Meredith Turney, Attorney

Back in grade school I remember learning the word attorney because my classmates teased me about how much it sounded like my last name, Turney. I guess it was destiny that I would eventually become an attorney since I am a Turney. :-) Actually, I don't think we have any attorneys in the Turney family so I'm the first Turney to become an attorney (should God let me pass the Bar exam). :-) I think I'm also the first Turney to become a doctor. Yes, I can now legally be called Dr. Turney thanks to my Juris Doctorate. But please don't refer to me as Dr. Turney unless we're in a school setting and I'm your teacher. ;-)

Growing up, Dad's business associates always asked if I would follow in his footsteps and become a pharmacist. Considering the fact science, math and I don't get a long very well, I informed them that I did NOT intend to enter the medical field, although I wasn't sure what career I would eventually choose. It never seriously crossed my mind that the infantile connection my grade school classmates made between attorney and Turney would find actual substance. (I do not attribute their comments to childhood prescience! Although it could have been a sign from God.)

Other than grade school, few people have made the connection between attorney and Turney. But when I started law school, I heard plenty of comments about the irony. During one orientation class, a professor called on me to answer a question. As I stood and told the prof my name, she, in disbelief at my arrogance and ignorance, quickly upbraided me for pompously pronouncing myself an attorney during my first week of law school. Before I lost all credibility, I had to quickly inform the teacher that Turney was in fact my last name, and I was not pronouncing myself an attorney. She found this very humorous and once again I was subjected to more comments about the irony. Now I take such comments in stride and actually enjoy telling people that I am a Turney who will soon, Lord willing, be an attorney.

It probably would have been easier to go through life telling people that I'm a Turney and letting them believe I'm an attorney instead of putting in the blood, sweat and tears necessary to actually become a full-fledged attorney at law. And I wouldn't be lying when I tell people I'm a Turney. But when I get married and take my husband's name, I'll be happy I went to law school so I can say, for the rest of my life, I'm a Turney... I mean, AN attorney. :-)