Return of John Marshall — Robert Reilly

Mrs. Vince DeMarco, a bar owner and single parent, files a complaint with a congressman demanding to know why the federal government tolerates a state law prohibiting her son from earning a law license through an apprenticeship program the way John Marshall and Abraham Lincoln did. She claimed the law in her son's state didn't make sense because seven of the fifty states permit law office apprenticeship programs that produce "excellent" attorneys, according to several studies. Why aren't such programs available in all states and why should her son "suffer" the "needless expense of law school" simply because of where he lives? she wanted to know. Mrs. DeMarco explains her dilemma to Bill McNare, an aging journalist living in a rooming house, worried about money following a divorce and a career going nowhere under his new editors. McNare becomes intrigued with the story after learning the state of Washington's four-year apprenticeship program costs less than $10,000 total and is taught by practicing attorneys with at least ten years of experience. If the states and the federal government are genuinely concerned about soaring student debt, why don't they encourage such cost-saving apprenticeship programs? he wonders. What McNare discovers about the higher educational system will shock, surprise and sadden many readers.