Mayer Memories of a lawyer from 6 decades

1. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 978-1-64268-230-4
Verlag: novum pro Verlag
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 260 Seiten

In court and on the high seas, you are in only God's hands! This old legal wisdom inevitably comes to mind when reading this book. The author has been admitted to the bar in Stuttgart for 60 years and has always worked as a freelance lawyer, for many years together with other colleagues, most recently alone in his own law firm. After 55 years of active practice, he is now only available to advise acquaintances when asked for help. In a lively round, he repeatedly reported on episodes from his professional life, cheerful, sad, incomprehensible and thought-provoking. From his circle of friends came the suggestion to write down and publish such stories. He has followed this suggestion with this book.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mayer, Rolf

Leseproben

The consideration was correct, as was to be proven again and again later.

I moved into my student digs in Tübingen right on time at the beginning of the winter semester and went to my first lecture full of expectation. I also joined a long-established but liberal student fraternity, as was only fitting.

At that time it was possible to take the first state law examination after the 6th semester. That was absolutely not common. 10 to 12 semesters were normal and probably also required if you wanted to achieve an honors degree, a must if you were aiming for a position in the civil service, because there the paperwork had to be right. Well, the civil service was the last thing I had in mind; I was aiming for the legal profession. In that case, I thought, I could care less about the paperwork. This consideration was wrong in this absolute sense, but it never did me any harm.

I had gone to elementary school for 4 years and to high school for 9 years, a total of 13 years. I decided that another 3 years of study would have to suffice, registered for the first state law exam after the 6th semester and passed. It wasn't a predicate exam, but that didn't matter to me in the end. I had achieved my goal. No more school. I immediately registered with the Ministry of Justice and began the next stage of my training as a judicial trainee. More about that in the next chapter.

The first steps in professional life as a judicial trainee, the second state examination and the time as an attorney-at-law

After I had the first state exam in my pocket, I had exactly - nothing. No lawyer without the second state examination. And without three years of training as a judicial trainee, no second state examination. So I immediately reported to the Ministry of Justice, applied for and received admission as a judicial trainee. Three years of training as a judicial trainee with numerous stations now lay ahead of me, at the district court, the regional court, the public prosecutor's office, administrative authorities, probate courts, land registry offices and so on, in order to get to know legal life in practice. One could freely choose a station, I chose, for whatever reason, the Evangelical High Church Council, which also took me. I mention this station with deliberation, because it had an advantage for me in any case, which immediately convinced me as a practitioner: The way from the apartment to the office was only 150 m and was very time-saving....

I will report on this station elsewhere.

There was also the possibility to take three months of scientific leave, intended to write a doctoral thesis. During my time as a student in Tübingen, I wrote a doctoral thesis for a brother of the Federation, which earned me some money. But I also very quickly came to the realization that, unlike in natural science subjects, for example, a legal doctoral thesis and the viva voce examination entitled one to use the title of doctor, but was otherwise pretty useless. The thesis would be printed, placed in a library, and read by no one. Should I do this to myself? My father did not have a doctorate, nor did numerous of his colleagues; they had lost four years of time due to the First World War, if they had survived and dealt with it at all. But I simply had no desire for the so-called scientific work. I used the three months of scientific vacation for an adventurous trip with two friends and an ordinary VW-beetle to Iran to Teheran, Isfahan and Shiras, via Baghdad, Damascus and Amman to Jerusalem, a trip that everyone thought was impossible in 1956, but which we succeeded in against all expectations - in 1956. Before and after until today it had been impossible.

The experiences I had on this trip have opened my eyes in many ways and have brought me more for life and also for my legal profession than any doctoral thesis could ever have done. Therefore, I am allowed this digression.

The lack of a doctorate never hurt me as a lawyer, only once a Viennese woman who belonged to the upper ten thousand of the Viennese chic society scornfully reproached me for not even having a doctorate. I survived it.

But back to trainee teachers.

My first station to which I was assigned was the Stuttgart District Court - a criminal division headed by an old experienced senior district judge. In his unit, I was introduced to the world of petty crime and the real world of the red-light district. My mother would have been horrified.

I will never forget a trial whose subject matter led into this milieu. A lady from this milieu was heard as a witness.

The personal details were recorded. This exchange followed almost verbatim: The judge: "What is your profession?

The witness (in 1954!): " Prostitute". The judge: "Are you married?"

The witness: "Yes."

The judge: "What is your husband's profession?"

The witness, without making a face, "Pimp." The judge: "What does your husband do?"

The witness: " It's sitting."

The judge: "You don't have to answer that question if you don't want to. What are you asking for a visit like this?"

The witness: "I don't have a fixed rate, I always say give what I was worth to you, then I never get less than 50 DM (that was a lot of money in 1954)....

Legally, this trial was of no significance, but in fact it showed a part of life as it really was.

And then I remember the Monday morning when the chief justice, who was in charge of the office of the unit, came beaming into the judge's chambers with the week's agendas in his hand and shouted, "Oh, Mr. Chief Magistrate, a whole week without immorality!" (Oh, Mr. Chief Magistrate, a whole week without immorality).

Another stop was the prosecutor's office.

Public prosecutors who had been assigned a court trainee were allowed to send him to the trial as a representative in cases they considered suitable. This was the first time that the trainee prosecutor was actively and independently sent to a trial, which was a new experience for him. The trainee lawyer was given the file, he had to represent the prosecution at the trial, but he was also given the binding instruction as to which criminal charge he had to file at the trial, a rather nonsensical instruction, because it prevented the trainee lawyer from fulfilling his duty, namely to file the charge resulting from the law after the result of the taking of evidence. The trainee lawyer then had to return the file to his instructor with a written report on the course of the hearing and the result.

So I, too, was sent to a hearing with the file containing the exact instructions as to what motion I had to make. My prosecutor had based his indictment mainly on the alleged testimony of a witness, who, however, did not confirm exactly this incriminating testimony at the trial. The indictment could not be sustained. I moved for acquittal, against the mandatory instruction given to me. The court also acquitted the defendant. I returned the file with a detailed report. My public prosecutor was outraged, a judicial trainee who did not follow the instruction given to him, there was no such thing, there had never been such a thing, and there could not be such a thing.

He therefore filed a disciplinary complaint against me. I was immediately summoned to the head of the department, a senior public prosecutor, who reproached me as to how I came to disregard the instruction of my superior. "Mr. Senior Public Prosecutor, the reason why I did not comply with my superior's directive is clear from my report, which I am sure you have read. By the way: When I am sent to a criminal trial as a representative of the public prosecutor's office, I have to represent the prosecuting authority and fulfill its duties. If the main hearing does not reveal any suspicion of a crime against the defendant, the public prosecutor's office has to draw the consequences. I did that, the court saw it the same way and acquitted the defendant. It cannot be my task, as a puppet of the clerk, to parrot the motions that he has given me along the way and that have proven to be unfounded. If I had made them in light of the evidence, I would have only embarrassed the prosecution and myself. I'm not prepared to do that." He looked at me a bit puzzled, probably expecting apologies. A very frank conversation then ensued. With the words, "You did the right thing," I was benevolently dismissed. However, there was obviously talk about the rebellious trainee teacher, as I could occasionally gather from remarks.

There is also a story worth telling about a third station, a civil chamber at the regional court. As I said, I was assigned to a civil division at the regional court. My training judge was a clever jurist, but also a down-to-earth Swabian who knew life, which unfortunately was often not the case with many judges, by all means excellent jurists, and still is today. His sister ran a solid Swabian hotel and restaurant in a formerly independent village that had grown into downtown Stuttgart. After work, my...