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10 Toward a Theory of Rascuache Lawyering Querido amigo, I was very saddened to hear about the death of your friend, Big John. I understand that you shared a very special relationship with him and I appreciate your sincerity in talking about him. Thank you for painting such a vivid picture of John and honoring him in your work. I can see how frustrating it must be to know how law should work but be surprised at how law does work, and to feel that there is not much that you can do about the disparity. We discussed earlier how your practice is so intimate and personal, and this case clearly shows this.After all, lawyers are people, and to get“fired”by a client will certainly make one feel personally hurt, let alone to be “fired” by someone who is a lifelong friend. Do you think that the bonds created between a rascuache lawyer and a client present limitations on practice? Or do you think that these bonds make way for more sincere and zealous advocacy? Please share your thoughts. I hope to visit Southern California soon and am looking forward to meeting with you over tea and cena. I would have preferred sharing a tequila, but I know that you gave up alcohol and caffeine several years ago. Once again, thank you for sharing the manuscript and your feelings about John. Lo siento mucho, Fermina Querida Fermina, Amiga, I want to start this last letter by thanking you for your patience and indulgence in listening to these stories and your wonderful input, suggestions, and questions on individual chapters. I have taken your toward a theory of rascuache lawyering 229 advice and have decided to write a conclusion that attempts to bring together a lot of the loose ends in the various chapters. I would like to close by taking this opportunity to identify and discuss common themes and issues that arose during the course of this project and to begin to address some important questions raised not only in your last letter but in the course of our correspondence. I should begin by offering a disclaimer in noting that one cannot necessarily generalize from my experience and apply it to other cases, because my law practice has been truly unique and has of course been colored by the fact that I was a part-time, pro bono attorney. Also, I was only able to examine here a limited number of the many cases that I have handled. However, I am confident that the cases that I opted to include are representative of the whole practice.The fact that I have been a part-time, pro bono attorney has undoubtedly shaped the nature of my practice and experience. I have provided legal representation for many people who normally would not have had access to law or to lawyers, people who would not have been represented by a lawyer. Another unique aspect of my practice is that I have focused on ordinary people with ordinary legal problems, rather than on highprofile , sensationalized cases. I found that one of the problems with being a pro bono attorney, ironically, is time and time management. The fact that I did not typically charge an hourly rate for my services or require a retainer before working on a case meant, unfortunately, that there was literally no limit on the amount of time that I could spend on a case. Normally, the limit would have been set by the client’s ability to pay, or in the case of a public defender, by the size of the caseload. For most private attorneys, the more time you spend on a case the more money you make. In my case, however, there was no relationship between how much a client paid and the number of hours that I put into a case. This meant that I probably ended up spending much more time on my cases than I needed to spend. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that I already had a full-time job. As I developed a client base, I found myself putting more and more time into my cases and less and less time into my regular job, which revolved around teaching and research. The only way to justify this, obviously, was to recognize that in the end, my law practice was also my research, and that what I learned in my practice made me a far better and more effective scholar and...

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