Got interesting responses to the above—for some of us, Law School was at the end of a winding path.
If you missed last week, click here.
With permission, posting some herein.
First up:
- Barbara Carmichael, B.C. Deputy Attorney General
- Shona Compton, retired
- Don Pangman, retired
Stay tuned for more…
“Hi Eugene,
I never had any intention of becoming a lawyer or working for government, and yet, I am currently the Deputy Attorney General for the province of BC. I’m still very surprised this is where I ended up, but I’m very glad I did.
I grew up in small town BC and no one on either side of my family had ever gone to university, never mind a second degree. I didn’t know any lawyers and had absolutely no idea what the practice of law was about. After high school, I went to Simon Fraser University and studied business – because I didn’t like science and hated writing essays so the business faculty seemed like the best fit. I really wanted to go into human resources, but when I graduated in 1994, the economy wasn’t great and HR jobs were not on the table for someone with no real experience in the area. I thought about getting an MBA, but doing that without experience wasn’t a realistic option either. So my options were few and I knew that HR often involved legal aspects, so I thought a law degree would be a good way to improve my resume.
I went to UVic law and found I really enjoyed the material and even the issue identification part of the exams – but still had no plans to practice law. I was encouraged to apply for a clerkship and ended up getting one with the BC Supreme Court in Victoria. I then thought since I was that far along the path, I might as well article before starting my “real career”. I didn’t want to live in Vancouver (too big), or a town elsewhere in BC (too small and/or too cold) so decided to focus on Victoria. The best articles in Victoria were with the Ministry of Attorney General so I put my application in – with absolutely zero idea what government lawyers did.
I also had no desire to ever step foot in a courtroom and thought I would focus on contracts. Turns out, I don’t like contracts and ended up as a litigator for most of my career. One of the things I’ve discovered is that sometimes choosing by eliminating the things you don’t want can actually put you on a great path.
I’ve now worked for MAG for 29 years in all sorts of legal, management, and executive positions. It was an entirely accidental career and one I am very grateful for.”
Thank you: Barbara Carmichael, K.C. (B.C. Deputy Attorney General), Barbara.Carmichael@gov.bc.ca.
“Eugene,
At 17 I left my small rural hometown in east central Alberta for the U of A to study dental hygiene. I can confidently say that the 2-year dental hygiene diploma program that I took was harder than law school. We had classes and/or clinic every day from 8 AM to 5 PM. I think in first year I had 10 or 11 finals. My hygiene career was short lived. After graduation in 1980 I covered for a private practice classmate during the summer. My “dream” job in public health was to start in the fall. By late summer I knew I could never make private practice a long-term gig. I was polishing particularly grungy teeth and as I asked the patient to turn his head a glob of blood, polishing paste and saliva flew off the rubber cup into my open mouth. This was in the days before masks and gloves were de rigueur. I almost vomited in his mouth. Well, come September I was off to public health. That lasted about 3 years. When I was attempting to do a fluoride treatment on a cute little 3 and ½ year old, he was having none of it and kicked me, bit me, curled up in a ball and then told me to “f#^* off”. Yes, he used those words. I was done.
I made a visit to student counselling services at the U of A to figure out what to do with my life. The counsellor asked me if I had done well in the hygiene program. Well to be honest when a 17-year old from a small town with a particularly protective mom hits campus, studying is not her first priority. Nevertheless, I had somehow come out with a decent GPA. He asked me what I liked to do and I said read. So, his response was “I think you should try law school.” I didn’t know much about law school but thought hey, it must be better than scraping teeth. I told my mother that I was quitting my job and going back to university to finish an arts degree in preparation for law school. She said that I had a “good job for a girl” and that I was not aggressive or competitive enough for law school. So, of course, to spite her I had to do it. In retrospect, I realize that my mother was not being mean-spirited or critical. She had led a pretty sheltered existence and was simply being her usual protective self. In the last year of my B.A. I opted to take a constitutional law course for political science students taught by law professor Gerry Gall – a wonderful man who over the ensuing years became a friend. And then I was definitely hooked – I was going to become a constitutional scholar. So, I too was not a kid who dreamed of becoming a lawyer but kind of fell into law by mistake or happenstance. It’s a 180-degree turn from scraping teeth to practicing law! However, no education is ever wasted. Working part-time as a hygienist while in law school paid the bills, but I was quite happy to put the dental instruments down in 1987 when I graduated from law school. And I never did practice any form of constitutional law – I was a corporate commercial research lawyer for 36 years…
Cheers,
Shona.”
Thank you: Shona Compton, shonacompton@gmail.com.
“Hi Eugene.
Here’s my story:
I’ve always loved reading. Majored in English at U of Manitoba. Knew for sure that I wanted to be an English prof. Took a year off after undergrad and then applied and was accepted into the Masters program in English.
A few months before graduate school, I ran into Tom van B. We had been classmates in Grade 12 but I hadn’t seen him since. Asked him what he’d been doing and he told me that he went to law school. I said I’d heard that law school was really hard. Tom shrugged and said that it wasn’t any more difficult than Grade 12 history. He thought that I might like it and suggested that I look into it.
I walked over to the law school and said that I would like some information about the program because I knew nothing about it. The receptionist told me that it was a little late to be asking for information because the deadline for applications for the fall term was that very day. Turned out that I had about an hour to apply if I wanted to be considered. I figured, what the heck – may as well apply – I could always say no. Nothing ventured.
So I filled out the form and handed it to the receptionist a few minutes before the deadline. She asked me if I had taken the LSAT.
What’s an LSAT?
Trying, but not quite succeeding, to conceal her astonishment at my ignorance, she patiently explained the LSAT requirement and told me that the final LSAT before the fall term was scheduled to take place in two days. If I didn’t take that LSAT, my application for law school would be discarded.
Yikes, not much time! But, again, why not? It’s just a test. Probably won’t be accepted.
But why take a test when I knew for sure that I really wanted to do graduate studies in English?
I don’t know why but I took the LSAT two days later even though I knew nothing about law, didn’t know any lawyers and the only thing I knew about law school was that Tom van B. had said that it wasn’t any more difficult than Grade 12 history.
That was in 1970. I was called to the bar in 1974 and practiced for more than 40 years. First in Manitoba and then in BC.
Retired in 2017. No regrets.
Don.”
Thank you: Don Pangman, donpangman2017@gmail.com.