I grew up wanting to be an attorney. I went to an unaccredited law school. I could sit for the bar, but my school was not ABA accredited. This meant I would not get offers from the big law firms. But I wanted to be a criminal attorney so I thought this would not matter.

I simply wanted to graduate. Then I wanted to pass the bar. I would think about getting work as a lawyer 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.

Three days later I got a letter explaining the hiring freeze was back on. The position was not even filled before the freeze was on again. The next day I enrolled in a course on DUI law practice. I had not gone to school to defend drunk drivers but it was a part of criminal law.

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 however treated politely by the female judge. I think she must have come up from the ranks of the public defenders office and knew what it was like dealing with bailiffs and deputy district attorneys. My client received the minimum penalty for his offense. His drivers license was suspended for one year. But I was able to get him to drive legally to and from and at work since his job required him to drive. But I decided that would be my only criminal case. As a criminal attorney one has to learn to be treated like the client he represents. That might be fine for some lawyers. But not this one.