Morgan Micro Fiction

[Bad Alias]

I mean she is literally a lawyer.

Mab’s human cover is she’s a lawyer, she’s actually a licensed attorney and can show up and do things if she wants to, she doesn’t often choose to do that but occasionally it’s useful to be able to walk into a human courtroom. cos law is something that… I think one of the defining attributes of many of the fae is that they have this completely rigid code, and they understand codes even if we don’t understand the code they're behaving by, they adhere to it and they're going to stick to whatever they believe in even if it makes no sense to us...

Jim, Eastorcon 2015

I don't know how she's a lawyer, where she's admitted, or how she maintains her license(s).

• Did she go to law school and pass the bar exam or was she a lawyer before some or all such requirements existed and has she just maintained her license(s)?
• Is she licensed in just one state? Is she licensed in all of them? Is she licensed in multiple countries?
• Does she sit through CLE classes? (California requires 25 hours every 3 years, Texas 15 every year, and New York 24 every 2 years)

[Mira]

I mean she is literally a lawyer.
Jim, Eastorcon 2015

I don't know how she's a lawyer, where she's admitted, or how she maintains her license(s).

• Did she go to law school and pass the bar exam or was she a lawyer before some or all such requirements existed and has she just maintained her license(s)?
• Is she licensed in just one state? Is she licensed in all of them? Is she licensed in multiple countries?
• Does she sit through CLE classes? (California requires 25 hours every 3 years, Texas 15 every year, and New York 24 every 2 years)

I don't see any of the above being a problem for her, if she needs a license, it will happen..  It brings her bargaining powers into focus though, why she is so good at finding loop holes and why mortals usually lose to her.

[g33k]

I mean she is literally a lawyer.
<Snip WoJ>
Jim, Eastorcon 2015
...

<blinks>
Well.
Thank you, I hadn't see or heard of this before!

[g33k]

...  It brings her bargaining powers into focus though, why she is so good at finding loop holes and why mortals usually lose to her.

To be brutally frank about it, rigid adherence to weird legalistic codes (with abstruse loopholes and stunningly draconian penalties) has been a hallmark of faeries & old faerie-tales since LONG before any of the existing legal codes were written; it's far more likely (particularly in the Dresdenverse) that the lawyers derive their ways from the fae, than vice versa!

[Bad Alias]

I don't see any of the above being a problem for her, if she needs a license, it will happen.

It's more that it seems like her time is more valuable. A lot of CLE credits are apply to most states, so it's not like she's going to have to do 425 hours a year (just over 17 days), but I wouldn't be surprised if she would have to spend a few days every year taking CLEs. A lot of CLE seminars designed to cover a years worth of credits are scheduled over two or three days. And it's not like she could just not take the classes because that would involve lying. There are other certifications (statements) lawyers have to make annually. Additionally, depending on when she became a lawyer in America, she could have been required to swear an oath to defend the Constitution, which is a somewhat scary concept.

Honestly, it has me thinking that Jim has no idea what is involved in simply being a lawyer. I mean, most people have no idea what's involved in most professions. This came up recently because a friend of mine who is a manager had employees becoming disgruntled because they thought she just sat there in her office not doing anything. I don't know why they thought a big corporation would even have that position if it didn't involve doing anything, but hey, people are generally stupid.

[morriswalters]

Mab's got peeps and unlimited cash.  Given those two things and I'll get a Law degree and keep it and never see a classroom.  And never tell a lie.  But Jim is a writer.  He just has a bad habit of world building outside the text, and occasionally it makes him look silly.

[Mira]

  Then again,  Mab isn't a mere mortal, taking classes and tests to keep current wouldn't be that big a deal for her.  Possibly she'd take them those times when she was out and about in the mortal world with Sarissa, going to the opera etc..

[Silentbrick]

I don't see any need for her to do it.   I'm sure someone that /looks/ like her does attend and keep up with whatever is needed, but I doubt it's Mab.   That's what minions are for and probably the only time one uses a glamour to look like Mab.

[Bad Alias]

Then again,  Mab isn't a mere mortal, taking classes and tests to keep current wouldn't be that big a deal for her.  Possibly she'd take them those times when she was out and about in the mortal world with Sarissa, going to the opera etc..

It's still a tremendous waste of time for virtually no gain. Mab's got a lot to do.

I don't see any need for her to do it.   I'm sure someone that /looks/ like her does attend and keep up with whatever is needed, but I doubt it's Mab.   That's what minions are for and probably the only time one uses a glamour to look like Mab.

This would require her, or the minion, to lie.

[Arjan]

It's still a tremendous waste of time for virtually no gain. Mab's got a lot to do.
This would require her, or the minion, to lie.

She can just arrive with her invisible minion, introduce herself and swap with a simple illusion and the minion can do the test.

Or she can have people in the right places that help her. But a few days are usually not a problem. Especially not in normal times between two apocalypses.

[Bad Alias]

The bar exams aren't really the problem. Mab was most likely admitted to practice before those were a common place thing. "Think about this, to become a lawyer, all Abraham Lincoln, our esteemed 16th president, was required by Illinois law to do was to 'obtain certificate procured from the court of an Illinois county certifying to the applicant's good moral character.'"

The problem is taking and certifying that she has taken the CLEs. Mab cannot falsely certify she has fulfilled her annual CLE requirements.

[peregrine]

There's online CLE options as well, that Mab could easily do on her own time, or by paying only a bit of attention to while holding court or whatever.

[Bad Alias]

Yeah, fifteen monitors (or something like that) going at once seems like the only way she could actually meet the requirements in a way that isn't just a waste of her time. I still wonder why she would even bother.

[Snark Knight]

I mean, most people have no idea what's involved in most professions. This came up recently because a friend of mine who is a manager had employees becoming disgruntled because they thought she just sat there in her office not doing anything. I don't know why they thought a big corporation would even have that position if it didn't involve doing anything, but hey, people are generally stupid.

I read a study a while back where paying one VP handsomely to visibly do SFA actually ends up worth it because the office drones think if they work harder, they could get there one day.

[Arjan]

Honestly, it has me thinking that Jim has no idea what is involved in simply being a lawyer. I mean, most people have no idea what's involved in most professions. This came up recently because a friend of mine who is a manager had employees becoming disgruntled because they thought she just sat there in her office not doing anything. I don't know why they thought a big corporation would even have that position if it didn't involve doing anything, but hey, people are generally stupid.

But it is good that managers do nothing because then they do not disturb the people who are doing the real work