I had planned this blog since last week, but first, I want to express my deep sympathy for all those who've been touched by the recent tragic shootings at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. They are in my thoughts and prayers.

MY NEW CAREER: WEEK 1

Hi there friends. I know I've mostly been blogging about local news events lately, but this will be a little different. You see, although it doesn't say so on my tv.com profile, I'm actually a member of the Oregon State Bar, and have been for just over a year now. For various reasons, I've been unemployed for the past year (ranging from losing my voice for a few months to plain old procrastination.) But a very dear friend (whom I met here on the site) recently inspired me to get my a – er, act together, career-wise, and I've decided to blog my experiences because, to be honest, I can use all the moral support I can get. For those of you who haven't read my profile, this will be my third professional career in as many decades, but I'm surprisingly insecure for someone with so many degrees.

Between that and the current job market – our state is nearing the 12% unemployment mark – some creative approaches will be required, but the good news is, there is a lot I can do besides just submitting resumes to companies that are already up to their eyeballs in younger candidates. (Unlike Alicia Florick, I don't have any law-school pals who can offer me a job, either. And if you didn't get that allusion, look up The Good Wife, which I heartily recommend. )

With that, let's get to my Week One report. About three weeks ago I got a bit of a shock: A letter from the Bar telling me that I needed to complete 15 Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits by the end of the year! D'oh! I had completely misunderstood the first-year special requirement… I won't bore you with the details, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because I started combing through my recent emails about CLE seminars and found two very interesting & useful ones. The first one was a "pro-bono" fair featuring a free CLE about domestic violence & restraining orders. ("Pro bono" means working as a lawyer for free.) I picked up many brochures and a handbook of pro-bono opportunities. This is a great way to get practical experience without having to have a "job". They teach you almost nothing that's practical in law school, unless you could somehow jump right into arguing appeals before the Supreme Court so if you want to figure out how to do something useful, pro-bono work where they will train you is the way to go. Here are some of the more interesting ones:

Catholic Charities: Specializes in immigration law. Opportunities range all the way up to handling whole cases including going to court!

Northwest Constitutional Rights Center: Specializing in protecting civil rights of political activists, minorities, and immigrants. They also will let volunteers do full case representation.

Oregon State Bar Military Assistance Panel: They give advice and counseling in a variety of legal areas to active service members and their families.

That's just a few, but there are many more, in family law (i.e., divorce and custody), domestic violence, bankruptcy, and other areas. I'll be signing up for some of those this week…

The second CLE I signed up for was a 2.5-day seminar that was designed to fulfill the entire first-year requirement. (Guess I'm not the only one who's ever got caught out like that. ) This was held one Wed-Fri of last week, and 200 people attended. It was aimed at those of us who are just starting out, although there were a fair number of people there who were even older than me, who had practiced in the past, then stopped for a while, and were trying to get back in the swing of things again. (Well, the ones I met were all women, no surprise.) Also, there were people who were contemplating starting solo practices, because advice on doing so was a big part of it. Here are a few funny highlights:

The first day at lunch I sat next to a judge who won't hire a clerk unless they've lived in the Pacific Northwest. He says it's because otherwise, they get here and can't take the rain! Btw, It's been bucketing down here for DAYS now. Wow, as I'm writing this, at 4:30 pm, the Western sky cleared and there is a gorgeous, huge double-rainbow visible in the sky outside! Amazing!

There was also a session with two judges who were pretty funny. (It's not just tv judges who crack jokes.) One of them gave us this tip: When the other side's lawyer is just going on and on and on, and you can't think if a good objection, just say "Objection!", and the judge is sure to sustain it. Somebody asked what to say in case the judge asks for grounds (which you're always supposed to provide), and the judge said, "Say, 'It's cumulative.' The real grounds are 'Because it's boring.' but you can't say that."

They also scared us with how easy it is to screw up. For example, about 20% of all Oregon lawyers end up needing to defend themselves against a claim by a client or the bar every year. The good news is that, unlike any other state, we have an insuring body that can't ever turn any lawyer down. Of course, it isn't cheap (almost $4,000/year), and everybody is required to buy insurance to practice here… (Another pro-bono perk is, most organizations carry their own insurance, so I don't have to buy it to do that.)

Some of the horror stories were funny, though. Like the process-server who told the lawyer he'd served process on the guy's mom, but neglected to say that the reason he did so was that the guy himself was in an URN, i.e., DEAD. (It's a no-no to sue the dead.) Then there were the horror stories about the many creative ways office staff can find to embezzle money from you… and get you disbarred in the process if it happens to be client money!

The final session of the meeting was by members of IRCO: Immigration and Refugee Community Organization, about working with interpreters, and the special cultural problems of refugees. Often, for example, they may not even have a word for "lawyer" in their native language, or have any concept of a government that is not totalitarian. Also, many cultures have no concept of "mental health". Either you are sane or crazy, period. If you're crazy, your entire family can be shunned.

Then there was the case where a lawyer explained to a man, through an interpreter, that his child needed to wear a bike helmet. Later that day, the child was struck by a car. He wasn't hurt, but the police were trying to get the man to take him to a hospital anyway. The man refused, and blamed the accident on the interpreter, saying he had cursed the boy by saying that if he didn't wear a helmet, he would be struck by a car. It turned out that the interpreter was from a tribe that was dominant over the family's tribe, which is why the father didn't trust him. The whole session was really interesting, especially since most of the panelists had originally come to this country as political refugees themselves, from Ukraine, Chad, and Laos.

Well, that's it for week one. I may blog more than once a week if there's something especially interesting going on. They probably won't be this long after this one, though. Thanks for reading. Hope you weren't too bored!

Wish me luck…

My New Home Office: