Solo Practice

Attorney Carole Simpson went to law school after her son died.  And then she's opted to open her solo practice. This is an excerpt from her story as posted on Ms. JD.

Some of this change may also go back to how I got to attend law school. Just at the time I was preparing to take the LSAT, my younger son, then 24, became ill. After three weeks in the hospital, and a few more at home, he died. Losing a child is the most horrible thing that can happen to a parent, but the day was surreal that the insurance agent came to my home to deliver a check for the proceeds of the life insurance policy I had on each of my children. What can you do with that sort of money? You certainly can?t take a vacation, or buy a car. The check sat on the coffee table for over a week. I had to recruit a friend to help me get the check in the bank before my cat chewed it up.

The money sat in my bank account, an obscene reminder that a parent should never have to bury a child. I followed through that fall, zombie-like, filling out law school applications, and completing my tenure packet for my academic job. When I started to get law school acceptances, I had an epiphany: the money would let me attend law school with the idea that I could help others, in my son?s name. The money wasn?t so much a payment for his life, but a new lease on mine so that I might turn what was a tragedy into a victory. I wasn?t sure how I was going to do that, but I had confidence that I would find out along the way.

This post touched me so much. I hope never to know such despair.  But in her despair to find such inspiration is beyond anything I have read on the internet of late.  We read about people seeking law degrees for money, prestige, fighting over which tier school, BigLaw versus solo, we forget the individual stories, the passion and purpose and this was a welcome reminder.