Law School Life
A Student Of Law
By Erik J. Provitt
3L, Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School
T
he decision to attend law school is often a very
personal one. For those of us that have made that
decision, we are bonded by an experience to which
few can relate. What school should I attend? Are my grades
good enough? How will I balance it all? Well imagine if you
had to balance your decision to go to law school with the
responsibility of the oath you took to “protect and serve.”
This is exactly the decision Anthony Berry, a part-time 4L
at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, had to weigh when
he decided to attend law school. Anthony is currently an
Internal Affairs Detective with the DeKalb County Fire
Department and has spent more than 15 years serving the
citizens of DeKalb County with the DeKalb County Police
Department and the DeKalb County Fire Department.
“Police officers are taught to
think like a lawyer. We must
look at our case through the
eyes of a jury and charge our
cases according to statues. ”
Anthony believes it was “definitely better” that he started in
law enforcement prior to attending law school. According
to Anthony, the biggest advantage to working in law
enforcement before attending law school is that, “Police
officers are taught to think like a lawyer. We must look
at our case through the eyes of a jury and charge our
cases according to statutes. Because of that training, it
was a natural transition to approach the deeper level of
evaluation.” In large part, having an understanding of the
significance of elements and how they apply to a criminal,
civil, or administrative outcome makes him a better
employee and yields better outcomes on his job. Anthony
has had to balance the weight and responsibilities of his
job with the demanding pressures of being a law student.
He believes that law school has undoubtedly enhanced his
ability to see the “entire” picture of each case analyzed.
His Public Safety career did have some bearing on his
6 THE ATLANTA LAWYER
October/November 2015
decision to attend law school. “As an officer,” he said, “it can
be tough to make a case only to see the prosecutor reduce
your charges or plea the case, because the cases are at
times personal.” As the officer on the scene, he experienced
each case on a personal and human level. “You smell the
environment” and “you hear the cries of the injured and
dying.” Anthony recalled a time where, as a uniform officer,
two people attacked him while he was handling a call.
Both subjects were charged with felony obstruction only to
later have the charges reduced to disorderly conduct. For
Anthony, this was very personal. He believes that the ADA
only saw that he was essentially unharmed, and that there
was no reason to proceed with a felony case for such a trivial
matter. If he were to ever become a prosecutor, scenarios
like the one described above would play a major role in that
decision.
It would be reasonable to think Anthony would continue
his career in Public Safety upon graduating. When asked
what he would do with his Juris Doctorate after law school,
Anthony said, “Though I believed I would pursue a career
as a prosecutor, I am leaning toward working in family law.
I suppose my public safety experience played a role in
that decision too. Sadly, I watched many of my friends go
through divorces, and all too often, the reason was related
to their jobs.” So perhaps in a roundabout way, Anthony will
in fact continue in a career in Public Safety. By ensuring
the Police Officers and
Firefighters that keep us
safe have one less thing
to worry about, Anthony
will help to keep us all a
little safer. As he told me,
“Public safety is tough on
a family. I want to help
public safety workers
through that tough time,
because
they
have
enough to worry about in
their jobs.”
Anthony Berry
4L, Atlanta’s John Marshall
Law School
The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association