Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Thoughts on Seeing Brad Bogan Impress a Large Group of People
I'm back from California now, and very glad that I went. It was a fascinating voyage into the (heretofore) secret world of federal defenders, who I always admired and respected as a prosecutor, but never knew so well.
There was one moving moment that took me by surprise. Late yesterday I returned from lunch with Judge Gertner after several breakout groups had started their sessions. I picked one and snuck in the back, tucking into a chair outside of the action. What I saw was my former student, Brad Bogan, holding forth with great authority on the subject of calculating criminal history. The other defenders, nearly all of them older than Brad, were listening with rapt attention. I was just one of the listeners, but I felt an odd swell of pride, too-- my former student was the instructor, and displaying a confidence I did not see enough of in law school.
It was a very happy moment.
There was one moving moment that took me by surprise. Late yesterday I returned from lunch with Judge Gertner after several breakout groups had started their sessions. I picked one and snuck in the back, tucking into a chair outside of the action. What I saw was my former student, Brad Bogan, holding forth with great authority on the subject of calculating criminal history. The other defenders, nearly all of them older than Brad, were listening with rapt attention. I was just one of the listeners, but I felt an odd swell of pride, too-- my former student was the instructor, and displaying a confidence I did not see enough of in law school.
It was a very happy moment.
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I would think that a moment like that would be the one of the most rewarding things about being a professor. So Congratulations, Osler.
I hope Brad reads this...and I would ask a favor of him. Brad, please post here and tell how you came to this point.
From my recollection (he was one of my first "babies") Brad always wanted to do this work,he found the position in Del Rio, turned an entry-level position as a federal public defender into what he is now...a federal public defender with the knowledge and clout to have his elders giving him their rapt attention.
Brad has always been a willing source to students who want to do this work. Anytime I asked, he corresponded, advised and encouraged our students.
Brad...many thanks. And there are so many who want to follow in your footsteps.
Kat in the CSO
From my recollection (he was one of my first "babies") Brad always wanted to do this work,he found the position in Del Rio, turned an entry-level position as a federal public defender into what he is now...a federal public defender with the knowledge and clout to have his elders giving him their rapt attention.
Brad has always been a willing source to students who want to do this work. Anytime I asked, he corresponded, advised and encouraged our students.
Brad...many thanks. And there are so many who want to follow in your footsteps.
Kat in the CSO
# posted by 
: 8:46 PM
: 8:46 PM
Mark: Thanks very much for the compliment.
What's funny is that I experienced a little PC flashback at the time. For those of you who weren't at the conference, here's some context: There were certain times during the day when everyone would break into six or seven smaller groups to discuss various sentencing topics in smaller rooms. Some of the speakers from the plenary sessions circulated among the small-groups to check out what everyone was talking about. When Osler walked into our room that afternoon, it reminded me of when the PC professors would glide unobtrusively into the second floor courtrooms to observe the afternoon mock trial exercises. Thankfully, the sensation passed quickly. (I even thought of calling on Osler to settle a polite debate that cropped up in our discussion group over the proper pronunciation of "Petite policy.") But to add a Twilight-Zone-like ironic twist: even though I never once got called-on in PC, I somehow got assigned a memo at the sentencing conference. Cosmic justice, I suppose.
Kat: I'm glad to hear that there's others at Baylor interested in PD work, given the superlative trial advocacy training Baylor JD's go through.
As for how I got to where I am now, here's the severely truncated version: got hired for the exact job I was looking for right out of school; happened to be in a district and division with a heavy caseload that afforded dog-years of experience; worked within a nationwide community of lawyers who believe strongly in the work they do and are very good at it; had a front-row seat to some of the most significant developments in federal criminal law in the past several decades; and attended great conferences, like this past one in Redondo Beach. There's much more, of course (including the ways in which Baylor Law prepared me for a career in criminal defense, notwithstanding the school's pronounced focus on civil litigation), but those are the Cliff's Notes. And as always I'm happy to talk to any Baylor folks who'd like to know more about PD careers.
One final thing: my intro to the FPD world was through an internship in the office in Montgomery, AL, 'tween my second and third years of law school. I found out about it through a CSO posting.
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What's funny is that I experienced a little PC flashback at the time. For those of you who weren't at the conference, here's some context: There were certain times during the day when everyone would break into six or seven smaller groups to discuss various sentencing topics in smaller rooms. Some of the speakers from the plenary sessions circulated among the small-groups to check out what everyone was talking about. When Osler walked into our room that afternoon, it reminded me of when the PC professors would glide unobtrusively into the second floor courtrooms to observe the afternoon mock trial exercises. Thankfully, the sensation passed quickly. (I even thought of calling on Osler to settle a polite debate that cropped up in our discussion group over the proper pronunciation of "Petite policy.") But to add a Twilight-Zone-like ironic twist: even though I never once got called-on in PC, I somehow got assigned a memo at the sentencing conference. Cosmic justice, I suppose.
Kat: I'm glad to hear that there's others at Baylor interested in PD work, given the superlative trial advocacy training Baylor JD's go through.
As for how I got to where I am now, here's the severely truncated version: got hired for the exact job I was looking for right out of school; happened to be in a district and division with a heavy caseload that afforded dog-years of experience; worked within a nationwide community of lawyers who believe strongly in the work they do and are very good at it; had a front-row seat to some of the most significant developments in federal criminal law in the past several decades; and attended great conferences, like this past one in Redondo Beach. There's much more, of course (including the ways in which Baylor Law prepared me for a career in criminal defense, notwithstanding the school's pronounced focus on civil litigation), but those are the Cliff's Notes. And as always I'm happy to talk to any Baylor folks who'd like to know more about PD careers.
One final thing: my intro to the FPD world was through an internship in the office in Montgomery, AL, 'tween my second and third years of law school. I found out about it through a CSO posting.
# posted by : 11:11 PM
: 11:11 PM << Home
