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A Law Student Who Inspires Others, but May Never Be Allowed to Practice Law

published October 01, 2012

By CEO and Founder - BCG Attorney Search left
Published By
( 111 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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Shon Hopwood inspires others but may never be allowed to practice law
Shon Hopwood may never be allowed to practice law, but he would always inspire law students and others across the nation. His story, rather his memoir, co-authored by Dennis Burke, “Law Man” was published this year by Crown Publishing.

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And yes, if you want to know what is wrong or right with him, this 37 year old father of two has served 10 years for robbing five banks; while in prison his petitions acting as a jailhouse lawyer were good enough to be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, not once, but twice, and his education at the University of Washington Law School is paid for, by the Gates Scholarship Program.

But most certainly, his wrong choices made in his 20s, and conviction of a felon would be used by bar associations to prevent entry to competition that, sitting in prison and without a law school degree, has been able to convince a 9-0 panel of the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in favor of his arguments. So, Hopwood is a brilliant legal mind, who's studying law with full knowledge that bar associations would fight tooth and nail to keep him out of law practice. But it scarcely concerns him.

As reported in a recent article in the Seattle Times by Katherine Long, Hopwood says, “he could still use his training in other legal work. And he believes he's been given an unusual series of lucky breaks he can use to shed light on inequities in the criminal-justice system.”

Seth Waxman, a former U.S. Solicitor General with whom Hopwood worked on preparing the case of Fellers v. United States says that the petition for writ of certiorari in the case was probably one of the best he had ever seen.

Law Man: My Story of Robbing Banks, Winning Supreme Court Cases, and Finding Redemption is the memoir of Hopwood, but its more than a memoir, because it has set him off on another journey altogether. A journey of discovering the multitude of faces worn by humans. And he seems to be maturing by the day. Take this observation on his blog “When you publish a book with a story like mine, you expect opposition. You expect some haters. Because I've learned that you can never please everyone, even when you are trying to do the right thing, I have a two track system to dealing with such negativity. Step one: ignore it. Step two: if there is a really offending comment, politely respond, and then ignore it.”

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Talking about a hater who started a blog almost dedicated to denouncing only Hopwood, a blogger whose identity Shon knows but refers to only as Jim, what Shon says may well be meant for all including the bar associations where his past is going to catch up for sure:
“As for worldly forgiveness, I never expected that, which is why I've gone out of my way to try to earn that forgiveness. Jim has no idea how many volunteer hours I put in: everything from serving at my church, to talking to children in a juvenile prison, to assisting people with their legal problems. I don't think a week has gone by in the past three years where I have not performed some sort of pro bono volunteer work. I'm also dedicating my life to public service to make amends for what I did, even though, I could find a much more lucrative job after law school and, even though, under the law, I've already paid the price—let's not forget that I did serve over a decade in a hellhole called federal prison and I'm paying all the money back that I stole.

In other words, Jim doesn't know what he's talking about. But that's what happens when you judge someone you don't know and never met.”
If Shon can do law school with no hope of ever joining the bar, but only with the willingness to do good and redeem himself, may be not everything at law schools is as gloomy as much of the media would have us believe.

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Alternative Summary

Harrison is the founder of BCG Attorney Search and several companies in the legal employment space that collectively gets thousands of attorneys jobs each year. Harrison’s writings about attorney careers and placement attract millions of reads each year. Harrison is widely considered the most successful recruiter in the United States and personally places multiple attorneys most weeks. His articles on legal search and placement are read by attorneys, law students and others millions of times per year.

More about Harrison

About LawCrossing

LawCrossing has received tens of thousands of attorneys jobs and has been the leading legal job board in the United States for almost two decades. LawCrossing helps attorneys dramatically improve their careers by locating every legal job opening in the market. Unlike other job sites, LawCrossing consolidates every job in the legal market and posts jobs regardless of whether or not an employer is paying. LawCrossing takes your legal career seriously and understands the legal profession. For more information, please visit www.LawCrossing.com.

published October 01, 2012

By CEO and Founder - BCG Attorney Search left
( 111 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
What do you think about this article? Rate it using the stars above and let us know what you think in the comments below.