Off and running!

Whew, Just wanted to let everyone know that just over a month ago I launched Anthony Law Firm, PLLC.

My first month was fantastic. Dozens of new clients and just as many new legal issues. The small firm life suits me well. I get to meet with my clients and really get to know them. Just last week one of them actually gave me a hug. It caught me off guard at first but when I realized that he believed I was doing a good job and put his interests first, it all made sense. Oh yea...this is why I went to law school. So many lawyer jokes end with so many bad feelings toward the profession. However, I'm proud to say that that Payne County, Oklahoma is filled with honest and hard working lawyers and I'm as proud as anything else to be one of them.

So for all you who want to make the solo leap, take this as a bit of positive encouragement. Opening your own firm is easy and rewarding. As long as you think hard work is easy (read, looooooooong nights working while your family is sleeping) and rewarding is having a guy give you a bear hug on Main Street.

Well, I've got to be in court tomorrow morning on the Prelim docket and then back in the afternoon on the arraignment docket. See you there...or elsewhere!

Whee! Away we go!!

Oh boy. Well I just resigned from the D.A.'s office. I guess I closed that door. My last day will be next Wednesday, just before Thanksgiving. They have all been so good to me and I enjoyed prosecutorial work so much that it was hard to cut that string. But I've got finals next in two weeks and then PMBR starts...after that Barbri and you know the rest.

Belle, went into early labor last week so she is on bed rest and I'm trying to keep her prone so that baby stay's put until after finals.

I've got a strong indication that I will have some title work to do once I get my card so I've got to get in gear on that area of my practice. There are 4 companies here in Stillwater that do titles so I've contacted each of them and asked if they would mail me the requisite paperwork to get "certified" by their respetive offices.

Today, I took my lunch break and had some of the friendly and knowledgable people @ the county clerk's and assessor's office show me how all the land records were stored in Payne County. They were so nice and helpful.

I cut classes yesterday and attended the OK bar meeting. I went to 6 different CLE classes and really enjoyed myself. Wish I could have gone all week, but I do still need to earn some $, so I came back to work Thursday and Friday.
Also, I've made some changes regarding office location and overhead costs so stay tuned.

Tug o' War

So I've been quiet. I've been thinking. I am really enjoying my D.A. days here in Stillwater. I think there may be an opening and I'm trying to decide if I want it. A few months ago one of the A.D.A.s left for another office. Then the D.A. moved yours truly into her old office, where I've been ever since.

I am learing so much every day that I would really like to get hired on and learn even more...get some jury work under my belt, etc. However, I keep getting tugged by my desire to be solo. My soon to be arriving baby (December) makes me long for a steady paycheck. But I think that if we get comfortable with me having that paycheck then I'll never go solo.

Anyway, my first trials are under my belt. And I'm as hungry as ever to finish and take that bar. I absolutely HAVE to pass that sucker the first time to avoid financial ruin so I'm doing all the courses I can.

Announcing the Announcments that are to be Announced!

Yep...IT'S A GIRL!!!

Due date is December 24th. Nice timing, I know. Oh well...at least we won't be expected to drive all over tarnation to see the family this year.


Belle, Lola, and I could not be more excited. This baby will come 2 weeks after graduation and two months before I take the bar. That is scary, but I'm sure it will be fine.

The house is still in progress. We remain in a temporary house because after 4 weeks of cleaning, bug spraying (6 times), fumigating, and painting our house is still uninhabitable. I'm expecting us to move in in 1-3 weeks depending on how fast we can get it in shape. (Keep your fingers crossed!)

Also, the D.A.'s office has agreed to keep me on throughout the fall which is exciting. I still am loving the work, and learing every day.

My creeping fear is that I have no experience in anything other than criminal law, but I've decided to bide my time and keep learning how to do criminal law for the time being and to let the other areas solve themselves at a later date. I still feel so lucky to be here.

I spent this morning, as every morning, screening cases. The police reports and affadavits come in to the case managers and I decide whether or not to prosecute. If so, the charges are made and are sent to the Clerk's office. Then we go to court where I serve the defendants with the charges and the process begins from there.

Payne County update

Things are in full swing here. I've completed about 7 weeks on the job at the D.A.'s office and I can't imagine how anyone could practice without this kind of experince. I'm getting to speak in court every day. It is still exciting; however, I have not gotten to do any trials or hearings yet.

I've been learning the ropes for the last couple months and-- if I am to stay on after the summer, I'm going to ask for some traffice trials or motion hearings to get some differnt experinece. I'm still learning loads from my mistakes on the docket I do, but taking pleas and doing arraignments is starting to lose a bit of its luster and im ready to take a bit more responsibility.

The Oklahoma court systems are all online and it is pretty cool to see my name on there as representing the state --for an example of a case last week see here.

This legal intern's licence thing is such a great opportunity and any OK law student should seriously consider it. There are a lot of hoops to jump through to get the license but it is WELL worth it.

Two words: "Dude....Dude"

Wow...what a whirlwind! So I get tossed in arraignments and the Judge looks at me...expectantly. All I could think was--"man the neck of my shirt is really soaked". I'm not one for being nervy or one whose voice is known to crack in public, but my blood was really pumping. The pause was only about 1 second but I swear I had 15 distinct and lucid thoughts. I spoke loud and clear but caught myself before completing the genuflection.

It was such a cool feeling to be able to speak for the State. Being on the "other side of the v" has been so much fun. I'm really getting to see everything that goes on before the charges are filed and that has been an experience (and continues to be) that I would reccomend to anyone.

Movement Abounds!

Lots of moving going on here...and as a result my internet won't be up for another 2 weeks. Basically, Belle and I spent the holiday weekend moving. She starts her job tomorrow and I am slated for swearing in on June 6th. (swearing in for legal intern license). My new job at the D.A.'s office is great. It's the worst pay I've had in over 12 years and I've never been happier. I'm really glad I went to law school.
I'll blog when I can (because I'm sure my legions of fans [sic] will be sitting by thier modems in anticipation.

New Gig

Well I'm fresh after my first day on the job. It was fun. I can't believe how many people I knew...or knew me. (Stillwater is my hometown). It was great. Payne county has a great courthouse and they have brand new courtrooms this year. Construction is still ongoing for the attached jail.
It looks like I'll start doing the arriagnments first, then pick up traffic then regular misdemeanors. It might be "trained monkey" work..but it looks pretty fun to me. I was sad to see a couple of people I went to school with in orange jumpsuits yesterday. That is going to be hard for me to deal with.
My home/office will be about 1 mile down the road on the same street as the courthouse.
I love being back home. It feels great. (now I just have to move....)

DOWNPOUR!!!

When it rains...it pours. It has been pouring buckets here. Belle got the job she wanted from OSU! Hooray Belle! Then I got the internship w/the D.A.! Belle starts the 31st of this month and I start Wednesday.

So it looks like I'll be commuting until we can move (hopefully in a couple of weeks). Worst case scenario-either we both commute until July 1st (when our house will be available) or we find some temporary house in Stillwater. At any rate-these problems are miniscule compared to the hurdles over which we just leapt!

I'm soooo excited to be working for the D.A. Stillwater is a small town and I'll get to know everyone by being w/the D.A. Also with the Interns license I can try non-jury trials--Yippee.

Contributing factors...

I assume it is common for us aspirational solos to stay up worrying about money. I feel kind of like talking about myself behind my own back. (That Luke guy...sheesh man...I mean, doesn't he see that it just ISN'T going to work...jeez...it's the numbers man-they don't add up) Or something like that.
Anyway to compoud the problem of being broke and trying to start a solo, we have the added expense of moving. So that meant that Belle had to quit her job and look anew. I'm proud to say that Belle has two interviews in Stillwater today! Hooray! Both are with Okla. St. Univ. so those benefits would be nice.
I am still unemployed. I have yet to hear back from the D.A. (though his office told me he was out of town last week) so I'm hopeful. So while Belle is interviewing today, Luke is going to be out hustling a job for himself. So wish us luck!

Got loans?

Well I do. I'm graduating with about 100K in Federal loans and 40K in Private loans. It is terrifying. (because I don't have 140k). In fact I'm not even sure how to get that kind of money. Anyway...

If you have more student loans than money then I have just the place to go. GRADUATE LEVERAGE. (GL). GL is a not for profit loan consolodation conduit. It was started by a group of Harvard MBA students who were fed up with the 3 card monty games that loan consolodation companies play.

If you give these guys/gals your SSN (scary I know...but they are trustworthy...check them out on the Better Business Bureau). They will look up all of your loans, then tell you who has the best deal--and how to go about applying for it. In many cases they even do a lot of the paperwork.

In case you aren't hip on what is going on with consolodation--there is no more fixed rate options for us borrowers. However, GL was able (by using "leverage") to get last years lock in rates 2.85% for this years borrowers.

This is pretty involved and there are a lot of issues...but look into consolodation. And when you look. Shop around, then compare these guys...they will be the best deal by far.

Cheep Cheep.

I'm cheap. I'm frugal. I think that paying retail for anything is self-treason. So I bought these 4 office chairs for $35 bucks --total. I got them from a couple of Irish exchange students leaving the country. I like the style (Belle is vying for a mod look to match the office). The fabric looks ok. Belle will likely restain espresso and put Orange fabric on (remember we are in OSU - Cowboy land). So the money saving tip o' the week is this: check the local postings at nearby campuses. As the students leave, they dump a phenomonal amount of office chairs/desks/computers/printers/etc. So get yours...!

Home office?

Ok so the house we are going to live in is unique in that it has 2 offices attached to it. The offices face Highway and the house is behind the offices.
The house/office building is huge and modern styled. The house offers 3 bedrooms and vast living areas - plus 2 "bonus" rooms that could be used as a home office (we can put in a separate entry).
Alternatively, I could take one or both of the offices giving me a bit better exposure and larger signage.
I wonder how important this is? The cost difference is about 8K per year...and I'm wondering if the highway front would bring in that much extra business.
For now, the tentative plan is to home office for the first few months and see if I can turn a profit--then think about expanding.
btw: we know the place needs work! But we will have almost a year to fix it up. Anyone wanting to help is welcome :)

Is it tomorrow...or just the end of time?

Finals haze - all through my brain.

Sorry to keep the blog so id focused lately, but I am allowed to stumble a bit during finals, right?
I've 7 classes. 4 take home - 3 in class finals.

As of now I've 3 out of 4 take home finals turned in.

On another note: Tomorrow is a big day - I was supposed to attend the Ok Bar Law office management seminar in Oklahoma City. However I have to cancel because--

I have an INTERVIEW WITH THE D.A. in Stillwater (CHEERS). Very exciting! I really really really need a job. I need the money and the experience.

Next, it is pre-enrollment for kindergarten---wow..that scares me more than opening up a law office.

Then back to Tulsa for some coffee and corporate law (which is kind of like coffee - semi stimulating and likely to yellow your brain.)

When I'm in Stillwater--I'll try to take pics of my future residence and (proposed) office for a future post. --honestly, how do you contain your excitment?