Kimes, Martha

PERSONAL:

Married; husband's name Joe; children: Donovan, Simon. Education: University of Wisconsin, B.A.; Columbia University Law School, J.D. (with honors), 1997.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Phoenix, AZ. Agent—Laurie Abkemeier, DeFiore and Company, 72 Spring St., Ste. 304, New York, NY 10012. E-mail—Martha@marthakimes.com.

CAREER:

Lawyer. Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, in-house counsel. Formerly worked as litigation associate at a law firm in New York, NY.

WRITINGS:

Ivy Briefs: A Privileged and Confidential Law School Story, Atria (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Enrolled at Columbia Law School just after completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin, Martha Kimes found herself unprepared for the reality of being a law student at an elite institution. Having grown up in small towns in the Midwest, constantly fantasizing about moving to a big city such as New York, she soon realized that she had chosen law school more to have an adventure than to train for an actual career. Nevertheless, she endured three years of legal education, graduated with honors, and then nabbed a coveted job at a prestigious law firm in the city, where she worked as a litigator. After several years in this high-pressure environment, Kimes decided to move to Arizona, where she lives with her husband and two sons and works as an attorney for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. The story of how she fared at Columbia and in the post-law school work environment is told in her memoir, Ivy Briefs: A Privileged and Confidential Law School Story.

The book, according to Curled Up with a Good Book Web site contributor Melissa Parcel, is ‘compulsively readable’ and should prove interesting to lawyers and non-lawyers alike. It describes Kimes's daunting workload, her encounters with demanding professors, and her navigation of the intensely competitive processes of getting internships, interviews, and jobs. As told by Kimes, Parcel wrote, the story of Ivy Briefs is ‘funny yet very true to life and entertaining.’ A Publishers Weekly reviewer expressed a similar view, noting that, though some material in the book seems ‘hyberbolic’ or ‘pat,’ Kimes's ‘self-deprecating wit, catty observations and healthy sense of the absurd’ distinguish it from similar titles. The book's ‘edgy, solipsistic narrative,’ according to a writer for Kirkus Reviews, helps explain that the sense of entitlement often seen in Ivy League lawyers can be traced to attitudes they pick up in during their legal training. Ivy Briefs's ‘frisky prose,’ the reviewer added, makes an ‘antic case study’ of legal education in the United States.

In an interview posted on the Blogcritics Web site, Kimes told Scott Butki: ‘I guess I was really trying to poke a little fun at our system of legal education and to poke a little fun at myself.’ When she was getting ready to leave for law school, she said, she tried to prepare herself by devouring anything she could find on the subject, including Scott Turow's memoir, One L, and such movies as The Paper Chase and Legally Blonde. The only result, though, was to leave her ‘shaking in my boots with fear.’ A more reassuring book that might have encouraged Kimes to ‘lighten up, already’ would have been greatly appreciated, she admitted to Butki. ‘I hope this book,’ she added, ‘will inspire others to relax a bit and enjoy the ride."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2007, review of Ivy Briefs: A Privileged and Confidential Law School Story, p. 208.

Publishers Weekly, March 5, 2007, review of Ivy Briefs, p. 50.

ONLINE

Blogcritics,http://blogcritics.org/ (October 29, 2007), Scott Butki, interview with Martha Kimes.

Curled Up with a Good Book,http://www.curledup.com/ (October 29, 2007), Melissa Parcel, review of Ivy Briefs.