Out On My Own....

After three years of being locked in my office drafting research memos and "co-authoring" articles for partners, I decided to go out on my own. After leaving the confines of a "Big Tex Firm" life (goodbye Client Entertainment budget and goodbye house I really couldn't afford), I opened up a small criminal defense practice in a small community in South Texas.

Why criminal defense? I always wanted to be a criminal defense attorney. Hell, the only reason I went to law school was so that I could have my own criminal defense practice. My father has his own practice and does some criminal defense as part of his practice. Having grown up seeing what my father did, I knew I wanted to both have my own practice and to the extent possible, do nothing but criminal defense work. To be honest with you, I really don't enjoy too many other areas of the law and that became evident to me during my practice at the firm.

Now I am out on my own and doing what I want. However, at times, in my practice I feel as if I've been granted a wish from The Monkey's Paw. The work is more interesting, the people are more interesting, but the possible consequences of my actions are so much greater. When I was at the firm, if I made a mistake, a client might lose some money, or more likely, a partner might look bad in front of a client. Now, my mistakes may result in people losing their liberty. At the same time, when I do well, I know that my work has given some client their life back for a year or two, or ten.

Anyway, I hope this blog turns into a learning experience for both me and any reader that may happen to come across it.