[blindlaw] career transition to Law...

Sun Mar 8 23:37:49 UTC 2009

Why not attempt to attend law school at night and retain your job for the 
first year?
Steve
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Fry" <mikefry79 at gmail.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 7:25 PM
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] career transition to Law...


> Hi Bill,
>
> I highly recommend you do not quit your job to go to law school.  I
> sincerely think that it'd be a bad idea.  It sounds like you've got a very
> good thing going on especially in these though economic times.  If I were
> you, I wouldn't start a new career at this point in my life.  Trust me,
> there a lot people on this list that would prefer to have your job instead
> of being a lawyer.
>
> It's just my opinion but if I didn't tell you, I'd feel negligent, I think
> your perception of being a lawyer is rosier than the reality and you
> currently have a really good job.
>
> Mike
>
> On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 2:12 PM, Bill Spiry <bspiry at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> Hi folks.
>>
>> . I am considering making a pretty big career change, returning to school
>> for my JD. I'd appreciate talking to someone, a successful blind attorney
>> who might have come to the law with similar circumstances to those I'm
>> wrestling through at this time.
>>
>>  The short of it is as follows:
>>
>> .         I'm 48 years old. I've been a senior Human Resources manager 
>> for
>> the last 20 years, most recently Director of Human Resources for a
>> municipality for the last 9 of those years. As you might expect my work
>> involves complex employment and labor issues routinely, I've negotiated
>> more
>> collective bargaining agreements and dispute resolutions than I care to
>> remember during my career, and have been very engaged with the laws and
>> regulations of the profession in employment, labor, and the ADA, as well 
>> as
>> risk and other disciplines. Its often my experience that I have more
>> extensive knowledge of the laws involved with my work than the attorney's 
>> I
>> consult with.
>>
>> .         I am an HR generalist, but my sweet spot has always been 
>> dealing
>> with the most difficult and complicated disputes and employee performance
>> and discipline issues.  My strongest competencies involve providing 
>> counsel
>> in complex and sensitive employment issues, guiding managers and 
>> employees
>> back to the core facts, fairness considerations, and desired outcomes
>> needed
>> to bring resolution.
>>
>> .         I'm burned out with the internal politics of HR management in
>> government employment. As an executive, I'm tired of battling to justify
>> the
>> strategic importance of good HR management in the face of internal
>> popularity politics, regardless of how effective my team has been 
>> bringing
>> best practice to the table and helping people.  I'm tired of being the 
>> guy
>> who has to take the body blows for internally unpopular decisions 
>> directed
>> by City Managers and elected officials. After 20 years of this, I expect 
>> I
>> can find another executive position where things will be fresher again, 
>> but
>> fundamentally I believe this is one of the crosses I'll continue to bear 
>> as
>> an HR professional regardless of the organization. It's the nature of the
>> beast. I have liked the work, but dislike the BS. I have decided to leave
>> this position either to go to law school or to seek a position elsewhere
>> with a fresher start.  I guess fundamentally, I'm looking for more
>> independence. I suspect my core competencies would serve me well helping
>> people as an attorney, but the difference would be having the credentials
>> to
>> be heard and taken seriously.
>>
>> .         The law has always been of interest to me, I completed 3 law
>> school courses in labor and arbitration many moons ago during my Grad
>> studies at the U of MN and did very well, and have actively sought
>> continuing education in the legal aspects of my profession. I considered
>> entering law back then, but I was still transitioning into my blindness 
>> and
>> frankly intimidated by the accessibility challenges I faced. So, I 
>> followed
>> an alternative path.
>>
>> .         I've lost my vision to RP, mostly as an adult. I was not
>> introduced to skills for blindness until around 19, and really didn't 
>> start
>> to take the need for those skills seriously until my vision continued to
>> degenerate and I entered grad school a few years later.  I no longer have
>> any functional vision.  I've had a couple of rounds of Braille training
>> over
>> the years, but my skills are limited and my use of it is limited to
>> administrative functions such as labeling and brief notations. I am 
>> skilled
>> in the use of screen readers user (JAWS and SA), and perform the vast
>> majority of my information and document based work using electronic
>> materials.
>>
>> .         I have a family, wife and three teenage kids. My wife is
>> supportive of me in this transition. We think we understand that there 
>> will
>> be significant sacrifices we'll have to make over the next few years if I
>> do
>> enter law school. I suspect however that the reality of how much work it
>> will be and how tight things will become is still a bit under the radar 
>> for
>> us.  That's why I want to be pretty certain that it's the right decision.
>>
>>
>>
>> If you feel you could offer me some wisdom from your own experience, and
>> would be willing to talk with me, I'd appreciate hearing from you. 
>> Please
>> drop me a response offline to my email address below. From there we can
>> arrange to talk if appropriate.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks guys.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>>
>>
>> Bill Spiry
>>
>>  <mailto:bspiry at comcast.net> bspiry at comcast.net
>>
>>
>>
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