"I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to go to law school," Forster explained. "I consulted with a lot of people who have been to law school, and they all said that...it might be a smart idea to take some more time to decide."
Forster, a 23-year-old Detroit native, started out applying for jobs in Washington. When he didn't get the results he needed, he posted his resume on his former university's alumni site, and a company that fit his specifications contacted him. The law firm of Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz offered Forster a job as a member of its legal staff. According to Forster, this "lobbying firm specializes in regulatory matters regarding the FDA/USDA with agricultural, medical device manufacturer, drug, and food-labeling clients."
Forster has now been with the firm a little over a year and has enjoyed his work thus far.
What he will soon embark on is the next leg of his journey toward his goal of becoming a lawyer. He is going to attend Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, OH, in the fall and is hoping to put his paralegal skills to good use.
"Hopefully my increased familiarity with certain terminology and my experiences with legal research will give me an advantage in law school," Forster said.
"The greatest part about my job is all the places I get to go: Congress, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, embassies," he said. "Basically, I get paid to visit places that tourists from all over the country travel here to see."
He emphasized that a paralegal job is not for everyone, but he advised students who are on the fence to consider working as paralegals in order to discover whether the law suits them.
Forster is leaving his job with Olsson Frank to enter law school, but he said he was glad he ended up where he did. When he first started looking for jobs, he applied to and landed an interview with an institute that he referred to as a "right-wing think tank." Lucky for him and maybe even the company (Forster is a self-declared liberal), the interview was cut short because the fire alarm in the office went off.
"It was as if someone sensed that a Democrat was in their midst and they had to abort as quickly as possible," he joked. "They must have smelled my ACLU card, as I did not get the job."
When he's not working or gearing up for law school, Forster likes to go out and have fun. He likes to play softball and kickball and, most of all, make the people around him laugh. This comes as no surprise; his humor pops out from his MySpace and blog pages. And when asked where he saw himself in 10 years, he replied, "In 10 years, I would like to be at the Super Bowl watching the Detroit Lions hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy, but I think there's a better chance that the Miss America Pageant tiara will be hoisted upon my head than that happening." He will just have to wait and see.
