Law Dopers: a brief survey

[Elendil's Heir]

There seem to be more than a few Dopers who practice law. I'm interested - please tell me:

1. From what law school you graduated
2. In what state(s) you're admitted
3. What your current job is
4. In what city you practice
5. How many years you've been at it, and what led you there
6. What you like best about your work
7. What you like least

I'll start:

1. Case Western Reserve U., Cleveland, Ohio
2. Ohio only
3. Magistrate, Cleveland Municipal Court
4. Cleveland
5. Four. Before that, I was an assistant county prosecutor for six years; before that, served with a branch of Legal Aid for two and a half years; and before that, a half-year in private practice.
6. Presiding at trial; handling criminal dockets; legal research
7. Special projects on very short deadlines; bureaucratic tangles with the Clerk of Court; humdrum cases.

Thanks!

[Bearflag70]

1. From what law school you graduated - Univ. of San Diego
2. In what state(s) you're admitted - CA
3. What your current job is - Solo Practitioner
4. In what city you practice - Sacramento
5. How many years you've been at it, and what led you there - 7 with prior firm experience in business and insurance litigation
6. What you like best about your work - Autonomy
7. What you like least - Long hours & wasting time on non-billable admin

[Elendil's Heir]

Thanks, Bearflag70!

::Crickets chirp::

Um.... anyone else?

[Bearflag70]

Awesome thread!

I think I'll read it again.

[jackelope]

I'm a 2L. I hope to be licensed and practicing in Tennessee in a couple years, but right now I'm more focused on passing my Tax exam in a few weeks.

[Hey, It's That Guy!]

I hated law school, drifted through being a practicing lawyer for the last year and a half, and realized I was making a HUGE mistake with my life. I'm going back to school in January to get a Masters in Library and Information Science, and still may end up as a law librarian. In any case, I think I'm on my way to a much better career and life path.

[katie1341]

1. Graduate from Georgia State University

2. Admitted in Georgia

3. Currently a Public Defender

4. Practice in Winder, Georgia

5. Been a PD for 18 years, since graduating from GSU. I went to law school becasue I wanted to be a public defender.

6. What I like best: mixing it up in the courtroom

7. What I like least: LONG hours, people who think I'm either not a "real lawyer" or somehow less than competent becasue I'm a PD

[Q.N. Jones]

1. Harvard
2. Minnesota
3. not employed; about to start grad school
4. did practice in Minneapolis
5. did two years, then quit
6. writing legal briefs
7. bullshit firm politics

[Bearflag70]

Originally Posted by Q.N. Jones

7. bullshit firm politics

Originally Posted by Bearflag70

3. What your current job is - Solo Practitioner
<snip>
6. What you like best about your work - Autonomy

Preach it, brother!

[Hey, It's That Guy!]

Originally Posted by Q.N. Jones

1. Harvard
2. Minnesota
3. not employed; about to start grad school
4. did practice in Minneapolis
5. did two years, then quit
6. writing legal briefs
7. bullshit firm politics

May I ask what you're going to grad school for, if it is my business? I'm fascinated by any lawyers who decide to reinvent themselves, or get out of the business because they don't like it.

[UncleBeer]

Originally Posted by Bearflag70

Awesome thread!

I think I'll read it again.

Preparing for the appeal?

[whole bean]

1. From what law school you graduated - University of Florida
2. In what state(s) you're admitted - Georgia
3. What your current job is - Corporate & Bankruptcy Litigation, Restructuring
4. In what city you practice - Atlanta
5. How many years you've been at it, and what led you there - 6, when I was little I wanted to be Atticus Finch -- now I keep doing it because I owe Uncle Same fifty large and it's the best way for me to make the most money
6. What you like best about your work - money/intellectual stimulation
7. What you like least - billing time

[Q.N. Jones]

Originally Posted by Big Bad Voodoo Lou

May I ask what you're going to grad school for, if it is my business? I'm fascinated by any lawyers who decide to reinvent themselves, or get out of the business because they don't like it.

Clinical psychology. I'm interested both in forensic psychology (I was a litigator) and also counseling lawyers (huge mental illness and all around unhappiness problems in the profession). I will probably have an eclectic practice.

[Q.N. Jones]

Originally Posted by Bearflag70

Preach it, brother!

Sister.

[ENugent]

1. Harvard
2. Massachusetts; sitting for the Washington bar in February
3. Patent attorney
4. Bellevue, WA
5. I practiced as a patent agent before going to law school. I've been doing that since I finished grad school in 1997. I graduated from law school in 2002. I started working for a law firm because I was totally disillusioned with academia and the business of scientific research after a long and difficult road to my Ph.D.
6. Working with some inventors
7. Working with other inventors

[whole bean]

Originally Posted by Q.N. Jones

Clinical psychology. I'm interested both in forensic psychology (I was a litigator) and also counseling lawyers (huge mental illness and all around unhappiness problems in the profession). I will probably have an eclectic practice.

that sounds fascinating

[anu-la1979]

1. University of Illinois
2. Don't know yet
3. Federal attorney on an honors fellowship-executive agency (sorry, don't want to say which one)
4. L.A.
5. months, dude, months and as far as what led me here...whimsy (pretty much the same thing that landed me into law school)
6. Being in charge of lots of money
7. Being in charge of lots of money

[Reloy3]

1. From what law school you graduated - Columbia
2. In what state(s) you're admitted - Ohio (Inactive); Wyoming
3. What your current job is - Felony Prosecutor
4. In what city you practice - Small town in Wyoming no one probably ever heard of.
5. How many years you've been at it, and what led you there - seven years -because I was disillusioned with my old job as a school teacher.
6. What you like best about your work - the people I work with and against, the variety, being "in the know" of the happenings around town.
7. What you like least - Not much in this job. I used to work in a big soul-sucking law firm in Ohio. It is hard to say what I liked there (except for the paycheck.)

[chaparralv8]

Originally Posted by William V.

There seem to be more than a few Dopers who practice law. I'm interested - please tell me:

1. From what law school you graduated
2. In what state(s) you're admitted
3. What your current job is
4. In what city you practice
5. How many years you've been at it, and what led you there
6. What you like best about your work
7. What you like least

I'll start:

1. Case Western Reserve U., Cleveland, Ohio
2. Ohio only
3. Magistrate, Cleveland Municipal Court
4. Cleveland
5. Four. Before that, I was an assistant county prosecutor for six years; before that, served with a branch of Legal Aid for two and a half years; and before that, a half-year in private practice.
6. Presiding at trial; handling criminal dockets; legal research
7. Special projects on very short deadlines; bureaucratic tangles with the Clerk of Court; humdrum cases.

Thanks!

I think I've met you. Is that declaration contempt of court?

[Spavined Gelding]

1. From what law school you graduated – University of Iowa
2. In what state(s) you're admitted – Iowa and the federal courts sitting in the state and the Court of Military Appeals
3. What your current job is– rural county seat general practice
4. In what city you practice – don’t worry, you’ve never heard of it
5. How many years you've been at it, and what led you there – 38 years including five years as an Army Judge Advocate – and I’m having too much fun to even think about retirement
6. What you like best about your work – answering to no one but myself, my clients and the courts
7. What you like least – collecting the bills and dealing with big firm, bill padding, know-it-alls

[movingfinger]

1. Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles

2. Took the bar twice and did not pass. In fact I got a worse result the second time than the first

3. I am currently a designer of residential additions, remodels and new construction, and I know that I am happier than I ever would have been as a lawyer. I wish I could have the five years I spent in law school back, but maybe they were necessary for me to realize what I really wanted to do with my life.

I recently learned that a legal education won't even serve to exempt me from jury duty.

[LSLGuy]

Not me, my wife ..

1. U of Arizona, class of '80

2. AZ, NV, MO

3. Self-employed semi-retired attorney specializing in banking regulation & operational complaince, plus generic financials on the side (complex trusts, estate planning, buyouts, corp reformations, etc.)

4. Greater St. Louis MO, with clients in CA, NV, and AZ as well.

5. 25 years, a long & winding road with many weird stops.

6. Solving a real business problem, threading a path between the dozens of complex & conflicting statutes passed by the non-lawyers in Congress & their regulatory hench-fools. And don't get her started on insurance co's practicing law without a clue or a license.

7. The hassle of generating new clients; inefficient & unpleasant. Court. She hasen't been inside one in 15+ years & doesn't intend to ever set foot in one again.

[Elendil's Heir]

Originally Posted by chaparralv8

I think I've met you. Is that declaration contempt of court?

Probably not. Tell me more!