Right Back Where I Started by Mike Barrash Otherwise, you couldn’t use your favorite ice cream fl a-vor as a password. Lawyers may prefer certain aspects of their practice over others. During the fi rst day of orientation when I started law school, the dean told us we should expect to spend three hours studying for each hour in class, and that time spent daydreaming didn’t count. Following law school, I briefl y worked for a small fi rm in Laramie. Th ey were not looking to hire anyone at the time, but gave me a People’s preferences differ. Part-time pro bono legal work would be a way to volunteer a service and also engage my interest in working on cases free from the burdens of full-time practice. The opportunity to earn up to five hours of CLE credits per year for that is a bonus. temporary job as a favor to tide me over until I got a per-manent job. It was a good introduction to practicing law and an enjoyable place to work. After that, I had one job at the state attorney general’s offi ce for the next 28 years (nine AGs) that involved work on a variety of things, some of which I liked more than others. Occasionally I’d daydream about being able to work exclusively on those things I enjoyed the most without having to manage the other things that were part of the full-time workload. As a lawyer retired from full-time practice, voluntary part-time pro bono work for Legal Aid of Wyoming has been a way for me to live the daydream. 28 Wyoming Lawyer August 2018 What I enjoyed most in my full-time job at the Wy-oming Attorney General’s offi ce was working on cases. Th ere were contested cases before the Environmental Quality Council, civil cases, mostly in state district court (sometimes as the plaintiff , sometimes as the defendant), and some appeals. I liked the diff erent aspects of devel-oping and preparing a case: sorting out the facts, look-ing for case law, framing the issues, evaluating evidence, planning discovery and questions for deposing or cross-examining witnesses, and putting together pleadings, motions and responses. However, that enjoyment was tempered by the need to manage the scheduling and competing demands of other tasks that came with the job. What I looked forward to most about re-tiring from my full-time job was having more control over my time and schedule. I was not burned out on case work but was at a point in life (late 60s) where there were other things I wanted or needed to do that a full-time workload couldn’t accommodate. As the dust settled I thought I might like to donate some of my new discretionary time to volunteer work of one kind or another. Part-time pro bono legal work would be a way to volunteer a service and also engage my interest in working on cases free from the burdens of full-time practice. Th e opportunity to earn up to fi ve hours of CLE credits per year for that is a bonus. www.wyomingbar.org
Wyoming Lawyer August 2018: Page 28
