Hearing about my work with Carol, another local attorney hired me to work on another class action case. This one was close to home, involving a group of women professors who felt they had been unfairly paid, not promoted and not tenured in a large multi-campus university system. It intrigued me and I was glad to have the chance to help prove the case.

Unfortunately, this attorney was very different from Carol. She had been incredibly organized, had a laser sharp mind, and knew what I needed to be researching. I felt clear about my work during the two summers I aided her. This man was incredibly unorganized, had a mind that wandered all over the place, and knew he needed help, but was unsure of what help that might be. While he was a seasoned attorney, this case, I believe, had gotten away from him as demonstrated by tall stacks of papers, notes and depositions scattered around his office floor.

I thought my first task would be to set up a filing system for all of this material, sort it by plaintiff and school. But he apparently liked his “piling” system better, and immediately took apart any efforts I made to systematize the information. After a few weeks, I realized that I was becoming as scattered and overwhelmed as the man I was supposedly helping. Not wanting to burn any bridges, I politely resigned citing increased work load at my community college teaching.

Sadly, Carol died very young and I never had the chance to work with her again. I decided to set down  my legal pad and pen and focus purely on teaching.