黛布拉·布鲁诺
2018年5月22日
He’s called himself a serial career-changer, but it finally seems as if D.C. 澳博app布莱恩·罗哈尔找到了一个地方.
但是要理解罗哈尔, 44, 到了今天的地步, 回顾他的职业生涯是很重要的. 或路径.
It’s true that Rohal did start out on the legal straight and narrow. A graduate of Notre Dame University with a degree in economics and 政府, 他直接去了杜克大学的法学院, 在哪里, 除了他的法律学位, he picked up a simultaneous master’s degree in international and comparative law. He did well and found himself getting caught up in the mindset that corporate law was the goal.
He was hired by Arent Fox LLP, then moved over to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP). He spent several years doing international trade law for Gibson, 一家以全球贸易闻名的公司. “It was a great place to do that work,罗哈尔说。, with great co-workers. “可能是我这辈子遇到的最聪明的同事. 但这并不适合我——这不是我的个性.”
He adds, “What I was doing was helping companies lower their tax burden. I didn’t wake up enthusiastic for the day because of that. I enjoyed the people, but I didn’t feel driven by the work itself.”
There was also a sense in corporate law firm culture that he needed to be very serious at all times. “几乎没有放松和做愚蠢的自己的空间.所以，当他还清了法学院的贷款后，他辞职了.
感谢支持我的妻子, 他花了一些时间考虑各种选择, 并决定他想在D.C. 公立学校, 这意味着要再获得一个学位, 中等教育硕士学位, 乔治华盛顿大学教授. He started as a history teacher at Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School in the Petworth area of D.C. At that time (around 2006), 他说, the school was “a very different place than it is now.” He lasted a year and started looking for something else.
That turned out to be the law-themed Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School in Anacostia. 六年半了, 他教社会学, 政府, and introduction to law; served as a part-time legal advisor to the school; and created his own law course, a model that has been picked up by other organizations around the country. He improved the passing rate of students taking the AP exam to the point 在哪里 Thurgood students accounted for one-third of all black D.C. 通过AP U考试的学生.S. 历史考试.
It was a great place and he loved his students, 他说, but his restlessness eventually set in. “I wanted to change before I became that teacher who recites the same thing every year,他说.
罗哈尔开始考虑他的下一步行动. When he served as an advisor to many of his students and former students, 他开始注意到一些模式. 他们很难把注意力集中在詹姆斯。K. Polk or Jacksonian democracy when their own lives at home might be chaotic, 担心钱的问题, 住房, 安全, 每天的生活是最重要的.
That gave him a better sense of ways to help people in stressful situations, 他说, 他开始在国防部做志愿者.C. 高等法院家事法庭自助中心. In the beginning, “I knew nothing about family law,他说. 但他发现自己真的很喜欢这份工作. While he was prohibited from providing legal advice in that context, he could help people understand the process of family court, 包括原告的起诉状, 运动, 以及他们可能需要做的各种文书工作.
“Often it was just helping them understand how to file basic things to get in front of the judge to get issues resolved,他说, “and sometimes it was helping them articulate what they were looking for.”
接着，他发现了D.C. 志愿澳博app项目, which provides pro bono legal assistance for victims of domestic violence and children at risk. 在那里一位导师的帮助下, he volunteered once a week working on civil protection orders, 监护权, 离婚案件.
在国防部做了多年志愿者之后.C. 酒吧 公益性服务 Center’s Landlord Tenant Resource Center, 建议 & 转诊诊所，遗嘱资源中心，和倡导 & 正义的诊所, Rohal has finally found a place to settle down and call home — the 公益性服务 Center. He recently started working for the 公益性服务 Center as attorney of the day in eviction defense. 这一次他的重点是住房, something he had seen as an issue with some of his students back when he worked at Thurgood Marshall Academy. 在新的职位上, Rohal represents tenants in the Landlord Tenant Branch in both same-day and extended-day representation.
“我想念教室,罗哈尔说。, “but working with the kinds of clients I have is very much the same sort of reward as working with high school students. It’s a connection with someone who needs help in the moment, and to feel that they have a voice and someone will speak for them.”
There’s a “great need” for volunteers in legal services work. Rohal says that often, new volunteers come in with a deer-in-the-headlights look. Other volunteers remind them that they’re not expected to know all the answers.
It’s important to simply take time with the clients, Rohal says. “答案会来的.”
