>> In 1980, I was honored to get a bachelor of
arts and history from the University of Virginia
after four and a half years of probably
more fun than I should of [inaudible]
by the time I was ready to graduate
I was actually in state resident
because I had been there so long and had worked
there and my dad actually said it's cheaper
to keep you in Charlotte so
we'll have you come home.
So I had history degree and then I
didn't go to law school for seven years.
I was in sales, I ran a couple restaurants, I
leased cars, I did a bunch of different things.
So you know it was 1990 before I
went to law school and I was 33 then,
which is not the typical career path and
then I got my [inaudible] doctorate in 1993
from the University of Baltimore.
What you learn in law school you will quickly
forget your first couple years of practice
because back then it wasn't
a real practical application.
You didn't have clinics; you didn't have
work where you went to the courtroom.
You did a lot of rope memorization of like old
cases and classes that taught you how to think,
taught you how to write, but it
wasn't really practically applicable.
So they were to two and were the only two
degrees I have and the only two I'm ever going
to get because I'm [inaudible] never
going back inside the classroom.
I was in sales and I did not like my job.
I liked the people I worked with, it was a
family owned company that you're never going
to run a family owned company because
you're not a member of the family
and my grandfather had been an attorney
and I had been talking to my grandmother
and she said why don't you try it.
I mean you like to argue with people, you're
pretty quick on your feet, try it and I said,
when I first got out of college I applied to
five law schools and they all laughed at me.
They said, no no no you're
grades are average, you're SAT,
or LSAT scores weren't anything
to write home about.
I'd been in sales and I wanted something
I could do for the rest of my life as long
as I had my mental faculties,
which I think at 54 I still do.
So it just seemed like a natural
fit at the time and you know,
21 years after I graduated it still feels good.