In my last post, I explained that the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) recently profiled our lead litigator Tim Williams in its “Sidebar” publication. That three-page-long article introduced how many hats Tim wears and gave readers a glimpse into his personal life and legal practice. Here are some prompts OTLA gave to Tim about his professional life and the responses that he provided…
The best thing about my job is:
Helping those who truly can’t help themselves and working with such a great group of people. I feel fortunate that I have the support structure of OTLA staff and the vast experience and selflessness of the OTLA body. Plus, I set my own hours. However, I still work longer hours than anybody else at my office.
The hardest thing about my job is:
Leaving my two girls, Emerson and Elliott, every morning and missing so many days with them while I’m on the road in litigation and/or attending OTLA and AAJ board meetings. On the bright side, I do get to take them with me on many great trips, which usually works out great because, as most of us know, 2-year olds can sometimes be taxing, especially in restaurants.
What I do in my job:
Handle most of the litigation for our firm. I don’t do many intakes or handle cases pre-filing. I take over most files at the time the complaint needs to be drafted and handle them through conclusion. Thus I handle the files that, for one reason or another, could not be settled… which means that I could not handle most of the complicated cases that our firm sees. “Complicated” does not necessarily mean “awesome”, but we are pretty good at weeding out the weaker cases pre-filing.
When I was a new lawyer, I wish I knew:
That I could get involved with organizations in a meaningful way despite the fact that I was a newbie. It took me a few years to build up the confidence to get involved at any significant level. I also wish that I had known who was going to win the Superbowl in 2004 so that I could have laid down a hefty bet on that team in the fall of 2003 and retired early…
To think that if Tim Williams had foreseen the Patriots being Superbowl winners that year, he might never have become a trial lawyer! Make sure to revisit Dwyer Williams Cherkoss blog soon for the remainder of Tim’s OLTA interview. My next entry will peer into Tim’s personal life and values.