Brooks de Peyster, Public Defender, Senior Associate at Archer Price, talks with host John Chapman of the John Chapman Show about all the roads of education and experience that led him to the courthouse as an attorney. Learn what it was like for Brooks entering the legal profession during the aftermath of the recession, his hard work and hard grind as a criminal defense lawyer, and how to preferably develop a relationship with an attorney. 

Episode Highlights:

• What got Brooks de Peyster interested in practicing law?
• Did Brooks have legal mentors early on?
• What was involved in Brooks DePyster’s law school experience?
• How did the recession affect attorney jobs after college?
• How did he narrow down the part of law he wanted to pursue?
• How did Brooks handle working in criminal law?
• What is the ‘meat grinder’ hard work grind typically like in law early in a career?
• What has Brooks had to learn in the business side of law?
• What is involved in setting up a trust account for legal services?
• How should business owners think about working with attorneys?
• Should we look at attorney relationships as an ongoing interaction?
• Weddings and buying a home should be viewed through the lens of a business transaction.
• What is Brooks de Peyster currently excited about as far as wealth building?

3 Key Points:

1. During the two years that Brooks de Peyster was with the public defender’s office he did 12 jury trials and over 150 bench trials for contested hearings.
2. You have to build a relationship with an attorney you can trust with honest, clear communication to prevent issues from happening in the future.
3. You help someone out for free with a basic question, then when they have real work, they will be more likely to come back.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “You have to be tenacious if you want to make it. You can’t just arrive out with your degree and expect someone to hire you. You’re never going to make it that way.”– Brooks de Peyster
• “I ended up doing criminal defense and absolutely fell in love with it.” – Brooks de Peyster
• “If we don’t treat the worst fairly, it can creep up, and we’ve seen it in history, we’ve seen it even around the country.” – Brooks de Peyster

Resources Mentioned:

• Linkedin: John Chapman
• Linkedin: Brooks de Peyster