I had grown up wanting to be a lawyer. When I entered law school my plan was to become a criminal attorney. That changed after my first DUI defense. I went to a small law school. It was accredited in that I was able to sit for the bar exam once I graduated. But it was not American Bar Association accredited. I went to a small law school not ABA accredited because for one reason my grades were not good enough to get into a larger more well known school. And I was already in my mid twenties and had a full time job so I needed a flexible class schedule.
One of the drawbacks to going to a small non accredited school was limited job opportunities once I was ready to look for a law job. No large corporate law firm came to our campus located in an office building recruiting for entry level associates. But that was all right with me, I simply wanted to be able to take the bar. I would worry about finding work later.
The best place, if not the only practical place to get experience as a criminal attorney is either with the district attorney s office or the office of the public defender. But again, government jobs were handed out to large ABA accredited law school graduates. I did have the opportunity to interview for one position with the public defenders office however. The state had lifted a hiring freeze. For the previous year the state was not even interviewing anyone for government legal jobs regardless of what school you were from. In interviewed and received an 88 out of a 100 on the interview. I knew this was not good enough to get the one and only job opening with all the competition out there.
A week later, I received a letter from the state saying that the hiring freeze was reinstated. They did not even fill the one position before putting the freeze back on. I decided to take a continuing legal education course on drunken driving defense. The course was a three day program and after the course I thought there was really nothing to it and it should be simple enough.
I ran a small ad in my local shopper after I finished the course. It cost me twenty five dollars a week. My phone started ringing off the hook. I never realized how many people get arrested for drunk driving. I went to court with my first client in the municipal court of the city I grew up in. Across the street was the college I graduated in. I had never been in their courtrooms.
This was my client s first offense so he was looking at any jail time. And his alcohol level at the time of his arrest was above the legal limit. There was nothing for me to contest. But I was there basically to hold his hand during the process. But I did want to go through the steps I learned in my class. I approached the deputy district attorney at the opposite side of the courtroom and waited patiently while she chatted with the courtroom bailiff.
Finally when they were done the female bailiff looked me up and down turned her nose up and walked off. I asked the female deputy district attorney to confirm the charges and asked what would be the sentence she would agree to. This is what I learned in my class. She organized her files on the desk and without looking at me said you can find that out from the judge when we get started.
I was treated very politely by the female judge however. I think she probably came up the ranks of the public defenders office. My client got the basic penalty he was due and although his license was suspended for one year, I was able to allowed to drive to and from work and while he was working since driving was part of his job. But I pulled the ad from the shopper. One DUI defense was enough. One criminal case was enough for me to change my mind about criminal law. At court I felt like I was the one who was on trial not my client. But the truth of the matter is, the criminal attorney is the agent of the accused and has to know that going into not only the courtroom but into law school.
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