Judge Real’s life lessons for young lawyers

Having read in the Daily Journal the recollections of practice before the recently deceased U.S. District Judge Manuel Real, it occurred to me that others might not be aware of his impact on many young lawyers like me, who clerked for the other judges on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

As part of our "orientation," thanks to Judge Real we were taken to Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution, between San Pedro and Long Beach, for a "tour." In those days we were a collection of mostly young, white, recent-law-school-graduate males, who did not reflect the ethnic, economic or "cultural" background of those incarcerated there. These were the type of people who would come before our courts in criminal cases; an area of law that I "knew" about from one first year law school class but had no interest in pursuing in practice; folks whose circumstances I would later learn to describe as: "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

It was quite an eye opener, and I've never forgotten it. What has really stuck with me is the vehemence and suggestiveness of comments we male types got while touring the female inmates' facility (there are no longer female inmates there). It was frightening, but ultimately educational.

Having been to San Quentin Prison as a member of a college soccer team that played an annual game against the inmate's team (that was populated by men who played together for a long time -- they didn't get any "away games," and always won), the female inmates' reaction to us at the federal detention center was shocking. To my surprise, they reacted in the same way I thought male inmates reacted to female visitors. Wonder of wonders; we're more similar than we are different!

In retrospect, the shock of that visit has helped my being regularly disabused of many other unwarranted assumptions I make based upon no real information or experience.

I later got a job in a law firm, where one of the partners eventually told me that I got the job over other applicants, not because of my excellence, legal training and potential, but because my clerkship had provided me first-name familiarity with many who worked in the U.S. District Court, especially its Clerk's Office.

The first federal trial I participated in as an associate was before Judge Real, and it was definitely an example of the versatility, even in civil cases, of what I came to learn was called his "Rocket Docket." After months and months of expensive (to the client) preparation, we quickly lost. The client wasn't happy. Nor were the partners in the firm. The 9th Circuit affirmed, 2-1. See S.M. Wilson v. Smith International, 587 F.2d 1363 (9th Cir. 1978) [to those who participated, today affectionately known as "the 'famous' tunnel boring case"].

All things considered, I value the trip to Terminal Island much more than feel bad about the trial result. Life lessons endure, and hopefully we can move on from unhappy case outcomes.