peacetraveler22 | Remembering Samantha Smith

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Remembering Samantha Smith - Journey to Maine

Hello dear readers! I know many of you voted for me to travel to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, but unfortunately finances are tight and airfare there too expensive. So, in a week, I'll return to my beloved Maine and go on another road journey to New England. During the trip, I plan on meeting with Samantha Smith's mother in Boothbay Harbor. What questions do you want me to ask her?

I've had no time for the blog recently due to a hectic work and life schedule. :( However, next week I'll show you "good Russia," with stories about Kazan and Ples from the winter journey. In the meantime, please let me know what questions you have for Samantha's mom. I'm happy I can finally leave the office for a week, meet with her, and relax in the beautiful surroundings of cozy New England. Does the younger generation in Russia know about Samantha's legacy? How do they learn about her? Or, is she mostly known to those who grew up during the Soviet period? I think her mother will be interested in knowing these facts. :) Have a nice weekend!

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Good day!
Earlier we discussed the question of the salaries of lawyers in the US, and you said that many lawyers in the US do not earn a lot of money. Just above you mentioned salary 50 - 60k a year.
I will give approximate figures for annual salary for lawyers in Kazan on fresh vacancies and today's exchange rate.

1) Lawyer - work with contracts, customer consultation, participation in court sessions - maximum salary per year 7.953 USD.
2) Lawyer - legal maintenance of activity of the company, working with government agencies, working with contracts
the maximum salary in a year 6.959 USD.
3) Lawyer - full legal support of company activities, Methodical management of legal work' the development of local normative acts and other legal documents. - minimum(with a probability of 94% and the maximum wager is not much higher + / - $ 150) salary per year 7.953 USD.
4) Lawyer - legal counseling and adoption of a package of documents from the client. Writing claims, writs, motions. Representation of interests in court of the plaintiff - the maximum salary in a year 3.976 USD.
5) Lawyer - legal support of business activities of the Company. Administration of claims, mostly collecting debts is the maximum salary in a year 4.971 USD.

Perhaps this is enough, the rest of the vacancies are not much different in terms of wages.

Now imagine such a situation. Young and beautiful Shannon arrives in Kazan in 2015, she takes a job as a lawyer, with a maximum salary per year 8.000 USD. If Shannon can buy an apartment on credit, with such salary? The probability of this is hard to predict, but I would rate the probability of denial of credit (in different banks) in the region of 40 - 50 percent, because Shannon for these banks can be unreliable client, and it is a small apartment with an area of 350 sq ft, no parking, with neighbors alcoholics, etc. Other things (clothes, poor quality food, electronics, etc.) will be more accessible to Shannon, maybe someday she'll even be able to buy cheap (by "Russian standards") Korean car, because salary 8.000 USD is a relatively good salary for Kazan.
By the standards of western countries Shannon is quite poor lady who lives in a poor country.
The main point of this post is that the standard of living in Russia is relatively low (at least to look at salaries above), and when you say that many lawyers in the USA receive little salary, you are not talking about the fact that they have very tight(or am I mistaken?), but when we talk about a lot of lawyers in the RF who receive low salaries, the issue here is more about survival (example with Shannon in Kazan, it is rather an example of a successful lawyer in the RF).

Thanks!

Edited 2015-07-31 18:25 (UTC)

First, thanks for calling me young and beautiful! :)) Second, it's quite interesting to compare the salaries. To work and live in Russia has never been a dream of mine, even in a nice city like Kazan. :) My life in the USA is very good, though not extravagant. And, yes, when I spoke about attorneys in the USA making low salaries, I mean that it is sometimes difficult to survive and pay all bills on their lawyer income. This is because they are burdened with huge student loan debt and repayment! Did you receive a free legal education in Russia? If not, how much did it cost?

But in Kazan you won't pay 2000$/month for a one-bedroom apartment

That's right. So everything is relative. :) In DC, people earn larger salaries, but the cost of living is higher. In Nebraska, the salaries are much lower, and so is the cost of living. Look here, a luxury and large one bedroom apartment in Nebraska is only $900/month! :) http://www.mytuscanyliving.com/Floor-plans.aspx

I had to google where Nebraska is. That says enough about Nebraska
But for example 1 qt of milk costs the same price in russia and usa

Nebraska is in Middle America, or the "great nowhere" as I call it. Near Kansas, which I'll soon write about in the blog. :) The ugliest part of the USA, in my opinion.

I did not receive a full professional legal education, except for a few semesters I studied general norms of civil and other branches of law. I am a self-taught lawyer.

With cost, there can cite as an example the faculty of law in Kazan University, a year's worth of (2015-2016 academic year) will be approximately 2 380 USD, this is for the first year of the bachelor's degree (not sure what the term "degree" quite correctly).

Okay, it's a completely different system for lawyers in the U.S. You can't be "self-taught." It requires A LOT of schooling. First, you have to have an undergraduate degree, and then another three or four years to get a "doctorate of jurisprudence" in grad school. Minimum of 7 years in university and grad school. On top of that, you can't officially practice law until you pass the bar exam, a treacherous two day exam administered in all States twice a year. So, you could pay all that money and spend years of your life in school and never be able to practice law, or work as an attorney, if you can't pass that damn test. Sounds fun...huh? :)

In Russia usually in general too most lawyers have professional education, and lawyers "from the street" is a rarity. But yes, if you don't have professional education (but have independent education) you still have the opportunity to work as a lawyer in a limited number of organizations (e.g. without professional education you will never be able to work as a judge, etc.), except if you get a job, you may not be able to present a professional diploma, and you will have to prove their qualifications in other ways This can reduce your competitive ability.

About system you describe, I can't evaluate it in terms of the presence or absence of fun, because I do not know what the result is achieved through the application of a verification system for lawyers, more precisely future lawyers, if I understood you correctly.
And it's actually my question is justified the use of such knowledge verification system future lawyers now, or, for example, you can dispense with the bar exam at least for those lawyers who are going to work in a little less responsible spheres, for example lawyers who work exclusively in the Office (never go to court), mostly work with documents, etc. or this exam must pass absolutely all the lawyers? I'm interested in your particular view on this issue)).

All lawyers must pass this exam, it doesn't matter if you're doing transactional/contract work, or arguing in the court room. There is the famous example of our late President John F. Kennedy's son, JFK Jr. He failed the New York bar exam three times after he graduated law school, it was a big story in the media each time. Poor fellow! :) I don't like the U.S. system. I think it's better to train lawyers in specialized schooling, and then make them work for a few years in an apprenticeship model. Honestly, law school teaches you very little about the actual practice of law. You really can only learn by doing it, same as most professions. I was lucky, because I was already doing legal work (as a paralegal) when I decided to go to law school. Therefore, I knew that I was getting myself into, and the realities of the profession. :)

Thank you very much for your reply Shannon, I'm sorry to say, a bit distracted from the topic of our conversation here, so I think that it is better to defer discussion of the common elements of the legal sphere before future solar days)), because I had more questions on exam system you described, but unfortunately I have a problem with time, so I think this interesting for me is the dialogue came to an end, but I hope in the future to come back to it.
With great respect to you!
Rəhmət!

May I make some remark: Russia is very interesting country, because lawyers with salary up to 8000 $ and doctors of medicine with official salary 5000$ per year, in fact make all efforts to earn more...because no one can explain how to live and feed family on official salary.

Чтоб ты жил на одну зарплату! :)

Изыди!)

Is it a prestigious profession to be a doctor or lawyer in Russia? In the USA, both are considered prestigious titles.

Edited 2015-07-31 19:47 (UTC)

Think of american doctor as a cadillac, and of his russian colleague as a cheap ford truck.

Back in the 20ies the american idea was that everyone is entitled to a car, while the russian idea was, everyone is entitled to healthcare. This is how our countries developed it. You can't put the same amount of work and care into a ford truck, like in a caddilac. You can't pay a mass doctor as much as he gets where healthcare is rather luxurious.

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Remembering Samantha Smith - Journey to Maine

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