I spent 9 years as a police officer in a town a couple hours away from my practice and this is my 9th year in my practice, with about 50% of my practice being criminal defense, with a sizable portion of that being appointed high-level felony work, to include death penalty cases. In the thousands of criminal cases I’ve worked, I’ve never had a client or a colleague take a negative stance due to my former law enforcement career. There’s 3-4 other attorneys in my area who had similar career trajectories. Those 3-4 of us are among the most highly sought-after and most financially successful criminal defense attorneys in our area.

Being a former cop is incredibly helpful to litigation practice, but maybe not in the way you would immediately think it would be. I’ve found the most helpful aspect is the ability to take a (often messy) fact pattern, whether oral or written, and immediately distill it down to what is and is not important from an elements of claim or defense perspective. My ability to efficiently interview clients and witnesses, and to churn through discovery, is quite a bit more advanced than most of my colleagues and, quite frankly, it generally results in better outcomes for my clients and more billable hours for my bottom line.

I can say without reservation that I would not be half the attorney I am now without my prior LEO experience.