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My law career began in Long Beach, California, in 1991. It is a story that I love to share. I joined a small public interest law clinic in Whittier, California, and had just purchased my first home. I was new and didn’t have a clue what I was doing. One slow Friday afternoon in October, I threw a handful of family law files in the back of my car and planned to spend the weekend at the beach getting myself up to speed. The following Monday I arrived at the office and was shocked to discover that the clinic had been padlocked shut by agents from the federal government. It seems that grant money for our low income assistance program had gone missing months before I started and the investigation was just starting. There I was, out of a job, and my first mortgage payment was due in a week! I pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. On the way, I stopped to have business cards printed up, bought a used desk and some office equipment, and had the phone company install a separate phone and fax line in the spare bedroom. I had 20 family law files in the back seat of my car and I started calling as many clients as I could reach. Suddenly, I was a family law attorney. That was Monday afternoon. The following day, I tried my first family law divorce case in court. Over the next few months, more cases came in, others settled, and my practice grew. I took every case that walked through my front door. Not only did I not know what I was doing, but I didn’t even know where to go to learn. Whenever I was stumped for answers, I would pretend to be a client with the same problem, get a free consultation with an experienced divorce lawyer, and walk into court the next day with all the answers. Things certainly have changed since those early days. Today, while we continue to practice exclusively family law trial and appellate work, the level of our practice has grown in sophistication. I have since become a Certified Family Law Specialist with the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization, and in 2005 I expanded that to include certification as a family law trial specialist with the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Today, my credentials include membership as a Fellow in both the American and International Academy of Matrimonial Attorneys. Contact: warren@warrencamplaw.com |
Warren
D. Camp
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