A lot has happened for me over the last couple years. I got married, had a baby, bought a house, etc. I became a Judge Advocate Attorney for the National Guard. I lost a lot of weight. I killed the Legal Mustache. That's right; those of you who may remember me, I used to be heftier, and I used to sport a mustache. Those days are gone. But I will always remember the days of the Legal Mustache.

If you're a new reader, you probably don't care or don't know what I'm talking about. That's fine. But if you peruse my website a bit, you'll probably notice a lot of my content is old and from 2019. Well, this post will help explain why.

I took a full time with the Public Defender's Office in March of 2020. I shut down the firm and moved a couple hours out west to Willmar. There, I did everything from felonies, misdemeanors, probation violations, juvenile delinquency, and even Child Protection.

As much as I missed running things on my own, being a full-time Public Defender brought some great perspective and experience. I have a lot more jury trials under my belt. I've handled just about any kind of case from criminal-sexual-conduct, to child pornography, to assaults with a weapon/firearm, to drugs, to attempted murder. I do plan on adding some of my success stories to the firm website eventually. I convinced juries to acquit on charges ranging from assault with a firearm, to DWI, to harassment. I've had multiple searches thrown out and charges dismissed.

The experience managing a lot of files at any given time was good for me. At any given time, I managed over a hundred files at any given time. This was a whole different perspective from what I was doing as a solo attorney. I dealt with some great clients and made some great impacts in their life. I saw clients in their most vulnerable times. I saw the struggles with drugs and alcohol that so many clients had. I saw the destructive effects of poverty and addiction.

In short, many of these folks would be railroaded if they did not have someone stepping in to defend them in whatever ways I could. Some appreciated it, some did not. To many, I was just a "public pretender" and not a "real attorney." This accusation might intrigue those who I represented in private practice.

Just recently, my manager came to me with an opportunity to transition into being a public defender part-time. I will be helping out the office in St Cloud. Part timers are allowed to run their own practice on the side, and represent clients on the private practice side of things.

So moving forward, I get to still continue my work of defending those who cannot afford an attorney, but I also get to do my own thing(on the side) again. No longer do I have to choose between the two.

I look forward to this new opportunity. If you or someone you know needs an attorney, and does not qualify for the representation of the Public Defender's Office, feel free to give me a call at (320) 433-7225 or email me at [email protected]