Labor & Employment Law

The cool thing about being a lawyer

By Dobin & Jenks

Several years ago, my kids asked me what I ?do?. They see the great computers, the phones, and all the other accoutrements of a successful law practice, but they wondered if I did anything other than surf the Internet during the day.

I told them that I try to help people with their problems. I reminded them of some of my more notorious cases, including one case where we recovered millions of dollars for a client who had lost virtually everything at the hands of a scam artist.

I was reminded of that conversation when I received something in the mail today. I recently represented a client who had never had a lawyer before. He was a stockbroker whose client had named him and his former employer in an arbitration. I was hired to protect him and be his advocate.

We met the day before the arbitration because he was in Orlando and I was in Jupiter. We talked about the case and a lot of other things. One thing he told me was that he never finished college. We won the case.

While I was driving home from the hearing, I talked to the client. I told him about how much I enjoyed working with him and he told me how glad he was to have me in his corner. He said that he had thought about going to law school. I asked him ?why not go now?? Next thing I knew, he told me that he had decided to go back to college and get his degree. When I received the arbitration decision and called him, he was at the college getting registered.

One of the projects that he had to complete was an interview of someone who inspired him. He chose me. I was flattered (which is not easy). We talked for a while on the phone and he learned about my background, philosophy of practice and feelings about life and law school. I told him that I love being a lawyer. And he is one of the reasons why.

He sent me a copy of what he wrote for the class. It was very well written (despite its topic), he got a well-deserved ?A? and it made me think, again, about why I love being a lawyer. It?s clients like him.

Congratulations Eddie. I look forward to your graduation

Full post as published by The Law Planet Blog on May 27, 2009 (boomark / email).