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It's not every day that an eighth-grader gets to sit down to lunch with a lawyer, but it happens once a month for nearly 80 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students.
CMS' “Lunch with a Lawyer” program helps middle schoolers who are interested in law careers learn more about the profession by getting to know a lawyer.
Students in this year's program didn't have to wait for the start of school to meet their lawyer mentors. With the official start of school still more than a week away, they all sat down together last week for a spaghetti lunch at St. Luke's Lutheran Church on Park Road.
Among the students in attendance was Tong Fang, 12, who sat at the table reserved for Jay M. Robinson Middle. She's considering the legal profession because she thinks it'll offer a nice-paying job and “some satisfaction that you did something right.”
But don't look for Fang in criminal court, especially not with a defendant.
“That creeps me out a little bit,” she said before describing her job preference. “Maybe a lawyer for a business firm – not something that might go on television.”
A few tables away, Southwest Middle's Geophrey Darrow said television's “Law and Order” program makes criminal defense appealing to him.
“I always wanted to be the one who said, ‘My client is innocent because … '”
Innocent notions about the legal profession are what bring scores of lawyers into the lunch program. The Mecklenburg County Bar Association lawyer and judge mentors help students get a more realistic understanding of a lawyer's life and work, particularly those who otherwise have limited exposure.
The host for last week's luncheon was Mecklenburg County Superior Court Judge Albert Diaz, who handles complex business cases for the court and also recruits lawyer mentors for the lunch program.
Diaz told the students a law degree provides unlimited career opportunities. Some of the greatest people in our country's history were lawyers, he said at the start of the event.
The guest speaker was Andre Walters, senior director of legal affairs for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats.
He said hard work in school and setting clear goals throughout his life allowed him to combine his passion for sports with a career in law.
But the stars of the day were the lawyers who joined the 12- and 13-year olds seated around rows of round tables reserved for their schools, sometimes smiling excitedly, other times anxious. Family members and a school administrator also were there for the introductions.
Fang's mentor, Drew Peterson, was a suitable match based on her disdain for criminal law. Peterson's specialty at Alston & Bird is global finance. Even better, his caseload has yet to put him on television.
Peterson joined the program for a second year in recognition of the mentors who gave him their time.
“I got to see a real-life perspective of what a lawyer did and who he was,” Peterson said.
“They're multifaceted, active in their communities. Being a lawyer wasn't necessarily their defining part. That encouraged me even more.”
