Retired from general practice
Name: Sandra Berthene
Major: Philosophy; Sociology
Law School: Univ. of Minnesota
Description of your job: I retired from my solo general law practice in March 1983. I therefore probably do not truly qualify for your survey, but I'll complete it anyway.
Do you have any advice for students who are considering going to the same law school you did? Be aware that unlike many undergraduate courses of study, laws keep changing, and so do legal opinions. The certainty to which you may be accustomed will elude you many times during and after law school. This would be true for any law school, not just U of M.
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? Learn good study habits. You'll need them!
If you had a chance to go through law school all over again, is there anything you would do differently? I wouldn't go through that again for anything.
Is being a lawyer what you expected it would be? Why or why not? No, it was very different. I was naive enough to think it was a helping profession. Instead, it's adversarial. You're expected to defend your client to your utmost, even if he/she is guilty as sin, or a spouse‑beater, or whatever. I finally couldn't do that any longer.
What is it like transitioning from being a law student to being a lawyer? Learning that it's tough to make a living as a solo practitioner. You can be eaten up by your overhead with amazing ease. And getting hired at a large firm can be good or bad, depending upon a whole raft of variables.
Is there anything students should know about the legal profession before they decide to commit their life to it? As I said above, be very sure that you're comfortable with assuming the adversarial role. It also helps to know that by the nature of things, you won't always win your cases. Be prepared for what that can do to you emotionally and professionally.
What does a typical day look like for you as a lawyer? N/A, since I'm retired now.
Do you have any final advice? Just be very certain, before you commit to three years of intensive study, that this is the right profession for you. In my case, it was a mistake to go to law school. For others who were in my class, it was the right choice. And that choice is up to you.
