**Career job information for job seekers and find good   employment job 

 By Micah Pilkington

The first permanent job I got was working for a family law [focused] law firm. I moved from San Francisco to San Ramon to take that job. That was a small, three-attorney law firm that mostly did family law and estate planning. I worked there for just over two years, and then started my own practice.

WWL: What did you learn in your first year as an attorney?

MW:  I learned so much! I was amazed at the things you don’t learn in law school or even on the bar exam. My situation was a little bit different since I went to school out of state. I had a bit of a learning curve, learning things about California law that I did not learn in law school. Illinois is not a community property state, so that was new to me.

In law school, they teach you the basics and the mechanics, but how you deal with people, which plays a huge part in the family law context -- they don’t teach you that. I learned a lot from my first employer. He was a very good mentor.

WWL: What inspired you to open your own law practice?

MW: I feel very fortunate in that I have a good friend who is a Certified Financial Planner. I’d met her [while] networking through the San Ramon Chamber of Commerce, and she used to say, “We should quit our jobs, go out on our own, and share office space!” And I was like, “You’re crazy.” [Laughs]

And then she did it – she quit her job and started her own practice, and said to me, “I have an extra office in the suite I’m renting, if you want to come on over.” It was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse. I thought, “Why wouldn’t I do this?” She made it so easy.

I thought that if I didn’t like it and I wasn’t successful…if I didn’t make money, I’d just go get another job, but why not give this a try? In August of 2008, I said, “Okay, here I come!” And I’m so happy that I did, because I love it.

Pros and Cons of Being an Attorney

WWL: What’s the best thing about being an attorney or about your job in general?

MW: It’s a really good feeling when you get to help somebody. People – especially in family law situations -- are so grateful when you make a difference in the outcome of their lives; when things turn out for the better.

I find the law fascinating; I always have. The different arguments that can be made and the different ways that things can be interpreted is interesting to me. I enjoy reading the new opinions and developing relationships with the local judges, trying to figure out what they’re going to do.

WWL: What’s the biggest challenge in practicing law?

MW: First would be keeping myself from getting emotionally involved or attached to my client’s situation. Second, I would have to say, is dealing with difficult attorneys. I know why my profession gets such a bad rap.  I’ve worked with plenty of really acrimonious personalities on the other side. It can really be a challenge to get anything done. I have to remind myself all the time: I can only do what I can do, and you can’t control what other people do. Just keep trying to do what’s best for my clients – I’m not one of these [lawyers] who is always going to be telling [the other side] why my client is right and why they’re wrong.

I know what my job is; the other attorney knows what their job is; we have our roles. I’m an advocate for my client. It’s just a waste of time and money trying to convince the other side to see things the way your client does and indulging that behavior does a disservice to the clients. I try to take a different approach. But when you have a difficult personality on the other side, it can make things much more difficult than they have to be. When I see certain attorneys’ names come across the pleadings, I think, “Oh, no. I have to deal with this person again.”

WWL: What do you do to prepare for them? Yoga?

MW: [Laughs] Yeah, yoga! Breathing exercises. Decaf coffee.

Advice for Law Students

WWL: What advice do you have for someone who’s thinking about law school, but who is maybe not sure?

MW:  I think it’s really important to be sure. I guess a way to do that would be to study for the LSAT and look into the law school application process. They say that LSAT scores are a really good gauge of how people will do in law school.

I also think it’s very important that you go to a well-respected law school, an accredited law school. The state of California does not require law schools to be accredited by the American Bar Association; other states do. In Illinois, for example, if you didn't graduate from an accredited law school, you couldn't sit for the Illinois bar exam. So even if you went to an unaccredited school in California, became a lawyer in California and then became a judge in California, if you then moved to Illinois and wanted to practice law, you wouldn’t be allowed to. So accredited law schools are important.

Also, in my experience, when I was looking for a job just out of law school, the name recognition is really important. I’m sure I got interviews because of the school I went to – it was recognizable, people knew it had a good reputation, and it set me apart from the hundreds of other applicants.

Don’t underestimate the importance of going to a good law school as well as being certain that it’s something that you want to do, because it’s such a long road. ( jobs employment )