Osler's Razor

 I'm pretty sure that Sushma Soni was in my "small group"-- a set of 16 students who traveled through the first year together. She was super-smart and an original thinker (there were a lot of people in the class with the first quality, fewer with the second). I do have a distinct memory of a bunch of us-- including Sushma-- going to see "Fatal Attraction" at the theater together, and most of us almost passed out when Glen Close rose out of the tub.

 Sushma came to law school after not only getting an undergrad degree from Northwestern, but a Masters from the Kennedy School at Harvard (a place I find pretty fascinating).  She came in with serious intellectual cred, and was one of those people I would look for in confusing discussions to make a point that was clear, brief, and insightful. 

After law school, she clerked for Judge Butzner on the Fourth Circuit and then, in 1991, went to the Department of Justice. And (in a departure from the template set by some of us who wandered around a lot) she is still there! She is married to a classmate, too-- Jeff Bartos, already profiled here.

Sushma works as an appellate lawyer in the DOJ's civil division, and is (I think) the only person I know who has argued a case in every Circuit Court. In an interview with the Yale Law Women, here is part of what she said about her job:

A typical day in my job involves research and writing. The Appellate Staff has two primary responsibilities, both of them writing-intensive. First, we produce legal memoranda for the Solicitor General, making recommendations as to what course of action the Justice Department should take in particular cases (whether to appeal initially, whether to petition for cert before the Supreme Court, and so on).  Second, we handle briefing and argument for those cases that do actually go to the appellate level. Right now, I’m drafting a brief defending a judgment in favor of the government before one of the courts of appeal.

As a Staff Attorney, I manage all aspects of my appellate cases with only moderate review from a supervising attorney. I also collaborate with attorneys in the Solicitor General’s Office to draft briefs for Civil Division cases that continue on to the Supreme Court. Finally, I help provide comments on briefs submitted by other divisions (such as the Civil Rights Division, the Environment and Natural Resources Division, and others) in pursuit of their own appeals. One of the best parts of my job is the huge variety of legal issues I encounter: Although reviewers generally specialize in a specific area (e.g. intellectual property, antidiscrimination law, or the First Amendment), staff attorneys do not, so at any given moment I will be handling cases in several different subject areas.

 I totally get what she is saying about the joys of being a generalist-- there is lot to be said for learning something new with each case! 

# posted by Mark Osler @ 1:00 AM