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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (281121)	11/18/2008 6:39:34 AM
From: Tom Clarke	2 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793964

LA Times is now noticing Obama has a thin resum&#233 A look back on Obama's law years Dan Morain \| Los Angeles Times November 17, 2008 In his books, speeches and campaign commercials, Sen. Barack Obama has harked back to his days as a civil-rights attorney. It is fundamental to his autobiography and was displayed on his campaign Web site and woven into his appeals for votes. In one of his television ads leading up to the South Carolina primary, Obama recalled "working as a civil-rights attorney to make sure that everybody's vote counted." Senior attorneys at the small firm where he worked say he was a strong writer and researcher, but was involved in relatively few cases before entering politics. Obama arrived in Chicago in 1993 with a degree from Harvard Law School and was hired as a junior lawyer at a firm then known as Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Gallard. He helped represent clients in civil- and voting-rights matters and wrongful firings, argued a case before a federal appellate court, and took the lead in writing a suit to expand voter registration. The firm also handled routine legal matters and real estate. "In my legal practice," Obama wrote in his first memoir, Dreams From my Father, "I work mostly with churches and community groups, men and women who quietly build grocery stores and health clinics in the inner city, and housing for the poor." Obama had made a name for himself at Harvard, where he was the first African-American president of the law review. That accomplishment generated press accounts and prompted Judson Miner, head of the firm that bears his name, to recruit Obama. Obama took time to complete Dreams From My Father, then joined the 13-attorney firm. "He was doing the work that any first-year or second-year associate would do," Miner says. "In litigation, he was doing basic research and writing memos. . . . . In the first couple years he would play a very minor role. He wouldn't know [much], so he would take the lead from whoever was supervising his work." Obama took what Miner called the "laboring oar" on some cases. He took the lead arguing a 1994 case before the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of a securities trader who had been improperly fired. The court ruled for his client. "This is a central part of his life and story," says David Axelrod, who served as Obama's chief campaign strategist. "He could have written his ticket at any law firm in the country. . . . . He decided instead that he wanted to be a civil-rights attorney, and he signed up with a small firm that had a reputation for doing this kind of work." 30: The approximate number of legal cases Obama was involved in: 4: The number of years Obama was a full-time lawyer 70%: The amount of time Obama spent on voting rights, civil rights and employment, generally as a junior associate. (The rest of his time was spent on matters related to real-estate transactions, filing incorporation papers and defending clients against minor lawsuits.) 3,723: The number of billable hours Obama accrued while working at Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Gallard Obama's case files Obama participated in some noteworthy cases while practicing law. In one, Obama filed a 995 suit that forced Illinois to enforce the 1993 federal Motor Voter law, which sought to make it easier for people to register to vote. Here are three more-mundane cases in which Obama was involved. The case of the man who slipped In one instance, Obama defended a nonprofit corporation that owns low-income housing projects against a lawsuit in which a man alleged that he slipped and fell because of poor maintenance. Obama got the suit dismissed. The case of the shortchanged baby sitter Obama appeared on behalf of a nonprofit corporation that provided health care for poor people. A woman who claimed income of less than $8,000 a year had sued Obama's client to obtain a $336 payment for baby-sitting services; Obama's client paid up, and the case was settled. The case of the chilly tenants In 1994, Obama appeared in Cook County court on behalf of Woodlawn Preservation & Investment Corp., defending it against a suit by the city, which alleged that the company failed to provide heat for low-income tenants on the South Side during the winter. orlandosentinel.com