In just a few short months I’ll be getting married, and that means I’m in full-on planning mode. Turns out that planning a wedding is basically a full-time job, so when I’m not at the courthouse, I’m emailing my caterer, buying out Michael’s, and of course, re-pinning every genius idea I find on Pinterest.

While the majority of wedding planning is really fun – cake tastings, anyone? – there is one formidable task: the guest list. Of all the decisions we’ve made so far, cutting people from the guest list has been our least favorite. A particularly hairy issue brides and grooms encounter is whether to invite co-workers.

Most young lawyers spend more time with their co-workers than with their own family. Provided you actually like your co-workers, it seems natural to invite them. The problem arises when deciding where to draw the line: if you invite another associate, do you need to invite all of the associates? If you invite one partner in your practice group, should you invite all of them? The whole firm?

The obvious answer is that you should only invite co-workers who will give you really great gifts. Just kidding (sort of). While there are no etiquette rules directly on point, it seems to me that the most important factors to consider are the size of your venue and budget, whether there is the potential for hurt feelings, and whether you are comfortable with a colleague listening to the best man’s speech about your raucous college adventures.

For me, it was an easy decision: I consider my chambers co-workers to be friends, and there are only 2 of them. My boss is officiating, so that was a no-brainer, too. It seems, however, that if I were still at the firm or in a different work setting, who to invite would be a difficult choice.

So I pose some questions to you, blissfully married Generation J.D.ers – when you got married, whom did you invite from work, if anyone? Did anyone have hurt feelings? What would you do differently?

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On any given day in any given trial courtroom across Maryland you can find folks wearing a wide array of apparel, including T-shirts, jeans, tank tops, sweatpants, and even pajamas. While court is in session, sheriff’s deputies beseech gallery observers to cease conversing and canoodling. And at the end of a busy day, the courthouse hallways are adorned with soda cans and gum remnants, and the gallery benches are emblazoned with new graffiti.

Since when did we start treating courtrooms like our living rooms?

While members of the bar did not commit many of the aforementioned offenses, I’ve seen lawyers come to court in business casual, deposit garbage on the floor and chew bubble gum at trial table.

Put it all in the blender and it creates an environment where it feels OK to say and do whatever you want without consequences. Worse, it gives the impression that the courtroom and those occupying it don’t deserve respect. It becomes abundantly apparent when people curse during victim impact statements, refer to the judge by just her last name and loudly snicker at opposing counsel that we are not in Kansas anymore.

Where has all of the formality gone? I realize that we are in a time where casual is king (you don’t even have to wear a jacket at The Prime Rib anymore!) but a courtroom is an important place where important decisions are made and it should feel important to the people who walk into it.

If we as lawyers expect others to take our profession seriously, we have to start taking it seriously. Lawyers give cues to their clients and witnesses about how to act in a courtroom by their own behavior.

Much as been written about Generation Y-ers and their inability to conform to a professional environment, but even as a member of Gen Y, I wouldn’t dream of coming to court bare-armed or in a too-short dress a la Lindsay Lohan.

All that being said, perhaps my fellow young lawyers don’t feel the same way as I do. Are you OK with a more casual courtroom? If not, who should be the impetus for change?

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This week, like so many in Maryland and around the nation, I awaited the jury’s verdict in the trial against George Huguely V for the murder of Yeardley Love in Charlottesville, Va. While the jury deliberated, many legal analysts and talking heads speculated about the verdict and attempted to predict the jury’s decision.

I, too, wondered what would be debated in that jury room and what facts or elements would be most important to them in rendering their verdict.

I have observed several jury trials during my clerkship. There have been many cases that I thought for certain would go one way but ended up going another. It appears that even the most seasoned trial lawyer can be surprised by a jury’s verdict: what seems critical to lawyers is often not what is most important to jurors.

The experience has caused me to question whether I’ll be able to effectively relate to and persuade juries in the future.

Lawyers spend three (or four) years breaking down the way they used to process information and rebuilding their minds to think in terms of “issue-rule-analysis-conclusion.” When lawyers start trying cases before juries, as Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Marcus Z. Shar told my trial advocacy class, they must remember who they were before they went to law school. Lawyers must tell the story, not just clinically present evidence that proves the elements.

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After my last post about the Baltimore County Bar Association appeared in The Daily Record’s print edition, I received an email with a link that sheds some light on the history of throwing rolls at the keynote speaker at the Baltimore County Bar Banquet.

According Jeff Scholnick at the  Baltimore County Small and Solo Attorney’s Blog, the tradition may date back to the late 1950s.  Scholnick posted Towson legal icon Harris “Bud” George’s tale of his first bar banquet.

Gov. Theodore McKeldin was the keynote speaker, and at that time the banquet was held at the Greenspring Inn. McKeldin dodged not only carbohydrate bombs, but also pea projectiles launched from lawyers’ spoons.

Here’s a key passage:

At a table in front of me, I noticed a white-haired gentleman stagger to his feet. Very deliberately, he leaned over his table, selected a small roll of bread, and, to my dismay, suddenly heaved it at Governor McKeldin.

For the full details and a hearty end-of-week laugh, check out the posts here and here.

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I had the pleasure Thursday night of attending my first Baltimore County Bar Association banquet, colloquially known as “The Prom.” The Prom was held at Martin’s West, a place I had not been – coincidentally – since my own high school prom.

In the weeks leading up to the event, I heard great stories about bar banquets past. Only lawyers and judges can attend the Prom, and the lack of spouses and significant others may account for the legendary tales.

While last night was not as rowdy as days of yore, one great tradition remained intact: throwing rolls at the keynote speaker. I’ve asked around the courthouse to see if anyone knows the origin of the tradition to no avail. But I learned it is upheld no matter the level of dignitary at the podium. Spiro Agnew once gave the keynote while vice president; even with the Secret Service in the building, he was still pelted with dinner rolls. Last night’s keynote, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, came prepared with a basket of rolls to fire back at the crowd.

Throwing rolls is indicative of the general mood at the Prom. Even though everyone is dressed in their finest black-tie garb, no one takes themselves too seriously, and I think that’s precisely why it was so much fun. (The lobster dinner and open bar didn’t hurt, either.) It was a great opportunity as a young lawyer to see respected judges and lawyers let their hair down, a reminder they like having a good time just as much as the next guy.

Even though the banquet is a great party, it’s also a good place to make connections. The guest list is a who’s who of Baltimore-area lawyers and judges. One person last night told me that he gets more business in an hour at the Prom than in a week at the office, and I don’t doubt it. For every law school classmate, law clerk and former coworker I caught up with last night, I met three new lawyers.

If you’ve never been before, the Baltimore County bar banquet is a rite of passage that can’t be missed – and one professional event you won’t dread attending.

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A collateral benefit of being a judicial law clerk is the opportunity to rub elbows with “legal legends” on a daily basis. These legends are the elder statesmen of our profession: judges, retired judges and lawyers who have practiced law for longer than I’ve been alive.

I’m the kind of person who loves a great war story. Nothing excites me more than to hear about a lawyer’s great Atticus Finch moment, or a judge’s clever retort on the record. Legal legends have the best war stories around and as a law clerk, I’ve been blessed with the chance to hear many.

The stories I’ve heard about the way practicing law used to be — when lawyers were colorful characters and local celebrities, when lawyers had a strong sense of decorum and civility, when spending an evening discussing cases with your partners over a drink was the norm, when lawyers liked being lawyers — make me feel nostalgic for a time I never knew.

It can be so easy to burn out as a young lawyer. The daily grind can make you question why you ever decided to do this in the first place. Spending time with a legal legend can be a serious source of inspiration and remind you of the goals you had when you started this profession. It would be a non-billable hour or two well spent.

Know a great story from a legal legend? Pay homage in the comments section.

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