Re: Young Student Interviews Seasoned Lawyer

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And tell us about yourself, Pete. Are you an Obama or a Caucasian? Will be nice
when the number one Obama gets elected president, and then he can appoint all
us other Obamas to office. I hope Jessie Jackson gets to be Secretary of State.

Obama in VA

On 1/30/07, Pete Burge wrote:
> You are such a liar Hardy Parkerson. The internet is
> littered with your shenannagans. My cousin was represented
> by you and you were the worst lawyer ever. I wouldn't
> recomend this quack to anyone. Nice description
> as "seasoned." I guess if you practice law for 40 years,
> you can claim to be seasoned, but seasoned in this context
> by no means implies competence.
>
> On 12/21/06, Hardy Parkerson, Atty. - Lake Charles, LA
> wrote:
>> Tabatha's Interview Questions
>> And Hardy Parkerson's Answers
>>
>> Hey, I am a 15 year old girl. I have wanted to be a
>> Domestic Lawyer since I was 10. I have practically my
>> whole future planned out; well at least the parts that
>> have to do with my career. I have wanted to interview a
>> Lawyer for years, but just didn't know how. Well now I
>> HAVE to interview one for school, my Career Information
>> class.....so if you wouldn't mind answering the following
>> questions: (I would appreciate it sooooooo much; it would
>> mean the world to me to interview you.)
>>
>> What type of Lawyer are you?
>>
>> I am a sole practitioner and a generalist. I handle all
>> kinds of cases. There is not much that I don't handle that
>> an average person would want a lawyer for. I do land
>> matters, probate matters, criminal matters, civil damage
>> suits; you name it, I probably do it. Mostly, however, I
>> handle criminal cases and automobile accident cases and
>> other types of personal injury cases.
>>
>> How much schooling did you need to hold the position that
>> you hold today?
>>
>> Graduating from law school so that one can gain admission
>> to the Bar takes seven years, as a general rule. It takes
>> four years to get a bachelor's degree, and then three
>> years of law school. It's not easy, but it is very
>> possible. Before I started to law school, a lawyer here in
>> town described it to me as an "endurance contest." That's
>> pretty much true. Just put in your time and do your work,
>> and you will make it. College can be fun. Law school is
>> not necessarily so, but even that has its good times.
>> Everybody studies in law school. Not necessarily so in
>> undergraduate school. Law school is competitive.
>> Undergraduate school is not necessarily so. There is more
>> to it all than this, but this is something to think about.
>>
>> Where did you go to school, high school, college and Law?
>>
>> I graduated from Lake Charles High School, a public school
>> in Lake Charles, Louisiana; then graduated from McNeese
>> State University, a public college in Lake Charles; and
>> then I graduated from Tulane School of Law, a division of
>> Tulane University of Louisiana in New Orleans.
>>
>> What did you major in?
>>
>> In undergraduate college I majored in Social Studies. That
>> includes a lot of everything and not much of anything. It
>> included some math (2 semesters), a lot of history, a lot
>> of English, some French (5 semesters), some philosophy,
>> some government, some art (one semester), some art-history
>> (one semester), a lot of sociology, some speech courses
>> (three or four), some economics and some science (two
>> semesters - Botany and Biology) courses. As I say, a lot
>> of everything, but not much of anything, except English,
>> history and sociology. In those days a B.A. degree
>> consisted of 120 semester hours, four years or eight
>> semesters of at least 15 hours each semester.
>>
>> What did you study?
>>
>> Well, looks like I have pretty much answered this one in
>> my answer to the previous question.
>>
>> How were you trained?
>>
>> Law requires no internship nor prior training prior to
>> taking the Bar Exam and becoming admitted to practice law.
>> You learn law by On Job Training (OJT). You learn by
>> doing. It's the blind leading he blind. Not ideal, as I
>> see it; but that is the way it is. One summer between my
>> second and third years of law school I did work in a law
>> firm as a law clerk, and I learned much law and how to
>> practice it there. However, law school hardly teaches you
>> the way to the courthouse as a practical matter. The
>> matter of learning how to practice law comes after one is
>> admitted to the Bar and begins to practice law. That's why
>> they call it "practice"; I suppose, for one never really
>> learns it fully. He is always getting ready to play the
>> game, always practicing for the game to be played.
>>
>> How did you get interested in becoming a lawyer?
>>
>> As a young person I saw lots of injustices, and I knew
>> that being a lawyer would help me right some of the wrongs
>> I saw. I did not want to be powerless against the bullies
>> that I saw who ran things, like school administrators and
>> businessmen and cops. I wanted to be able to bring justice
>> into situations where justice had been denied, where
>> people had been treated unfairly and unjustly.
>>
>> What do you like and dislike about your job?
>>
>> I dislike always being threatened with disciplinary action
>> if I do anything that displeases somebody. The so-called
>> ethical rules are so stringent that a lawyer is afraid to
>> pass his card to a potential client, lest he be haled
>> before the Office of Disciplinary Counsel ("Bar Police")
>> to answer charges of unethical conduct, and be threatened
>> with disbarment, suspension or public or private censure.
>> It's a phony system, the so-called ethics set-up. It's big
>> business for lawyers who do not want to practice law, but
>> who would rather make their livings taking away the right
>> of other lawyers to practice law. I've got an attitude
>> about it, I'll admit! Probably not as bad as I am making
>> it sound, but there is a lot of truth in what I am saying.
>> Nowadays, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel even has a
>> web-site where any unhappy client can download a form and
>> file a complaint against a lawyer; and the lawyer is
>> presumed guilty until he proves his innocence; and the ODC
>> keeps a permanent file on the lawyer, and no matter how
>> many times he is cleared of such charges, they keep all
>> the paper and in future cases decide cases on what I call
>> the "thickness of file" theory: the thicker a lawyer's
>> file is, the more guilty he is presumed to me. That is one
>> of the things I do not l like about law practice. There
>> are some others, including clients who are always hitting
>> on their lawyers for money. I thought when I became a
>> lawyer people would come to me and pay me money. I find
>> they come to me and want me to pay them. Especially
>> personal injury clients. And if you don't, hey! they fire
>> you and go to some other lawyer. So what you end up doing
>> is placating them and giving them whatever you can get by
>> with and then trying to settle their cases and get your
>> money back, and at the same time make some money on their
>> cases. There is much more to it all than this, but this is
>> something to think about.
>>
>> What, if anything, would you do differently?
>>
>> I think if I had it all to do over, I would not become a
>> lawyer; but when I was young, I wanted that more than
>> anything else. I would probably have made a better
>> football coach or school teacher or college professor, or
>> even an engineer, or medical doctor. I did the best I
>> could in college and law school, so there is not much I
>> could have changed about that.
>>
>> What did you find difficult in high school?
>>
>> Nothing really, except I was only interested in sports; at
>> least until my senior year. Then I got serious about
>> school; for I had been told by my parents that I had to go
>> to college, and I knew I must begin to get ready.
>>
>> What did you enjoy in high school?
>>
>> I enjoyed sports; and when I got to be a senior, I enjoyed
>> government. I took two years of Latin in high school, for
>> I had heard that one wanting to be a doctor should take
>> Latin; and when I started high school, that was my
>> ambition; but I quickly gave that thought up, when I found
>> Latin difficult. I enjoyed taking typing in the old days;
>> that was before the days of computers. I also enjoyed
>> mechanical drawing (drafting). I never cracked a book that
>> I remember until my senior year, and I managed to do all
>> right in high school.
>>
>>
>> How did what you learned in high school help you in your
>> chosen career?
>>
>> All of it helped me. Looking back, I wish I had been a
>> more serious student. In those days, all that mattered was
>> football first, basketball second, baseball third, and
>> track fourth. Nobody ever encouraged me, that I recall;
>> even though I had wonderful parents. Looking back, I think
>> that perhaps I had great potential, but did not know it.
>> When I was a senior in high school, my English teacher
>> called me to the front of the room and asked me, "Son, now
>> that you are graduating from high school, what do you plan
>> to do?" I said, "I would like to go to college, but I
>> known I am not smart enough." She said, "Boy! What are you
>> taking about! You're smart!" No one had ever told me that
>> before that I remember. That encouraged me to do better in
>> school like nothing before had ever encouraged me. Pretty
>> much the same thing happened to me when I enrolled in
>> college the day after I graduated from high school. My
>> faculty advisor asked me what I wanted to major in. I
>> said, "I would like to be a lawyer, but I know I am not
>> smart enough." He said, "Boy! What are you taking about!
>> The best lawyer in this town was the dumbest guy who ever
>> went through this school: Nathan Cormier." Well, after
>> forty-two years, Nathan Cormier is still the best lawyer
>> in this town. Nothing ever encouraged me more to make an A
>> than making an A; but making a D never encouraged me a
>> bit. I know teachers can't give away grades, but that is a
>> lesson some of them never learned.
>>
>>
>> What does a firm look for when hiring?
>>
>> As a general rule, firms look for the guy or girl who is
>> the highest up in the class. Law schools usually rate
>> students from highest to the lowest. The higher you
>> graduate in your class, the better chance you have of
>> getting the job you desire. The lower you graduate, the
>> less your chances are. There used to be an old joke in law
>> school that said, "A students end up being law professors,
>> B students end up being Judges, and C students end up
>> making money." Another joke is, "What do they call the
>> lowest man in his class in law school?" ANSWER: Lawyer.
>> Just do the best you can! That's all you can do.
>>
>> What does a new lawyer usually make (money wise)?
>>
>> It's different for every lawyer. My first law firm job
>> paid me $125.00 a week, and I was glad to get it. That was
>> in 1967. That was not great money, even then; but, as I
>> say, I was glad to have a job. I was worth about $25.00 a
>> week. I have a young daughter-in-law who graduated high in
>> her class at William and Mary Law School, and she is an in-
>> house attorney for Norfolk-Southern Corporation in
>> Norfolk. Just judging from her and my son's brand new home
>> and the cars they drive, and knowing what he makes as a
>> young Naval officer, I am sure she makes upwards of
>> $100,000.00, or more. Not bad for a young person. Every
>> person and legal job is different, and there is no
>> uniformity about what lawyers make. It might be that a new
>> lawyer would start out practicing law out of his or her
>> car, or out of his or her living room, get a good case and
>> make a million dollars the first year. Not likely, but
>> possible. It's been done before many times. I like what
>> Tom Wolfe says in YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN: "Pick out what
>> you want in life, pay the price and take it!" What you
>> make is up to you. Do the best you can in high school,
>> then in college, then in law school; and you can make
>> anything you want. The potential is there.
>>
>> What is the pay based on?
>>
>> Lawyers like me work generally on a percentage of what we
>> collect on a personal injury case. I have heard of an
>> annual high of $60,000,000.00 for a lawyer, and a low of
>> minus-$250.00. I am the one who made the minus-$250.00;
>> and my best year was one for which I reported $225,000.00
>> of taxable income, after having deducted everything that I
>> could dream up, and then some. The sky is the limit of
>> what you can make, and then you can end up paying money to
>> practice law. For me there are times when the money falls
>> out of the sky and times when it costs me money to
>> practice law. But I am not necessarily the typical lawyer.
>> Law firms pay an annual negotiated salary, as a general
>> rule; and then they may pay bonuses for exceptionally good
>> years for the firm. There is a lot more to it all than
>> this, but this is something to think about.
>>
>>
>> What is/was the most difficult thing for you to
>> learn/understand/be willing to sacrifice, etc. in you
>> present job?
>>
>> I have never had a salary, except my first year or so of
>> law practice. Ever since then, I have been a sole
>> practitioner, and it has been up to me to make it or break
>> it. My wife is a school teacher, and she always had a
>> salary, a check she could count on on a regular basis. No
>> so for me! As I said, one year I made a cool, clear
>> taxable $225,000; and I had one case that I did hardly
>> anything on that paid me a fee of $94,000 for doing noting
>> more than filing a petition. The potential is there, but
>> there are no guarantees, especially for the private
>> practice of law for the sole practitioner. I still say
>> that Thomas Wolfe was right: "Pick out what you want in
>> life, pay the price and take it." He got that from
>> Emerson's essay on "Compensation." Read Thomas Wolfe,
>> especially "YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAN."
>>
>> Of course, let me say this: The most important thing in
>> life is God and your relationship to Him. Miss out on
>> that, and you've failed; you've missed everything. Get
>> that right, and you've accomplished all that is important.
>> Yet we still have a life to live, and even God expects us
>> to work and earn our way and to contribute to society and
>> to help our fellow man; so I go back to the Thomas Wolfe
>> principle: "Pick out what you want in life, pay the price
>> and take it!" Again, there is more to it all than this,
>> but this something to think about.
>>
>> What advice do you have for me, a high school student,
>> looking to pursue a similar (or same) career?
>>
>> I've pretty much set it out for you above. Just go for it.
>> Pick out what you want in life, pay the price and take it!
>> But remember that the most important thing in life is God
>> and your relationship to him. Make sure you do not go
>> wrong there. Then the rest is lagniappe.
>>
>> I would appreciate if you answered ASAP....(sorry if I
>> sound pushy....but I have a quick deadline on my paper....)
>>
>> Well, I answered quicker than I expected at first. I will
>> also send you the questions and answers to the other
>> internet interviews that I did with young high school
>> students. I would like for you to let me know your name
>> and address, and I would like for you to keep me advised
>> as to how you do in high school; and I would like to
>> receive an invitation to your high-school graduation so
>> that I can send you a graduation gift. I recommend Sophie
>> Newcomb College of Tulane University in New Orleans for an
>> undergraduate degree, and then Tulane Law School, if you
>> do not get into Harvard or Yale Law Schools. Best of luck!
>>
>> Thanks a Million!
>>
>> One day Domestic Lawyer,
>> Tabatha
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>