," says the Devil. "Where are you gonna get a lawyer?"

An engineer, a physicist, and a lawyer were being interviewed for a position as chief executive officer of a large corporation. The engineer was interviewed first, and was asked a long list of questions, ending with "How much is two plus two?" The engineer excused himself, and made a series of measurements and calculations before returning to the board room and announcing, "Four." The physicist was next interviewed, and was asked the same questions. Before answering the last question, he excused himself, made for the library, and did a great deal of research. After a consultation with the United States Bureau of Standards and many calculations, he also announced "Four." The lawyer was interviewed last, and was asked the same questions. At the end of his interview, before answering the last question, he drew all the shades in the room, looked outside the door to see if anyone was there, checked the telephone for listening devices, and asked "How much do you want it to be?"

Following a distinguished legal career, a man arrived at the Gates of Heaven, accompanied by the Pope, who had the misfortune to expire on the same day. The Pope was greeted first by St. Peter, who escorted him to his quarters. The room was somewhat shabby and small, similar to that found in a low-grade Motel 6-type establishment. The lawyer was then taken to his room, which was a palatial suite including a private swimming pool, a garden, and a terrace overlooking the Gates. The attorney was somewhat taken aback, and told St. Peter, "I'm really quite surprised at these rooms, seeing as how the Pope was given such small accommodations." St. Peter replied, "We have over a hundred Popes here, and we're really very bored with them. We've never had a lawyer."

Q:   What do you call 535 lawyers at the bottom of the Potomac?
A:   A good start!

Q:   Do you know how to save five drowning lawyers?
A:   No.
R:   Good! 

Q:   Why don't snakes bite attorneys? 
A:   Professional courtesy. 

Q:   Why do male attorneys usually wear tight shirt collars and
     ties?
A:   It keeps their foreskins from creeping up and covering
     their faces.   

Q:   How can you tell that an attorney is about to lie?
A:   His lips begin to move.  

Q:   How can you tell the difference between an attorney lying dead
     in the road and a coyote lying dead in the road?
A:   With the coyote, you usually see skid marks. 

Q:   How many lawyers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A:   How many can you afford?

An attorney passed on and found himself in Heaven, but not at all happy with his accommodations. He complained to St. Peter, who told him that his only recourse was to appeal his assignment. The attorney immediately advised that he intended to appeal, but was then told that he would be waiting at least three years before his appeal could be heard. The attorney protested that a three-year wait was unconscionable, but his words fell on deaf ears. The lawyer was then approached by the devil, who told him that he would be able to arrange an appeal to be heard in a few days, if the attorney was willing to change venue to Hell. When the attorney asked why appeals could be heard so much sooner in Hell, he was told, "We have all of the judges."

As Mr. Smith was on his death bed, he attempted to formulate a plan that would allow him to take at least some of his considerable wealth with him. He called for the three men he trusted most - his lawyer, his doctor, and his clergyman. He told them, "I'm going to give you each $30,000 in cash before I die. At my funeral, I want you to place the money in my coffin so that I can try to take it with me." All three agreed to do this and were given the money. At the funeral, each approached the coffin in turn and placed an envelope inside. While riding in the limousine to the cemetery, the clergyman said "I have to confess something to you fellows. Brother Smith was a good churchman all his life, and I know he would have wanted me to do this. The church needed a new baptistery very badly, and I took $10,000 of the money he gave me and bought one. I only put $20,000 in the coffin." The physician then said, "Well, since we're confiding in one another, I might as well tell you that I didn't put the full $30,000 in the coffin either. Smith had a disease that could have been diagnosed sooner if I had this very new machine, but the machine cost $20,000 and I couldn't afford it then. I used $20,000 of the money to buy the machine so that I might be able to save another patient. I know that Smith would have wanted me to do that." The lawyer then said, "I'm ashamed of both of you. When I put my envelope into that coffin, it held my personal check for the full $30,000."

The National Institutes of Health have announced that they will no longer be using rats for medical experimentation. In their place, they will use attorneys. They have given three reasons for this decision: 1. There are now more attorneys than there are rats. 2. The medical researchers don't become as emotionally attached to the attorneys as they did to the rats. 3. No matter how hard you try, there are some things that rats won't do.

A man woke up in a hospital bed and called for his doctor. He asked "Give it to me straight. How long have I got?" The physician replied that he doubted that his patient would survive the night. The man then said "Call for my lawyer." When the lawyer arrived, the man asked for his physician to stand on one side of the bed, while the lawyer stood on the other. The man then laid back and closed his eyes. When he remained silent for several minutes, the physician asked what he had in mind. The man replied "Jesus died with a thief on either side, and I thought I'd check out the same way."

 

Q:   What do you call 400 lawyers at the bottom of the Pacific
     Ocean?
A:   A great place to start.  

Q:   What's the difference between a porcupine and two lawyers in
     a Porsche?
A:   The porcupine has the pricks on the outside.  

Q:   Do you know why being a lawyer is the opposite of having sex?
A:   Because it's all bad and some is worse.

A doctor, an architect, and an attorney were dining at the country club one day, and the conversation turned to the subject of their respective dogs, which were apparently quite extraordinary. A wager was placed on who had the most intelligent dog. The physician offered to show his dog first, and called to the parking lot, "Hippocrates, come!" Hippocrates ran in, and was told by the doctor to do his stuff. Hippocrates ran to the golf course and dug for a while, producing a number of bones. He dragged the bones into the country club, and assembled them into a complete, fully articulated human skeleton. The physician patted Hippocrates on the head, and gave him a cookie for his efforts. The architect was only marginally impressed, and called for his dog, "Sliderule, come!" Sliderule ran in, and was told to do his stuff. The dog immediately chewed the skeleton to rubble, but reassembled the fragments into a scale model of the Taj Mahal. The architect patted his dog and gave him a cookie. The attorney watched the other two dogs, and called "Bullshit, come!" Bullshit entered and was told to do his stuff. Bullshit immediately sodomized the other two dogs, stole their cookies, auctioned the Taj Mahal replica to the other club members for his fee, and went outside to play golf.

Good News: A busload of lawyers ran off a cliff.  The bus was
           destroyed and there were no survivors.
Bad News:  There were three empty seats.  

Q:   What do you have when you bury six lawyers up to their necks
     in sand?
A:   Not enough sand. 

Q:   What's black and brown and looks good on a lawyer? 
A:   A doberman pinscher

When a person assists a criminal in breaking the law before the criminal gets arrested, we call him an accomplice. When a person assists a criminal in breaking the law after the criminal gets arrested, we call him a defense lawyer.

A prominent young attorney was on his way to court to begin arguments on a complex lawsuit when he suddenly found himself at the Gates of Heaven. St. Peter started to escort him inside, when he began to protest that his untimely death had to be some sort of mistake. "I'm much too young to die! I'm only 35!" St. Peter agreed that 35 did seem to be a bit young to be entering the pearly gates, and agreed to check on his case. When St. Peter returned, he told the attorney, "I'm afraid that the mistake must be yours, my son. We verified your age on the basis of the number of hours you've billed to your clients, and you're at least 108."

A snake and a rabbit were racing along a pair of intersecting forest pathways one day, when they collided at the point where the pathways meet. They immediately began to argue with one another as to who was at fault for the mishap. When the snake remarked that he had been blind since birth, and thus should be given additional leeway, the rabbit said that he, too, had been blind since birth. The two animals then forgot about the collision and began commiserating concerning the problems of being blind. The snake said that his greatest regret was the loss of his identity. He had never been able to see his reflection in water, and for that reason did not know exactly what he looked like, or even what he was. The rabbit declared that he had the same problem. Seeing a way that they could help each other, the rabbit proposed that one feel the other from head to toe, and then try to describe what the other animal was. The snake agreed, and started by winding himself around the rabbit. After a few moments, he announced, "You've got very soft, fuzzy fur, long ears, big rear feet, and a little fuzzy ball for a tail. I think that you must be a bunny rabbit!" The rabbit was much relieved to find his identity, and proceeded to return the favor to the snake. After feeling about the snake's body for a few minutes, he asserted, "Well, you're scaly, you're slimy, you've got beady little eyes, you squirm and slither all the time, and you've got a forked tongue. I think you're a lawyer!"

A man went into the Chamber of Commerce of a small town, obviously desperate. He asked the man at the counter, "Is there a criminal attorney in town?" The man replied, "Yes - but we can't prove it yet."

Q: How do you get an attorney out of a tree?
A: Cut the rope.

A man walked into a curio shop and began to browse. He was attracted to a brass rat on a shelf behind the counter. He asked the shopkeeper for a price, and was told to make an offer. Presently they agreed on a price, and the brass rat changed hands. The shopkeeper warned the customer as he took the money, "This sale is final. If you leave the shop with the brass rat, I won't take it back under any circumstances." The customer agreed and left with the rat. As he walked home, he noticed that a live rat came scurrying out of an alley and began to follow him. Soon there were more, all following him and milling bout his feet. The man began to run, but the rats kept up, and more joined the procession. After a few minutes, thousands of rats were chasing after the man. The man ran frantically for the river, and threw the brass rat into the water. The live rats followed the brass rat, and soon all had drowned. The man returned to the curio shop, and on seeing him enter, the shopkeeper shouted, "I told you, the sale was final! You cannot return the brass rat!" The customer replied, "That's no problem. I just wondered if you had a brass lawyer in stock."

A police chief, a fire chief, and a city attorney were traveling together by car to a municipal management conference in a distant city. Their car broke down in a rural area, and they were forced to seek shelter for the night at a nearby farmhouse. The farmer welcomed them in, but cautioned them that there were only two spare beds, and that one of them would have to sleep in the barn with the farm animals. After a short conference, the police chief agreed to take the barn. Shortly after retiring, a knock was heard on the door of the farmhouse. The party inside answered to find the police chief standing there, complaining that he could not sleep. There were pigs in the barn, he said, and he was reminded of the days when everyone called him a pig. The fire chief then volunteered to exchange with the police chief. A short time later, another knock was heard at the door. The fire chief complained that the cows in the barn reminded him of Mrs. O'Leary's cow that started the Chicago fire, and that every time he started to go to sleep, he started to have a fireman's worst nightmare, that of burning to death. The city attorney, in desperation for sleep, then agreed to sleep in the barn. This seemed like a good idea until a few minutes later, when another knock was heard at the door. When the occupants answered the door, there stood the very indignant cows and pigs.

A mother and son were walking through a cemetery, and passed by a headstone inscribed "Here lies a good lawyer and an honest man." The little boy read the headstone, looked up at his mother, and asked "Mommy, why did they bury two men there?"

Q: Why are lawyers buried in deeper graves than other folks?
A: Deep down, they're much nicer people.

A woman went to her doctor for advice. She told the physician that her husband had developed a penchant for anal sex, and she was not sure that it was such a good idea. The doctor asked, "Do you enjoy it?" She said that she did. He asked, "Does it hurt you?" She said that it didn't. The doctor then told her, "Well, then, there's no reason that you shouldn't practice anal sex, if that's what you like, so long as you take care not to get pregnant." The woman was mystified. She asked "You can get pregnant from anal sex?" The doctor replied, "Of course. Where do you think attorneys come from?"

An attorney was sitting in his office late one night, when Satan appeared before him. The Devil told the lawyer, "I have a proposition for you. You can win every case you try, for the rest of your life. Your clients will adore you, your colleagues will stand in awe of you, and you will make embarrassing sums of money. All I want in exchange is your soul, your wife's soul, your children's souls, the souls of your parents, grandparents, and parents-in-law, and the souls of all your friends and law partners." The lawyer thought about this for a moment, then asked, "So, what's the catch?" It was so cold last week that I saw several attorneys with their hands in their own pockets.

Q: What's the difference between female prosecutors and terrorists?
A: You can negotiate with terrorists.

A woman wrote to Dear Abby: I have a dilemma. I am about to get married, but I haven't been totally honest with my fiance'. My mother is a well-known madam, my father is a convict, and my brother is a lawyer. My sister sells heroin to the children at the school down the street. She started doing that after my father got sent to prison for molesting her. I also have a problem - I'm wanted in three states for embezzlement. Taking all that into consideration, this is my question: how do I tell my fiance' about my brother the lawyer?

A hitchhiker is standing on the roadside near the law school with his thumb out. A motorist stops, and asks, "Are you a lawyer?" He tells him that he is not. The motorist drives off. A second motorist stops and asks, "Are you a lawyer?" He again replies that he is not. The motorist drives off. A third motorist, this time a striking, voluptuous blonde, stops, and asks, "Are you a lawyer?" The hitchhiker says that he is. The girl tells him to get in, and off they go. After a few minutes of admiring the driver, the hitchhiker exclaims, "This is really something. I've only been a lawyer for five minutes, and already I'm thinking about screwing somebody!"

A man asked a lawyer his fee, and was told it was $50.00 for three questions. "Isn't that awfully steep?" he asked. "Yes," the lawyer replied, "and what was your third question?"

Q: Why does California have the most lawyers, and New Jersey the most toxic waste dumps?
A: New Jersey got first pick.

It seemed that the son of a Spanish lawyer graduated from college and was considering the future. He went to his father, who had a very large office, and asked if he might be given a desk in the corner where he could observe his father's activities. He could be introduced to his father's clients as a clerk. This way, he could decide on whether or not to become a lawyer. His father thought this to be a splendid idea, and this arrangement was set up immediately. On his son's first day at work, the first client in the morning was a rough-hewn man with calloused hands, in workman's attire, who began the conversation as follows:

"Mr. Lawyer, I work for some people named Gonzales who have a ranch on the east side of town. For many years I have tended their crops and animals, including some cows. I have raised, the cows, tended them, fed them, and it has always been my understanding and belief that I was the owner of the cows. Mr. Gonzales died and his son has inherited the farm, and he believes that since the cows were raised on his ranch and fed on his hay, the cows are his. In short, we have a dispute as to the ownership of the cows."

The lawyer said, "I have heard enough. I will take your case. DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE COWS!"

After the tenant farmer left, the next client came in, a young, well-dressed man, clearly a member of the landed class. "My name is Gonzales. I own a farm on the east side of the town," he said. "For many years, a tenant farmer has worked for my family tending the crops and animals, including some cows. The cows have been raised on my land and fed on my hay, and I believe that they belong to me, but the tenant farmer believes that since he raised them and cared for them, they are his. In short, we have a dispute over ownership of the cows."

"I heard enough. I'll take your case. DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE COWS!"

After the client left, the son came over to his father with a look of concern. "My father, I know nothing of the law, but it seems to me that we have a serious problem regarding these cows."

"DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE COWS!" said the lawyer. "The cows will be ours!"

Q: Why don't lawyers go to the beach?
A: Cats keep trying to bury them.

Upon seeing an elderly lady for the drafting of her will, the attorney charged her $100.. She gave him a $100 bill, not noticing that it was stuck to another $100 bill. On seeing the two bills stuck together, the ethical question came to the attorney's mind: "Do I tell my partner?"

A lawyer had a jury trial in a very difficult business case. The client who had attended the trial was out of town when the jury came back with its decision, which was for the lawyer and his client. The lawyer immediately sent a telegram to his client, reading "Justice has triumphed!" The client wired back, "Appeal at once!"

A man was sent to Hell for his sins. As he was being taken to his place of eternal torment, he saw a lawyer making passionate love to a beautiful woman. "What a ripoff," the man muttered. "I have to roast for all eternity, and that lawyer gets to spend it with a beautiful woman." Jabbing the man with his pitchfork, the escorting Satan snarled, "Who are you to question that woman's punishment?"

A lawyer was asked if he would like to become a Jehovah's Witness. He declined, as he hadn't observed the accident, but would still be interested in taking the case.

People who love sausage and respect the law should never watch either being made.

The reason that there is a penalty for laughing in court is that otherwise the jury would never be able to hear the evidence.

A jury is a collection of people banded together to decide who hired the better lawyer.

Applying for a job, a new lawyer was asked if paying back his law school tuition would be any special problem. He replied that he paid it back right after his first case. When asked how he managed that, he said, "Well, my dad sued me for it and won."

What's the difference between a lawyer and a rooster? The rooster clucks defiance.

A man took a trip out West after a harrowing divorce proceeding. He stopped in a bar, and after a few drinks, stated to no one in particular, "Lawyers are horses' asses." One of the locals spoke up on hearing this: "Mister, watch what you say. You're in horse country."

The lawyer wandered home at 3 AM. His wife became very upset, telling him, "You're late! You said you'd be home by 11:45!" The lawyer replied, "I'm right on time. I said I'd be home by a quarter of twelve."

Did you hear about the lawyer who stepped in cow dung, and thought that he was melting?

A physician, an engineer, and an attorney were discussing who among them belonged to the oldest of the three professions represented. The physician said, "Remember that, on the sixth day, God took a rib from Adam and fashioned Eve, making him the first surgeon. Therefore, medicine is the oldest profession." The engineer replied, "But, before that, God created the heavens and earth from chaos and confusion, and thus he was the first engineer. Therefore, engineering is an older profession than medicine." Then, the lawyer spoke up, "Yes, but who do you think created all of the chaos and confusion?"

Lorenzo Dow, an evangelist of the last century, was on a preaching tour when he came to a small town one cold winter's night. He entered the local general store to get some warmth, and saw the town's lawyers gathered around the pot-bellied stove, discussing the town's business. Not one offered to allow Dow into the circle.

Dow told the men who he was, and that he had recently had a vision where he had been given a tour of Hell, much like the traveler in Dante's Inferno. When one of the lawyers asked him what he had seen, he replied, "Very much what I see here: All of the lawyers, gathered in the hottest place.

A young lawyer, starting up his private practice, was very anxious to impress potential clients. When he saw the first visitor to his office come through the door, he immediately picked up his phone and spoke into it, " I'm sorry, but my caseload is so tremendous that I'm not going to be able to look into your problem for at least a month. I'll have to get back to you then." He then turned to the man who had just walked in, and said, "Now, what can I do for you?" "Nothing," replied the man. "I'm here to hook up your phone."

Lawyers are safe from the threat of automation taking over their professions. No one would build a robot to do nothing.

The following is the text from a pamphlet attached to "Gummy Lawyers" candies, which are shaped like tiny sharks:

Gummy Lawyers: Like the real thing, they'll leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Soon the irate calls will pour in. Folks will protest the preposterousness of packaging sharks in airtight bags and labeling them as Gummy Lawyers. Perhaps they're right. Such mean-spiritedness is unfair. To the sharks.

Ichthyologists - scientists who study fish - contend that sharks, dreaded carnivores of the deep, have simply been given a bad rap. They may stalk, snap at and swallow their prey alive, but, after all, they have to eat. So far, no one has successfully defended lawyers for preying on an unwitting public. Beyond that, the similarities between the two species make them well-nigh indistinguishable:

"Shark" comes from the German "schurke," meaning greedy parasite. While no brave soul has gotten close enough to determine where lawyers come from, logic and common sense dictate a similar derivation.

Sharks, unlike most fish, have no bones; their skeletons are made entirely of cartilage. Lawyers, too, are spineless - as willing to argue one side of a case as the other. For the right price.

Best known as scavengers of the dead and dying, sharks have well-honed sensors with which they can track the sounds of other injured and struggling beings. They are also equipped with fine senses of smell that allow them to detect minute dilutions of blood (one part blood to one million parts water) up to one-quarter mile away. Precisely the distance a hopeful personal injury lawyer will run behind an ambulance to toss a business card.

From the moment of birth, sharks' skin is tough and rough - covered with thousands of tiny hard teeth call denticles that abrade any passerby made of softer stuff. Lawyers are also thick-skinned. Easily identified by their humorlessness and abrasive personalities, they are the bane of many social gatherings.

For many years, tiger sharks were the only animals known to harm each other while still in the womb; the first two sharks to hatch eat all the other egg capsules. It was then discovered that while budding lawyers are somewhat more subtle, they are just as deadly. Entire families have been found, bored to death, by the constant pronouncements of precocious lawyers-to-be.

A shark will swallow anything - up to half its own size - in one gulp. Several hundred years ago, a naturalist wrote that the headless body of a knight in armor was found in a white shark's stomach. Inside another was more recently found a sea lion, a horse and the body of another seven-foot-long shark. Lawyers, too, will swallow anything - even their pride - as increasing numbers of lawyer hopefuls trudge to law school each year for three years of browbeating in the hopes of financing their Porsches.

Some sharks even prey on their own kind. The smell and taste of blood in the water can trigger them into an obsessed Feeding Frenzy, in which they often eat their own bodies while twisting and turning to get more food. This is not unlike the Litigation Frenzy, where lawyers are pitted against other lawyers, and ultimately themselves, to waste reams of paper while losing sight of a fair resolution for their clients.

A doctor, a priest and a lawyer are caught out at sea when a storm breaks, battering their small boat with sheets of rain and blasts of wind. Looking off the bow, they spot still more cause for pause: the surrounding waters are thick with circling sharks. As the storm intensifies, it is clear that their only hope for survival is to swim for shore for help. The three draw straws, and the lawyer, who gets the shortest, bravely jumps overboard. At once, he is approached by a toothy shark. "Jump on my back and I'll take you in," says the shark. The lawyer hops on and grabs a fin. The doctor and priest are awestruck. "Hey," explains the shark. "It's just professional courtesy.

("Gummy Lawyers" are available for $5.31 postpaid from Nolo Press, 950 Parker St., Berkeley, CA 94710)

Q: The tooth fairy, an honest lawyer, and an expensive, dishonest lawyer are in the same room. There is a $500 bill on a table in the room. When they leave, the money is gone. Who took it?
A: Since there is no such thing as the tooth fairy or an honest lawyer, the answer is obvious.

Q: What can a goose do that a duck can't that a lawyer won't do?
A: Stick his bill up his ass

A doctor and a lawyer were attending a cocktail party when the doctor was approached by a man who asked advice on how to handle his ulcer. The doctor mumbled some medical advice, then turned to the lawyer and remarked, "I never know how to handle the situation when I'm asked for medical advice during a social function. Is it acceptable to send a bill for such advice?" The lawyer replied that it was certainly acceptable to do so. So, the next day, the doctor sent the ulcer- stricken man a bill. The lawyer also sent one to the doctor.

Q: What do you call parachuting lawyers?
A: Skeet.

Two lawyers were walking along the beach, when they saw two gorgeous girls lying in the sand. One lawyer said to the other, "Hey, let's go over there and screw those two girls." The other lawyer replied, "Sure. Out of what?"

Q: What's the difference between lawyers and vultures?
A: Vultures can't take their wing tips off.
A: The vulture eventually lets go.

Q: What separates police officers from the lowest form of life on the earth?
A: In the courtroom, it's the partitions around the witness stand.

Q: How do you greet a lawyer with an IQ of 50?
A: "Good morning, your honor."

Q: What do lawyers use for birth control?
A: Their personalities.

Q: What's the difference between a lawyer and a boxing referee?
A: A boxing referee doesn't get paid more for a longer fight.

A lawyer was driving his big BMW down the highway, singing to himself, "I love my BMW, I love my BMW." Focusing on his car, not his driving, he smashed into a tree. He miraculously survived, but his car was totaled. "My BMW! My BMW!" he sobbed. A good Samaritan drove by and cried out, "Sir, sir, you're bleeding - my God, your left arm is gone!" The lawyer, horrified, screamed, "My Rolex! My Rolex!"

A man sat down at a bar, looked into his shirt pocket, and ordered a double scotch. A few minutes later, the man again peeked into his pocket and ordered another double. This routine was followed for some time, until after looking into his pocket, he told the bartender that he'd had enough. The bartender said, "I've got to ask you - what's with the pocket business?" The man replied, "I have my lawyer's picture in there. When he starts to look honest, I've had enough."

Q: How was copper wire invented?
A: Two lawyers arguing over a penny.

A Bar Association charter flight was hijacked by terrorists. When the terrorists made their press release, they said that, until their demands were met, they would release one lawyer per hour.

A man wanted very badly to see a Broadway play, but it took a year to get tickets. He put in his order and waited. Finally, the big day came and he went off to the theater. When he sat down, he saw a man in the seat in front of him, with an empty seat adjacent. In conversation, he learned that the man was an attorney, and that he had purchased the other seat for his wife, who was unable to come at the last moment. The astonished man asked the lawyer why he would let such a valuable commodity go to waste, not giving it to a friend or relative who wanted to come to the play. The lawyer replied, "Yes, several of those wanted to come, but they're all at my wife's funeral."

Lawyer: someone who makes sure that he gets what's coming to you.

Q: What do you get if you beat the shit out of a lawyer?
A: An empty suit.

There's an interesting new novel about two ex-convicts. One of them studies to become a lawyer, the other decides to go straight.

Four out of five doctors say that if they were stranded on a deserted island with no lawyers, they wouldn't need any aspirin.

If a lawyer and an IRS agent were both drowning, and you could only save one of them, would you go to lunch or read the newspaper?

A lawyer discussing trial strategy with his partner said, "When I address the jury, I'll plead for clemency." "Nothing doing!" shouted his partner. "Let Clemency get his own lawyer!"

 
Q:   What is the difference between a poisonous snake and a lawyer?

A:   You can make a pet out of the snake. 

Q:   What do lawyers and bullfrogs have in common?
A:   Both have a big head that consists mostly of mouth. 

Q:   Why should lawyers always be buried face down? 
A:   If they wake up, they'll start digging.  

Q:   While driving down a desert highway, you see Saddam Hussein on

     one side of the road, and a lawyer on the other.  Which      
     do you hit first?   
A:   Hussein.  Business before pleasure.   


Q:   What is the difference between a catfish and a lawyer? 
A:   One is a bottom-dwelling, garbage-eating scavenger.  The other is a fish.

The two partners in a law firm were having lunch when suddenly one of them jumped up and said, "I have to go back to the office - I forgot to lock the safe!" The other partner replied, "What are you worried about? We're both here."

Q: Why is it dangerous for lawyers to walk onto a construction site when plumbers are working?
A: The plumbers might connect the drain line to the wrong suer.

A man went to a brain surgeon to request a brain transplant . He noted prices were different for brains available from various donors. A doctor's brain was $500, a banker's brain was $1500, and a scientist's brain was $2500. Then, he noticed in a far recess of the shelf, a jar marked with a price tag of $50,000. When he inquired about the unusually high price, he was told, "Oh, that's a lawyer's brain - it's never been used!"

Two boys were walking in the woods when one boy spied a nut on the ground. When the other boy picked it up, they started to argue. One boy said, "The nut is mine, I saw it first." The other boy said, "The nut is mine, I have it in my possession." They were just about to fight when, luckily, along came a lawyer. The boys appealed to the lawyer to adjudicate their dispute. The lawyer thanked the boys for the opportunity and said, "I will settle your dispute this way. Because you saw the nut first, I will give you this half. Because you had the nut in your possession, I will give you this half. And, for my fee, I'll keep the meat."

A man went to a lawyer for a defense after he had been caught embezzling millions from his employer. He was concerned about going to jail, but was told by the attorney, "Don't worry - you'll never go to jail with all that money." The lawyer was right. When the man went to prison, he didn't have a dime.

Q: What's the difference between a lawyer and a football?
A: You get only three points for kicking a football between the uprights.

Two tigers are walking along a jungle trail in single file. The rearmost tiger wanders off the trail for a few minutes, then reappears shortly thereafter. A few moments later, the front tiger feels what seems to be the other tiger's tongue, applied just below his tail. The tiger disapproves of this action, but doesn't want to start anything by bringing it up. Then, the tiger again feels the tongue, again in the same place. He decides to confront the after tiger, and asks him, "Did you just lick me twice in the butt?" The other tiger replied: "Yeah, sorry about that. I just ate a lawyer and I was trying to get the taste out of my mouth."

Q: Why are there so many lawyers?
A: No one would stand in line to see one.

Three surgeons were discussing their favorite type of patients. The first said: "I like artists. When you cut them open, they are awash with color inside." The second doctor said, "I much prefer engineers. When you cut them open, everything is orderly and numbered." "Nonsense," said the third doctor. "The easiest are attorneys. They have only two parts - their mouth and their rears - and those are interchangeable."

Q: What's the difference between baseball and law?
A: In baseball, if you're caught stealing, you're out.

"You're a cheat!" shouted the lawyer's client. "You're a scoundrel! You've kept me hanging for months and got rich on my case alone!" "That's gratitude," said the offended lawyer. "And right after I named my new yacht after you."

Q: What is the difference between a lawyer and a leech?
A: A leech will drop off when its victim dies.

Q: A lawyer and an IRS agent jump off the Empire State Building at the same time. Who will hit first?
A: Who cares?

After years of hard work, Joe took his first vacation on a luxury cruise ship. In a deck chair, he recognized a former high school classmate, a long-lost friend from his old hometown. He crossed the deck, seized his friend's hand, and said, 'Hello, Pete. I haven't seen you in years. What are you doing these days?" "I'm practicing law," whispered Pete. "But don't tell my mother. She thinks I'm still a pimp."

Q: What do you get if you cross a lawyer with a drunk pig?
A: Nothing. There are some things even a drunk pig won't do.

You've heard of the car that runs on methane gas from chicken shit? They have made it into a perpetual motion machine by giving free rides to lawyers.

A farmer had just bought the best used car he could afford, and he was driving it home. One of the town's lawyers was hitching a ride by the side of the road where his BMW had broken down. The farmer picked him up. Being his usual degrading self, the lawyer asked the farmer, "How do you like this new manure spreader you got here?" The farmer replied, "Don't know yet. You're the first load I've hauled."

If builders built buildings the way lawyers write laws, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization.

Q: What do lawyers and sperm have in common?
A: They're both squirmy, both live in slime, and only one in 250 million accomplishes anything worthwhile.

Two doctors were discussing a case in the psych ward. The first doc asked what had triggered such a profound depressive psychosis in the patient. The second one answered, "He's a lawyer. One day at home, he started to think about how much money he'd screwed his partners and clients out of over the last few years. He laughed so hard he defecated in his pants. When he smelled the foul odor he had created, he checked for the source. Finding his trousers full of the stuff, he thought he was leaking. This caused him to go into shock and faint. When he woke up, he found he had fallen on his arm, breaking it." The first doc asked, "He went mad because he broke an arm?" The second medico answered, "No, he went mad because he couldn't figure out how to sue himself!"

Q: What is the difference between a flea and a lawyer?
A: One is a parasite that sucks the living blood out of you and is linked with the Black Death. The other is a small insect.

A fellow walks into a bar with a ten-inch, scowling man on his shoulder. He orders a drink. The little man jumps off the shoulder, drinks a third of the drink and climbs back up. The fellow then orders a sandwich. The little man likewise devours a third of the sandwich. After this goes on for two more drinks, the bartender says, "Hey buddy, I don't usually pry into customers' private affairs, but what the heck is it with that little guy?" The customer replies, "Well, I found a bottle on the beach. When I uncorked it, out popped a genie. He gave me one wish. I asked for a 10- inch prick, and the genie shrunk my lawyer!"

A judge enters the courtroom, strikes the gavel and says, "Before I begin this trial, I have an announcement to make. The lawyer for the defense has paid me $15,000 to swing the case his way. The lawyer for the plaintiff has paid me $10,000 to swing the case her way. In order to make this a fair trial, I am returning $5,000 to the defense."

 
Q:   How does a pregnant woman know that she is carrying a future lawyer?
A:   She has an extreme craving for baloney.  

Q:   What do you get when you cross a librarian with a lawyer? 
A:   All the information you need - but you can't understand a word of it.

Did you hear about the new sushi bar that caters exclusively to lawyers? It's called Sosumi.

A doctor was vacationing at the seashore with his family. Suddenly, he spotted a fin sticking up in the water and fainted. "Darling, it was just a shark," assured his wife when he came to. "You've got to stop imagining that there are lawyers everywhere."

A quote attributed to one of America's founders, John Adams, in the play 1776: "I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace, two such men are called a law firm, and three or more become a Congress."

Carlson was charged with stealing a Mercedes Benz, and after a long trial, the jury acquitted him. Later that day Carlson came back to the judge who had presided at the hearing. "Your honor," he said, "I wanna get out a warrant for that dirty lawyer of mine." "Why ?" asked the judge. "He won your acquittal. Why do you want to have him arrested?" "Well, your honor," replied Carlson, "I didn't have the money to pay his fee, so he went and took the car I stole."

These two guys, George and Harry, set out in a hot air balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean. After 37 hours in the air, George says "Harry, we better lose some altitude so we can see where we are". Harry lets out some of the hot air in the balloon, and the balloon descends to below the cloud cover. George says,"I still can't tell where we are, lets ask that guy on the ground". So, Harry yells down to the man "Hey, could you tell us where we are?". And the man on the ground yells back "You're in a balloon, 100 feet up in the air". George turns to Harry and says "That man must be a lawyer." Harry says, "How can you tell?". George says, "Because the advice he gave us is 100% accurate, and totally useless".

For three years, the young attorney had been taking his brief vacations at this country inn. The last time he'd finally managed an affair with the innkeeper's daughter. Looking forward to an exciting few days, he dragged his suitcase up the stairs of the inn, then stopped short. There sat his lover with an infant on her lap! "Helen, why didn't you write when you learned you were pregnant?" he cried. "I would have rushed up here, we could have gotten married, and the baby would have my name!" "Well," she said, "when my folks found out about my condition, we sat up all night talkin' and talkin' and decided it would be better to have a illegitimate grandchild in the family than a lawyer."

Q: Why do lawyers display a copy of their bar association cards on their dashboards?
A: So they can park in handicapped zones.

A certain lawyer was quite wealthy and had a summer house in the country, to which he retreated for several weeks of the year. Each summer, the lawyer would invite a different friend of his to spend a week or two up at this place, which happened to be in a backwoods section of Maine.On one particular occasion, he invited a Czechoslovakian friend to stay with him. The friend, eager to get a freebie off a lawyer, agreed. Well, they had a splendid time in the country - rising early and living in the great outdoors. Early one morning, the lawyer and his Czechoslovakian companion went out to pick berries for their morning breakfast. As they went around the berry patch, gathering blueberries and raspberries in tremendous quantities, along came two huge bears - a male and a female. Well, the lawyer, seeing the two bears, immediately dashed for cover. His friend, though, wasn't so lucky, and the male bear reached him and swallowed him whole. The lawyer ran back to his Mercedes, tore into town as fast has he could, and got the local backwoods sheriff. The sheriff grabbed his shotgun and dashed back to the berry patch with the lawyer. Sure enough, the two bears were still there. "He's in THAT one!" cried the lawyer, pointing to the male, while visions of lawsuits from his friend's family danced in his head. He just had to save his friend. The sheriff looked at the bears, and without batting an eye, leveled his gun,took careful aim, and SHOT THE FEMALE. "Whatdya do that for!" exclaimed the lawyer, "I said he was in the other!" "Exactly," replied the sheriff, "and would YOU believe a lawyer who told you that the Czech was in the Male?"

A Russian, a Cuban, an American and a Lawyer are in a train. The Russian takes a bottle of the best vodka out of his pack, pours some into a glass, drinks it, and says: "In USSR, we have the best vodka of the world - nowhere in the world you can find Vodka as good as the one we produce in the Ukraine. And we have so much of it, that we can just throw it away..." Saying that, he opens the window and throws the rest of the bottle through it. All the others are quite impressed. The Cuban takes a pack of Havanas, takes one of them, lights it, and begins to smoke it, saying: "In Cuba, we have the best cigars of the world: Havanas, nowhere in the world there is so many and so good cigars and we have so much of them, that we can just throw them away...". Saying that, he throws the pack of Havanas through the window. One more time, everybody is quite impressed.At this time, the American just stands up, opens the window, and throws the lawyer through it...

A lawyer's dog, running about unleashed, beelines for a butcher shop and steals a roast. The butcher goes to the lawyer's office and asks, "If a dog running unleashed steals a piece of meat from my store, do I have a right to demand payment for the meat from the dog's owner?" The lawyer answers, "Absolutely." "Then you owe me $8.50. Your dog was loose and stole a roast from me today." The lawyer, without a word, writes the butcher a check for $8.50 . Several periods of time later -- it could be the next day but that would be unrealistic -- the butcher opens the mail and finds an envelope from the lawyer: $20 due for a consultation.

An elderly and somewhat hard-of-hearing man was sitting in his attorney's office as he went over his new will. "Your estate is very complex," said the lawyer, "but I've made sure that all of your wishes will be executed. Because of the complexity of your case, my fee will be $4500." At that point, the phone rang and the lawyer got involved with a long call. The client, thinking that the lawyer had said "$500," wrote out a check for that amount and left. When the lawyer saw the check, he ran out of the building, only to see the client's car disappearing in traffic. "Oh, well," thought the lawyer, "$500 for one hour's work isn't bad."

Some American academics, discussing the Six Day War with an Israeli general, were eager to know how it had ended so quickly. The general told them, "We had a crack regiment at the most sensitive front. It was made entirely of lawyers and accountants. When the time came to charge - boy, did they know how to charge!"

A lawyer was filling out a job application when he came to the question, "Have you ever been arrested?" He answered, "no." The next question, intended for people who had answered in the affirmative to the last one, was "Why?" The lawyer answered it anyway: "Never got caught."

Two attorneys took a long safari vacation in the African Bush. One day, they took a rest, removed their packs, and leaned their rifles against a tree. They were startled when a large, hungry-looking lion emerged from the jungle and began eyeing them with anticipation. It was clear that the attorneys' rifles were too far away to do them any good. One attorney began to remove his shoes, and was asked by the other why he was doing that. The man replied, "Because I can run faster without them." The first lawyer told him, "I don't care how fast you can run, you'll never outrace that lion." The now-barefoot attorney told him, "I don't have to outrun the lion. I just have to outrun you."

One morning at the law office, one attorney looked at the other and said, "Wow, you look really terrible this morning." The other lawyer replied, "Yeah, I woke up with a headache this morning and, no matter what I try, I can't seem to get rid of it." The first lawyer told him, "Whenever I get a headache like that, I take a few hours off during the day, go home, and make love to my wife. Works every time for me." Later that afternoon, the two lawyers met again. The first told the second, "You know, you look 100% better than this morning." The second replied, "Yeah, that was great advice you gave me. You've got a beautiful house, too. "

Jack and Mugs, two second-story men from Flatbush, were comparing notes on recent burglaries. "Didja get anything on that last heist?" Jack asked. "Nuttin' at all," Mugs admitted. "Toins out that the guy that lives there's a lawyer." "Jeez, ain't that the breaks," his friend sympathized. "Didja lose anything?"

Have you seen the current remake of the movie "Cape Fear?" It's about a deranged psychotic who is seeking revenge against a lawyer. The question is, while watching the movie, whom do you root for?

Q: What do a baker and an attorney have in common?
A: They both enjoy carving up the pie.

A woman was being questioned in a court trial involving slander. "Please repeat the slanderous statements you heard, exactly as you heard them," instructed the lawyer. The witness hesitated. "But they were unfit for any respectable person to hear!" "Then," said the attorney, "just whisper them to the judge."

A doctor told his patient that his test results indicated that he had a rare, incurable disease and that he had only six months to live. "Isn't there anything I can do?" the patient asked. "Marry a lawyer," answered the doctor. "It will be the longest six months of your life."

Eternity: one lawyer waiting for the other.

There is a finite number of physicians that a population of fixed size will support. The same theory holds for teachers and engineers. However, this principle does not seem to apply to lawyers. The more you have, the more you need.

Q: You are in a room with Mussolini, Hitler, and the lawyer of your choice. You have a gun, but only two bullets. Which do you shoot?
A: The lawyer, twice.

Did you hear that the Post Office had to recall its series of stamps depicting famous lawyers? People were confused about which side to spit on.

She: You just don't care anymore!
He: You're just upset. Why don't I buy you something to make you feel better?
She: Like what?
He: How about a trip to Europe?
She: No.
He: What about a new Jaguar?
She: No.
He: Well, what DO you want?
She: A divorce.
He: (Pause) I wasn't planning on spending that much.

The reason that law schools have been described as "a place for the accumulation of learning" is that first-year students bring some in, and third-year students take none out - and so knowledge accumulates.

Q: What's the difference between a lawyer and an onion?
A: You cry when you cut up an onion.

NASA was interviewing professionals to be sent to Mars. Only one could go, and he couldn't return to Earth. The first applicant, an engineer, was asked how much he wanted to be paid for going. "A million dollars," he answered, "because I want to donate it to M.I.T." The next applicant, a doctor, was asked the same question. He asked for two million dollars. "I want to give a million to my family," he explained, "and leave the other million for the advancement of medical research." The last applicant was a lawyer. When asked how much money he wanted, he whispered in the interviewer's ear, "Three million dollars." "Why so much more than the others?" the interviewer asked. The lawyer replied, "If you give me $3 million, I'll give you $1 million, I'll keep $1 million, and we'll send the engineer to Mars."

What are the three questions most commonly asked by lawyers?
1. How much money do you have?
2. Where can you get more?
3. Do you have anything you can sell?

Q: How many lawyer jokes are there?
A: Only three. The balance are documented case histories.

One day at the pearly gates, St.Peter met Chief Justice Rehnquist, who was applying for admission. St. Peter looked at his ledger, and then looked back at the Chief Justice and said, "Uh,there's a little problem. It says here that you were Chief Justice of the United States, yet you had very little regard for the Constitution." The Chief Justice looked positively shocked and hurt, and protested, "Oh, no, St.Peter, I've never had any problem with the Constitution--just the amendments!"

An elementary-school teacher heard children wailing and crying and rushed to the playground to see what was wrong. There, she found Marc, Chuck, and Laura, the latter crying furiously. When she asked what had happened, Marc told her, "Chuck took Laura's orange. Then she hit him on the head and called him several dirty names, and he kicked her in the stomach." The teacher replied, "Well, then, we'll all have to go to the principal's office. Where is the orange now?" Marc smiled and produced the orange from his pocket. "I have the orange. I'm Laura's lawyer."

A young attorney was attending a funeral. Another mourner arrived late and asked the lawyer, "Where are they in the service?" The attorney gestured at the minister and replied, "He's just opening for the defense."

Murphy, a dishonest lawyer, bribed a man on his client's jury to hold out for a charge of manslaughter, as opposed to the charge of murder which was brought by the state. The jury was out for several days before they returned with the manslaughter verdict. When Murphy paid the corrupt juror, he asked him if he had a very difficult time convincing the other jurors to see things his way. ""Sure did," the juror replied, "the other eleven wanted to acquit."

John and Joe had been law partners for many years, sharing everything, most especially the affections of their libidinous secretary, Rose. One morning, an agitated John came to Joe with the bad news, "Rose is pregnant! We're going to be a father!" Joe, the more reserved of the two, calmed his partner and reminded him that things could be much worse. They were both well-off, and could easily afford the costs of raising the child. Rose would have the best care available, her child would attend only the finest schools, and neither would want for anything. The child would have the benefit of having two fathers, both of which were caring and well-educated. Gradually, John got used to the idea of fatherhood. When the big day came, both were at the hospital awaiting the news of their offspring's birth. Finally, John could take no more and went outside to take a walk. When he returned an hour later, Joe had the news. "We had twins," said Joe, "and mine died."

Several men were drinking in a local tavern, when one decided that he had enough and started for home. He swayed violently as he walked, even though he really hadn't had that much to drink. When one of the newer patrons asked why the man walked that way, he was told that the drinker had been a sailor for 30 years, and still walked as if he was on a ship's deck in heavy weather. The man thought this to be nonsense. He started to make violent pelvic thrusts against the bar as he told his friends, "I've been a lawyer for 35 years, and I don't have to do this when I walk!"

Mr. Dewey was briefing his client, who was about to testify in his own defense. "You must swear to tell the complete truth. Do you understand?" The client replied that he did. The lawyer then asked, "Do you know what will happen if you don't tell the truth? " The client looked back and said, "I imagine that our side will win."

One day in Contract Law class, Professor Jepson asked one of his better students, "Now if you were to give someone an orange, how would you go about it?" The student replied, "Here's an orange." The professor was livid. "No! No! Think like a lawyer!" The student then recited, "Okay, I'd tell him, 'I hereby give and convey to you all and singular, my estate and interests, rights, claim, title, claim and advantages of and in, said orange, together with all its rind, juice, pulp, and seeds, and all rights and advantages with full power to bite, cut, freeze and otherwise eat, the same, or give the same away with and without the pulp, juice, rind and seeds, anything herein before or hereinafter or in any deed, or deeds, instruments of whatever nature or kind whatsoever to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding..."

The lawyer was in the summation of his case: "And, if it please the court, if I am wrong in this, I have another argument that is equally conclusive.

"Nasty looking crew you got to handle out there this morning, judge," said the court officer. "Where did the cops find all those crooks?" The judge replied, "The crooks won't be here for another fifteen minutes. Those are the lawyers."

Two schoolgirls were having an argument. "My dad's better than your dad. He's a carpenter and makes buildings." The other girl replied, "My dad does better than that. He's a lawyer, and makes loopholes."

A Baptist minister had the misfortune to be seated next to an attorney on his flight home. After the plane was airborne, the flight attendant came around for drink orders. The attorney asked for a whiskey and soda, which was brought and placed before him. The attendant then asked the minister if he would also like a drink. The minister replied in disgust, "I'd rather savagely rape a brazen whore than let liquor touch these lips." The attorney then handed his drink back to the attendant and told her with delight, "I didn't know there was a choice."

Pete and Jerry had been law partners for many years. One day, Pete fell ill, and grew progressively worse. Medical specialists were called in from the world over, but no one could diagnose Pete's illness. The only thing that seemed certain was that Pete's death was imminent. As Pete lay in his last hours, he felt obligated to reveal a few secrets to Jerry. "You know that million dollar settlement we got from Morgan last year? I never told you this, but it was really three million. I kept the other two million, and eventually gambled it away. Can you forgive me? " Jerry said that he would, without question. Pete then told him, "Well, you remember when your wife divorced you and got the big alimony judgement? It was me that gave her the inside information on your finances. I had been screwing her for years. How can you forgive me?" Jerry told his friend, once again, that it was forgotten. After Pete had told of several other transgressions, all of which Jerry forgave, Pete began to look at Jerry as saintly. "How can you be so forgiving, after the way I have cheated and lied to you for so many years?" Jerry answered, "For two reasons, Pete. First, because you will soon be dead, and there's no reason to hate you in the grave. And, secondly, because I poisoned you."

Tadbury was an entrepreneur with a reputation for dishonesty. One day, he went to Smythe, a new but talented attorney. He told Smythe that he wouldn't pay any fees unless there seemed a clear cause of legal action. Smythe agreed to evaluate the case. After a lengthy discussion, Smythe told Tadbury, "Your case is absolutely airtight. The other party is dead wrong, and cannot hope to win the case. I will be happy to represent you for a retainer of $10,000." Tadbury then got up to leave. The attorney protested, "But I told you that your case was good, and you agreed to pay me if you had a claim! You have to pay me my fee!" Tadbury replied, "Absolutely not. I'm leaving town. I told you the other guy's side."

The day after a verdict had been entered against his client, the attorney rushed to the judge's chambers, demanding that the case be reopened. He said that he had new evidence that made a huge difference in his defense. "What new evidence could you have?" said the judge. The attorney replied, "My client has an extra $10,000, and I just found out about it!"

Taylor was desperate for business, and was happy to be appointed by the court to defend an indigent defendant. The judge ordered Taylor, "You are to confer with the defendant in the hallway, and give him the best legal advice you can." After a time, Taylor re-entered the courtroom alone. When the judge asked where the defendant had gone, Taylor replied, "You asked me to give him good advice. I found out that he was guilty as hell, so I told him to split."

Believing in predestination, a new father set out three objects on the dining room table in preparation for his son's arrival home from school. The first object was a $100 bill. "That represents high finance. If he takes this, he's go into business." The second object was a Bible. "If he takes this one, he'll be a man of the cloth." The third object was a bottle of cheap whiskey. "If he goes for this one, he'll be a drunkard!" The father and his wife then hid where they could see their son's approach. Soon, the son entered the room and examined each article briefly. He then checked to make sure that he was alone. Not seeing anyone, he stuffed the money in his pocket, put the Bible under his arm, and strolled out of the room draining the whiskey. The father looked at his wife and beamed, "How about that! He's going to be a lawyer!"

Mr. Wilson was the chairman of the United Way, which had never received a donation from the most successful lawyer in town. He called on the attorney in an attempt to make him mend his ways. "Our research shows that you made a profit of over $600,000 last year, and yet you have not given a dime to the community charities! What do you have to say for yourself?" The lawyer replied, "Do you know that my mother is dying of a long illness, and has medical bills that are several times her annual income? Do you know about my brother, the disabled veteran, who is blind and in a wheelchair? Do you know about my sister, whose husband died in a traffic accident, leaving her with three children?" The charity solicitor admitted that he had no knowledge of any of this. "Well, since I don't give any money to them, why should I give any to you?"

Having just had judgement entered against him, Mr. Walters was upset to be handed his attorney's bill. "It says here that I have to pay you $5,000 now and $500 a month for the next five years! It's like I was buying a top-of-the-line Mercedes!" The lawyer smiled and replied, "You are."

Billy, Bobby and Joe had a spree in the fruit orchard. They tore all the fruit from the trees, gorged themselves, then threw fruit and generally vandalized the place. When the farmer caught them, he called the sheriff and had them taken into custody. When the boys appeared before the judge after spending a night in jail, he asked them if they had learned their lesson. The first boy replied, "Yes, sir. All that fruit made me sick. My dad's a doctor, and he told me never to do that again!" The second boy was from a military family, "My dad told me that if I ever get in trouble with the law again, I can kiss West Point goodbye!" The third boy told the judge, "You bet I won't do it. My dad's a lawyer, and I'm gonna sue that farmer for damages to my pants that got tore jumping his fence!"

An indigent client who had been injured in an accident went looking for a lawyer to represent him without cost. One lawyer told him that he would take the case on contingency. When the client asked what "contingency" was, the lawyer replied, "If I don't win your lawsuit, I don't get anything. If I do win your lawsuit, you don't get anything."

A car thief was taken to trial and acquitted. The next day, he was back in court demanding to have his attorney arrested. When the judge asked why he would want such a thing done to the man who had gotten him off, he was told, "But, your Honor - I didn't have the money to pay my attorney's fees, so he went and took the car I stole!"

"Some people think about sex all of the time, some people think about sex some of the time, and some people never think about sex: they become lawyers." -Woody Allen

The down-on-his-luck attorney was sitting in the bar, nursing his beer. "How it going?" asked a colleague. "Terrible. I just got evicted from my office. I wrote up the papers myself. Never would have done it if I hadn't needed the money so bad."

Ann was desperate when she walked into the bank vault where she worked, stuffed $50,000 into her purse, and left the building. She couldn't go through with the crime, however, and called her attorney, who advised her to steal $50,000 more and bring it to his office with the rest of the money. Befuddled, she did this, then managed to get away with her deed when her attorney wrote the following letter:" Ann, terribly pressed, stole $100,000 from your bank. Her faithful family, despite their best efforts, was unable to raise more than $50,000, which they offer to return if you will not prosecute..."

From the Law School Admission test: A prospective client comes into your office and asks you to represent him in a contract dispute. As the client relates the facts of the case to you, you realize that he has an excellent chance of winning. You also realize that you sympathize with the other party, and indeed the client's motives are reprehensible. But the fact is, everyone is entitled to competent representation. Your decision on whether to accept representation of this client should be based on:

A) The client's ability to pay your fee
B) The client's ability to pay your fee
C) The client's ability to pay your fee
D) The client's ability to pay your fee

A man called his lawyer one day to ask a routine question about an ongoing matter with which both parties were familiar. The lawyer gave a quick routine answer, and the entire phone conversation took no more than 60 seconds. The man was understandably a little dismayed to find a bill from the lawyer in his mail a few days later. The bill charged for 1/4 hour of consultation time,the minimum billing increment, at the lawyer's rate of $225 per hour. The client grumbled considerably as he wrote out the check for more than $50. Two weeks later, while out for a walk, the client happened to walk past the lawyer's house. The lawyer was outside, watering his lawn, and waved to the client. The client walked over and said, "Nice day, isn't it? Wait a minute--DON'T ANSWER THAT!!!!

From: "J.P." [email protected]

Just something that came across the screen in e-mail today:
Computers and lawyers have grown greatly in numbers since 1970. Unfortunately, lawyers, unlike computers, have not gotten smarter and cheaper every 18 months.

### A doctor and a lawyer in two cars collided on a country road. The lawyer, seeing that the doctor was a little shaken up, helped him from the car and offered him a drink from his hip flask. The doctor accepted and handed the flask back to the lawyer, who closed it and put it away. "Aren't you going to have a drink yourself?" asked the doctor. "Sure, after the police leave," replied the attorney.

### An elderly patient needed a heart transplant and discussed his options with his doctor. The doctor said, "We have three possible donors; tell me which one you want to use.
One is a young, healthy athlete who died in an automobile accident.
The second is a middle-aged businessman who never drank or smoked and who died in his private plane.
The third is an attorney who just died after practicing law for 30 years."
"I'll take the lawyer's heart," said the patient.
After a successful transplant, the doctor asked the patient why he had chosen the donor he did.
"It was easy," the patient replied. "I wanted a heart that hadn't been used."

### A doctor and a lawyer were talking at a party. Their conversation was constantly interrupted by people describing their ailments and asking the doctor for free medical advice. After an hour of this, the exasperated doctor asked the lawyer, "What do you do to stop people from asking you for legal advice when you're out of the office?" "I give it to them," replied the lawyer, "and then I send them a bill." The doctor was shocked, but agreed to give it a try. The next day, still feeling slightly guilty, the doctor prepared the bills. When he went to place them in his mailbox, he found a bill from the lawyer.

### Three surgeons were discussing their favorite type of patients. The first said: "I like artists. When you cut them open, they are awash with color inside." The second doctor said: "I much prefer engineers. When you cut them open, everything is orderly and numbered." "Nonsense," said the third doctor. "The easiest are attorneys. They have only two parts, their ass and their mouth and those are interchangeable."

### As the lawyer slowly came out of the anesthesia after surgery, he said, "Why are all the blinds drawn, doctor?" "There's a big fire across the street," the doctor replied. "We didn't want you to think the operation was a failure."

### Having lawyers make laws is like having doctors make diseases.

As he cross-examined the Coroner, the defense attorney asked, "Before you signed the death certificate, had you taken the man's pulse?" "No," the Coroner replied. "Oh? Did you check for breathing?" "No." "So when you signed the death certificate," the attorney asked with a smirk, "you had not taken any steps to make sure the man was dead, had you?" "Let me put it this way," the badgered Coroner replied. "The man's brain was in a jar on my desk. But," he added, "I guess that he could still be out there practicing Law somewhere."

Luke 11:46 "And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! For ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers."

Dick the Butcher in Henry VI: "First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

"Our principal task in this diversity of citizenship case is to determine what the New York courts would think the California courts would think on an issue about which neither has thought". Friendly, j in Nollan v Transocean Airlines {CP293}

"It is revolting to have no better reason for a rule of law than that so it was laid down in the time of Henry IV". Holmes, j {PP288}

"Fiat justicia, ruat coelum" Scalia, in Morrison v Olson

"I leave all my estate to my wife on the express condition that she remarry. I want at least one person to sincerely grieve my death." Heinrich Heine, WCb 450

"Glaziers should glaze and lawyers should scriven ... for when glaziers write and lawyers glaze, they are apt to make porous contracts and drafty windows (Dickerson). Schauerman v Haag416P.2d88(1966)

"like bats of law flitting in the twilight, but disappearing in the sunshine of actual facts." Lamm, J. in Mockowik v. Kansas City RR 94 S.W. 256

"gross" negligence is merely the same thing as ordinary negligence, "with the addition," as Baron Rolfe once put it, "of a vituperative epithet." Wilson v. Brett, 1843 Prosser 211

"Chief Justice Rugg's famous distinctions among negligence, gross negligence and recklessness as being the distinctions among a fool, a damned fool, and a God-damned fool." K Cb 198

"A drunken man is as much entitled to a safe street as a sober one, and much more in need of it." Robinson v. Pioche, Bayerque & Co., 1855, 5 Cal. 460, 461 K Hb 198

Lawyers really said this in court!

From Dear Abby, a list of questions lawyers have put to people on the stand:

Q:      Was that the same nose you broke as a child?

Q:      Now, doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, in
        most cases he just passes quickly away and doesn't know anything about
        it until the next morning?

Q:      What happened then?
A:      He told me, he says, "I have to kill you because you can identify me."
Q:      Did he kill you?

Q:      Was it you or your brother that was killed in the war?

Q:      The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?

Q:      Were you alone or by yourself?

Q:      How long have you been a French Canadian?

Q:      Do you  have any children or anything of that kind?

Q:      I show you Exhibit 3 and ask you if you recognize that picture.
A:      That's me.
Q:      Were you present when that picture was taken?

Q:      Were you present in court, this morning, when you were sworn in?

Q:      Now, Mrs. Johnson, how was your first marriage terminated?
A:      By death.
Q:      And by whose death was it terminated?

Q:      Do you know how far pregnant you are now?
A:      I'll be three months on Nov. 8.
Q:      Apparently, then, the date of conception was Aug. 8?
A:      Yes.
Q:      What were you doing at that time?

Q:      Mrs. Jones, do you believe you are emotionally stable?
A:      I used to be.
Q:      How many times have you committed suicide?

Q:      So, you were gone until you returned?

Q:      She had three children, right?
A:      Yes.
Q:      How many were boys?
A:      None.
Q:      Were there girls?

Q:      You don't know what it was, and you didn't know what it looked like;
        but can you describe it?

Q:      You say that the stairs went down to the basement?
A:      Yes.
Q:      And these stairs, did they go up also?

Q:      Have you lived in this town all your life?
A:      Not yet.

Q:      Do you recall approximately the time that you examined the body of
        Mr. Edington at the Rose Chapel?
A:      It was in the evening.  The autopsy started about 8:30 p.m.
Q:      And Mr. Edington was dead at the time, is that correct?

DISORDER IN THE COURT

Most language is spoken language, and most words once they are uttered, vanish forever into the air. But such is not the case with language spoken during courtroom trials, for there exists an army of court reporters whose job it is to take down and preserve every statement made during the proceedings.

Court is now in session, and here are my favorite transquips, all recorded by America's keepers of the word:

Q What is your brother-in-law's name?  
A Borofkin.  
Q What is his first name?  
A I can't remember.  
Q He's been your brother-in-law for 45 years, and you can't remember
his first name?  
A No. I tell you I'm too excited. (Rising from the witness chair and
pointing to Mr. Borofkin). Nathan, for God's sake, tell them your
first name] 
	 
Q Did you stay all night with this man in New York?  
A I refuse to answer that question.  
Q Did you stay all night with this man in Chicago?  
A I refuse to answer that question.  
Q Did you ever stay all night with this man in Miami?  
A: No. 
	 
Q James stood back and shot Tommy Lee?  
A Yes.  
Q And then Tommy Lee pulled out his gun and shot James in the fracas?

A (After a hesitation) No sir, just above it. 
	 
Q Doctor, did you say he was shot in the woods?  
A No, I said he was shot in the lumber region. 
	 
Q Now, Mrs. Johnson, how was your first marriage terminated?  
A By death.  
Q And, by whose death was it terminated? 
	 
Q What is your name?  
A Ernestine Mc Dowell.  
Q What is your marital status?  
A Fair. 
	 
Q Are you married?  
A No, I'm divorced.  
Q What did your husband do before you divorced him?  
A A lot of things that I didn't know about. 
	 
Q And who is this person you are speaking of?  
A My ex-widow said it. 
	 
Q How did you happen to go to Dr. Cheney?  
A Well, a gal down by the road had had several of her children by Dr.
Cheney and said he was really good. 
	 
Q Do you know how far pregnant you are right now?  
A I will be three months November 8th.  
Q Apparently then, the date of conception was August 8th?  
A Yes.  
Q What were you and your husband doing at that time? 
	 
Q Mrs. Smith, you do believe that you are emotionally unstable?  
A I used to be.  
Q How many times have you committed suicide?  
A Four times. 
	 
Q Did he pick the dog up by the ears?  
A No.  
Q What was he doing with the dog's ears?  
A Picking them up in the air.  
Q Where was the dog at the time?  
A Attached to the ears. 
	 
Q Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?  
A All my autopsies have been on dead people. 
	 
Q Were you acquainted with the decedent?  
A Yes, sir.  
Q Before or after he died? 
	 
Q Officer, what led you to believe the defendant was under the
influence?  
A Because he was argumentary, and he couldn't pronunciate his words. 
	 
Q What happened then?  
A He told me, he says, "I have to kill you because you can identify
me."  
Q Did he kill you?  
A No. 
	 
Q Mrs. Jones, is your appearance this morning pursuant to a deposition
notice which I sent to your attorney?  
A No. This is how I dress when I go to work. 
	 
Q Have you ever been arrested?  
A Yes.  
Q What for?  
A Aggravating a female. 
	 
Q You say you're innocent, yet five people swore they saw you steal a
watch.  
A Your Honor, I can produce 500 people who didn't see me steal it.

Judge: Well, gentlemen of the jury, are you unanimous?
Foreman: Yes, your Honor, we're all alike -- temporarily insane. 
	 
THE COURT: Now, as we begin, I must ask you to banish all present
information and prejudice from your mind if you have any. 
	 
Q When he went, had you gone and had she, if she wanted to and were
able, for the time being excluding all the restraints on her not to go
also, would he have brought you, meaning you and she, with him to the
station?  
A MR. BROOKS. Objection. That question should be taken out and shot. 
	 
Q At the time you first saw Dr. McCarty, had you ever seen him prior
to that time? 
	 
JUDGE: I rarely do so, but for whatever purpose it may serve, I will
indicate for the record that I approached this case with a completely
open mind. 
	 
Q Did the lady standing the driveway subsequently identify herself to
you?  
A Yes, she did.  
Q Who did she say she was?  
A She said she was the owner of the dog's wife. 
	 
Q I understand you're Bernie Davis's mother.  
A Yes.  
Q How long have you known him? 
	 
Q Now, I'm going to show you what has been marked as State's Exhibit
No. two and ask if you recognize the picture?  
A John Fletecher.  
Q That's you?  
A Yes, sir.  
Q And you were present when the picture was taken, right? 
	 
Q As a officer of the Dodge City Police Department, did you stop an
automobile bearing Kansas license plates SCR446?  
A Yes, sir.  
Q Was the vehicle occupied at the time? 
	 
Q Please state the location of your right foot immediately prior to
impact.  
A Immediately before the impact, my right foot was located at the
immediate end of my right leg. 
	 
Q Have you ever beaten your wife?  
A No. I might slap her around a little, but I never beat her. 
	 
Q Just what did you do to prevent the accident?  
A I closed my eyes and screamed as loud as I could. 
	 
Q What can you tell us about the truthfulness and veracity of this
defendant?  
A Oh, she'll tell you the truth. She said she was going to kill the
son of a gun -- and she did. 
	 
Q And another reason that you didn't want to go out there was because
you feared for your life?  
A Yes, I did.  
Q Why?  
A That's a rowdy neighborhood, and there are very, very bad persons
that will do bodily harm and seriously kill someone. 
	 
Q Where were you on the bike at the time?  
A On the seat.  
Q I meant where is the street. 
	 
Before we recess, let's listen in on one last exchange involving a
child: 
	 
Q And lastly, Gary, all your responses must be oral, O.K.?  
A Oral.  
Q How old are you?  
A Oral. 

Nevada Bag Limits on Attorneys

ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 654 - COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS

March 20, 1989

-----------

Referred to Committee on Ways and Means

SUMMARY:	Sets season and bag limits on attorneys in Nevada (BDR S-3489)

FISCAL NOTE:	Effect on Local Government:  No.
		Effect on State or Industrial Insurance:  Yes.

AN ACT          setting the season and bag limit on attorneys; 
                and providing other matters properly relating thereto.

        THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE
                  AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

	Sec. 1.	Any person with a valid Nevada state hunting license may
          harvest attorneys for recreational (non-commercial) purposes.

	Sec. 2.	Taking of attorneys with traps or deadfalls is permitted.
          The use of currency as bait is prohibited.

	Sec. 3.	Killing of attorneys with a vehicle is prohibited.  If 
          accidentally struck, remove dead attorney to the roadside
          and proceed to nearest carwash.

	Sec. 4.	It is unlawful to chase, herd, or harvest attorneys from a 
          snow machine, helicopter, or aircraft.

	Sec. 5.	It shall be unlawful to shout "WHIPLASH", "AMBULANCE", or 
          "FREE SCOTCH" for the purposes of trapping attorneys.

	Sec. 6.	It shall be unlawful to hunt attorneys within 100 yards of 
          BMW, Porsche, or Mercedes dealerships, including Wednesday
          afternoons.

	Sec. 7.	It shall be unlawful to hunt attorneys within 200 yards 
          of courtrooms, law libraries, health spas, golf courses, 
          ambulances, or hospitals.

	Sec. 8.	If an attorney is elected to government office, it shall be 
          a felony to hunt, trap, or possess them.

	Sec. 9.	It shall be illegal for a hunter to wear a disguise as a 
          reporter, accident victim, physician, chiropractor, or tax 
          accountant for purposes of hunting attorneys.

	Sec. 10.	Bag Limits:

	Yellow-bellied Sidewinders - 2
	Two-faced Tortfeasors - 1
	Back-stabbing divorce litigators - 3
	Split-horned cutthroats - 2
	Honest Attorneys - protected (endangered species)