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Two lawyers go into a Starbucks...
Marc Galantar was asked Monday if he had heard any new lawyer jokes lately. Galanter, a UW-Madison law professor who has been researching the subject of attorneys and jokes for years, thought for a moment and said: "Two lawyers go into a Starbucks and get coffee. They sit down, sip their coffee, and then they reach into their briefcases and pull out sandwiches. In short order a manager comes by and says, Come on. You can't eat your own sandwiches here.' The lawyers look at each other -- and switch sandwiches." OK, it's not the best lawyer joke you've ever heard. It's certainly not the most vicious. That might be: What do you call 5,000 lawyers on the bottom of the ocean? A good start. Or: Why do they bury lawyers 100 feet into the ground? Because deep down, they're good people. Galanter, as mentioned, has been thinking about all this for years, and now the book he has been working on off and on for most of a decade is finally done. "Lowering the Bar: Lawyer Jokes and Legal Culture," published by the University of Wisconsin Press, should be in stores early next month. Galanter's theory is that the tone of lawyer jokes changed about 25 years ago. Prior to 1980, the jokes were linked to aspects of the profession and could be complimentary. For example: A guy on trial for murder is acquitted. Walking out of the courthouse, his lawyer asks him, "Did you kill him?" The guy says, "I thought so until I heard your closing argument."
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