Mary Figler
MMC Scholars
Davis McIntyre
11/6/17
Informational Interview
I decided to interview someone in the field of law for my informational interview. I am currently majoring in finance and international business and plan on either becoming a corporate lawyer, venture capitalist, or some possible combination of these two fields. My mom is actually a lawyer; in the past she was a prosecutor, domestic child defense lawyer, and magistrate. Having my mom as an professional in this field has really allowed to meet some very amazing and influential people. For my interview I originally chose to interview Judge X from the Summit County Juvenile court. Luckily I was actually able to interview both Judge X and a Magistrate Y, who works in the Juvenile Court as well. Judge X has served on the Juvenile Court Bench for the past fourteen years after her election. And Judge Y has been serving at the Juvenile Court since 1990.
I would first like to discuss the difference between a magistrate and a judge. The magistrate is appointed and serves under the judge that is elected to the court. Magistrates handle the smaller cases that the judge allots to them, while the presiding judge handles the larger cases and administrative issues. Judges are the head of the court in which they reside so they have to deal with a lot of paperwork that does not actually have anything to do with court cases, so they get the title and larger authority but they also get a wider range of responsibility.The study of law has been around ever since societies have. Where there is rules, there must be those who enforce them. The field is always evolving as society changes and laws are added and removed. As times change so do peoples morals and standards. For instance in the early 1900’s there were many laws restricting African American citizens and discriminating against them. Whereas now times have changed and we have evolved into a more accepting society not based purely on discrimination against races. The skills necessary to be a lawyer have not changed in the recent past because even as the laws and times change, the way one defends or accuses basically remains the same. As for internships, Judge X and Magistrate Y do not explicitly offer them. But both told me to contact them whenever I am home and they would allow me to sit in on cases and hearings and shadow them around the court.
I talked to Magistrate Y first about his experience in this field. He earned both his undergraduate and law degree from the University of Akron. Coming into college he decided he wanted to major in engineering, after only a year he found that this was not the right path for him so he switched his major to English. Mr. Y said that he was not really sure what he wanted to do or be, it just all came together of his college years. He joined a fraternity that was heavily involved in local politics, and found that he was interested in this. When it came time to graduate he spoke to his Alumni advisor who happened to be a lawyer, and he suggested that Mr. Y go to law school. His brother had actually just graduated from law school himself, so he decided to follow this path.
After discovering why and how Magistrate Y ended up in the field of law, I went on to ask about his job itself. On a typical day he has about four to eight one hour hearings that mostly involve custody disputes or abused and neglected children. About 70% of the cases brought to the Juvenile Court are brought by the children services board to remove a child from home or keep a child in the home and bring in services. He told me that he strives to better the lives of the children he comes in counter with. He grew up in a great family that provided him an array of many different opportunities, and Magistrate Y tries to give these kids the same opportunities and help them lead safer lives. He said that his least favorite part about being a Magistrate is seeing how our society doesn’t offer as much help and services to help children in need (from a legal standpoint). Many are not represented by proper lawyers, and he wishes to develop and promote more pro bono cases to help the legal community. Magistrate Y said that he believes the most important skills to have when pursuing a law degree are reading and writing skills, good listener, solid analytical skills, devotion, a sense of empathy, and a understanding of psychology in order to understand what motivates people in order to be able to properly communicate understand why they may do the things they do. Magistrate Y concluding remark was that he believes a law degree is very flexible in the paths you can pursue, and helps you learn to be open minded and think in a different way.
I then spoke with Judge Linda X. Her story is a bit different from Magistrate Y, as she always knew that she wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up. She also attended the University of Akron for her undergraduate and law degree. When trying to choose a major, a high school counselor suggested that she major in education. Judge X decided that she would pursue this major, and found that she loved to work with children. After graduation she began as a trial attorney, worked in litigation and the municipal court, but finally found her true calling when she was able to combine her love of law and children in the Juvenile Court.
We then moved onto talking about her experience saw a Judge. On a typical day she does not really have a set schedule as different cases pop up at random depending on importance. She will have multiple hearings with delinquent kids and also child neglect or dependency hearings. She has a responsibility for the entire court, so she must do a lot of administrative work throughout the day as well. This is her least favorite part of the job because she didn’t become a lawyer to do day to day boring paperwork. Her favorite part of the job is interacting with the kids and doing all she can to motivate them and provide opportunities for them that they might not have otherwise. She said that when it comes to being successful in law it is very important to have the ability to listen well, communicate clearly in ways that the people you are working and associating with will understand, and the typical skills like good writing, reading, and analytical skills. The advice she gave me is to just go after things I want and am interested and not to let anyone hold you back. She said that law is so rewarding because you can feel like you made a difference in at least a few of the peoples lives in which you interact. The practice of law is crucial to society, so she encouraged me to take advantage of all the opportunities that will present themselves to me over the next few years in college.
Interviewing both Judge X and Magistrate Y really helped me gain some new information about this prospective job field. While some things I already knew, it was interesting to be able to understand why these two important people actually got into law in the first place.
