I was a Legal Secretary Trainee with the Legal Aid office in downtown Los Angeles in the late 60's. The office handled a variety of legal matters for those who, because of financial restrictions, would not have otherwise been able to afford legal assistance. I learned the basics of being a Legal Secretary, i.e., 11th hour editions, hurry up and wait, and the magical transformation of paper into letters, correspondence, and pleadings.

The civil years during which time I became adept at transforming voluminous amounts of paper into depositions, interrogatories, at-issue memoranda, demurrers, etc. I also became acquainted and involved with the Family Law arena and more transformation of paper into summonses and complaints, orders to show cause, interlocutory and final decrees, etc. I also learned the true meaning of compassion.

The beginning of my love affair with criminal defense and a brief foray into the world of Contracts, Labor Law, Insurance Defense, and a wee bit of Probate. At some point during this time period, I began to work as a temporary Legal Secretary, which definitely broadened my horizons.

An opportunity to work with the founder of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic as his Administrative Assistant. This move, from my perspective, was a lateral one in that the medical and legal worlds are an excellent example of a symbiotic relationship and so the transition was rather easy. Once again, my secret horizon was broadened by my exposure to the myriad ways in which people use (and abuse) substances to enable them to cope with their daily lives, the varying modalities of available treatment for the varying forms of abuse, the importance of the clinical trials, and the opportunity for personal observation as to the internal workings of a non-profit medical corporation.

I am working, once again, with a criminal defense practitioner. Yet another opportunity for first-hand observation of the workings of the criminal "justice system", the lengths to which some people go to realize their "dreams", even if their actions jeopardize themselves and/or others. Criminal Law is also an excellent educational opportunity to really study and acquire a better understanding of the social psychology of our "culture". Something to definitely make you go, "hmmm".