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I became a lawyer because the law is the
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one place where the playing field is
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evened out everybody is equal before the
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law we all know that but as a practical
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matter our clients are people who have
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disputes against much larger entities
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their former employers those former
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employers are more well-funded they have
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their own lawyers and a lot of folks I
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think are sometimes afraid that they
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won’t be able to afford a lawyer that’s
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not the case here we work on a
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percentage basis our clients can afford
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to have the fight against this larger
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thing that is evening out the playing
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field that’s what I like about the law
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that’s why I became a lawyer and I like
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to think that’s reflected in the
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relationship that we have with our
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clients there are two parts of my
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practice that I find most rewarding the
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first is that meeting with the client
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where we decide that we’re going to work
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together two things are happening right
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there it’s exciting for me
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professionally right it’s a new case and
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although we specialize in employment law
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and that’s 95 percent of what we do and
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the law is usually the same thing over
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and over every client is different the
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facts of every case are different so
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that’s exciting for me professionally
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the other thing that’s exciting about
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that first meeting is that the client
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has put her trust or his trust in us
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they found somebody who think they know
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what they’re doing they have the
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expertise the new client has said I
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trust you to handle this for me that’s
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great as well the second thing that I
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find most rewarding in my practice is
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resolving the case some cases have to be
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resolved by trial but the truth of the
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matter is that most don’t our clients
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have been through something pretty rough
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they’ve been fired they’ve been harassed
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they’ve been denied money that’s owed
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them these are just examples of what’s
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happened it’s rough and what’s nice
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about resolving a case by a settlement
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is that even though it’s great to have a
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jury say you were
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I think it’s more rewarding for the
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client and it’s often more rewarding for
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me to have a settlement where the client
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knows that the employer is in some way
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acknowledging we made a mistake here we
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didn’t treat you right here it’s
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important and it’s rewarding for me and
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I think very satisfying for the client a
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piece of advice that I give to my
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clients from the beginning and all the
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way through is at the beginning hire
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somebody you trust hire somebody who you
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trust to give you honest feedback to
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tell you the good and the bad but also
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somebody who you trust to have the
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expertise to get the job done right to
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know what they’re doing
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to have the ability to use their best
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judgment to give you the best advice
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hire someone you trust not just as a
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person but as a professional the second
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piece of advice that I’m always giving
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to my clients is after you’ve hired
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somebody you trust trust them to give
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you good advice trust their judgment
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asking questions that’s great giving
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suggestions that’s great but at the end
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of the day hire somebody who you trust
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to take it all in and give you the best
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advice on how to move forward