Attorney Editor at Legal Publishing Company

Name: Beth Docherty

Major: Sociology with an emphasis in Law, Criminology, and Deviancy

Law School: University of Minnesota

Description of your job: I am an attorney editor in the Codes Content Center at West, a legal publishing company. I'm responsible for publishing the Illinois statutes (West's Smith‑Hurd Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated), as well as a variety of softbound books containing slices of the statutes, and our court rules and administrative code products. I'm responsible for data in print publications, on Westlaw, and in CD Rom format. In addition, I supervise five other attorneys and ten editors.

Do you have any advice for students who are considering going to the same law school you did? Law school is pretty intense, but don't forget there's a whole other world around you on campus. The University of Minnesota is a wonderful school and has many opportunities for cultural activities beyond the law school. Take advantage of opportunities to meet alums. If you're interested in working in publishing, the journal option (rather than moot court) in your second year is terrific preparation.

Is there anything in particular that you did during your undergrad that benefited you more than anything else in getting through law school and/or transitioning into the legal profession? My major was beneficial ‑ while not strictly legal prep, it definitely helped with the criminal law courses I took, so I had a leg up there. I guess knowing when I started law school that I wanted to work in publishing rather than practicing was also helpful because it allowed me to focus my efforts and tune out things that weren't important to me. Other than that, I went into law school somewhat blindly.

If you had a chance to go through law school all over again, is there anything you would do differently? I'd be more prepared! I didn't know very much about law school or what to expect, and I think that put me at a disadvantage. It seemed my classmates had all boned up on what the "law school experience" would be like ‑ they knew about the socratic method, about briefs, how tedious and boring civil procedure is, the difference between bluff and puffery for the benefit of new students and something that is actually important. I'd find out as much as I could about what law school itself is like.

Is being a lawyer what you expected it would be? Why or why not? Yes and no. I knew I wanted to go into legal publishing, so in that respect it is exactly what I expected. On the other hand, I didn't envision myself in this segment of legal publishing. I thought I'd be editing manuscripts ‑ offering editoral suggestions, checking citations, proofreading, etc. ‑ and instead I'm working with legislative materials where there is absolutely no creativity and no room for editorial enhancement ‑ anything that's changed must be approved by the legislature or a revisor, including typos. I do use my law degree more than I expected I would.

What is it like transitioning from being a law student to being a lawyer? Initially it was wonderful ‑ normal hours, no studying, and I had my weekends free! Now that I'm actually useful to my company I do work quite a bit of overtime and bring lots of work home with me, which often reminds me of studying. It was really nice to move to a more structured schedule, and to work on things that I'm interested in rather than taking a class because I need to fulfill a requirement. I also like the fact that what I'm doing now produces real world results. That's not to say there aren't opportunities for real world results in law school ‑ there are plenty! Clinics, journals, etc., but it's nice to get into a professional setting and start setting down roots.