Law Blog Pt. 1

My dad, Tom Bair, is a bankruptcy attorney in Downtown Houston. Both of my parents are lawyers so I think that is what really sparked my interest in becoming a lawyer. However, both of my parents do very different kinds of law. My dad is a consumer bankruptcy lawyer, which means he prevents foreclosures and helps people save their homes and cars along with getting people out of debt. My dad had started his career representing people in divorces, claims for disability, and personal injury. One of the things that stuck out to him with all of those cases were how much debt most of those people were in. After seeing how much debt people were in he found a way to help by becoming a bankruptcy lawyer. He graduated from South Texas College of Law-Houston in 1992 after graduating from The University of Texas at Dallas with a bachelor of arts in psychology. His bachelor degree in psychology has really helped him to deal with his clients because he often has to deal with people who are very anxious, stressed, and nervous about what is happening in their lives. My dad has to spend approximately 3 hours at the courthouse a week but spends most of his time sending emails to his client, meeting with potential and existing clients, and dealing with paperwork. There are different types of meetings my dad has to go to the courthouse for. Sometimes my dad goes to court to meet with a trustee and sometimes it's to meet with a judge. My dad works in a private practice because he really likes to be his own boss and he likes the freedom of doing his own marketing and having everything the way he wants it. My dad finds his job very rewarding but also very overwhelming at times because it feels like he does a lot to help people but some client are very unappreciative. My dad thinks the hardest thing about what he does is having to take on other people's problems and not letting it interfere with his personal life and his own issues.

After learning more about what my dad does and how he helps people I don't think I am going to want to become a bankruptcy lawyer. I really like the idea of helping people but I think I want most of my time as a lawyer to be spent in a courthouse fighting for my clients and researching cases and less just looking at tax returns and filing paperwork. I also think I am more interested in a specialty that is more involved with children or families.