by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
The inbox at the State Attorney’s office isn’t where young lawyers first think to drop off their resumes.
The hours are long. The salary falls considerably short of boasting levels. There are families to care for and backbreaking loans to pay.
“But the work is very good; it’s very important,” said Shawn Arnold, who was with the State Attorney’s Office in Jacksonville for 4 1/2 years. “It was very difficult to leave that.
“We have a tremendous responsibility to the safety of the community, the protection of the legal process and also the judiciary as a whole to do it in an ethical way.”
Arnold, a history major who graduated from the University of Florida in 1993, received his law degree from UF in 1999.
He started his new job Aug. 30 at Brennan, Manna & Diamond, where he is working in commercial litigation, with some potential to develop construction and real estate litigation.
“There are a lot of people like Shawn, who have opportunities to go elsewhere out of law school,” said Michael Freed, Brennan, Manna & Diamond’s managing partner for Florida. “But for all the right reasons they decide to go to the State Attorney’s Office — because it’s a good thing to do; it’s a valuable thing to do with your law degree.
“It’s also a great way to make relationships with people that’ll last throughout your legal career.”
Despite the “disgraceful” starting salary of $37,700, State Attorney Harry Shorstein still manages to attract top law school graduates, he said.
“I’d like to think it’s because our reputation is very good,” said Shorstein. “We can afford them exposure to the courtroom. We ask for a four-year commitment. If they’re interested in a litigation career, they will get more time, significantly more time in front of juries, than they ever could with any other law firm.”
Admittedly, those graduates will have to defer payments on their school loans, Shorstein said. And that will sink them into an even deeper financial hole.
“But,” he added, “we tell them that, over the remainder of their careers, they will reap the rewards of four years of litigation experience.”
Arnold agreed that he had gained a wealth of experience in Shorstein’s office.
“My number of actual jury trials was between 30 and 35,” he said. “You just don’t get that anywhere else.
“That is very valuable in learning how to evaluate the evidence and the credibility and the admissibility of everything involved in your case when you’ve actually taken it to a jury and presented it.”
Arnold did not jump right into law school after getting his undergraduate degree. Instead, he was in restaurant management for Pizza Hut.
“I worked my way through college delivering pizzas for Pizza Hut and decided to go into management,” he said. “I’d always had a business interest and was quickly able to run my own store for a few years, which gave me the ability to run a business.”
He and his wife, Melissa Gross Arnold, went to West Palm Beach, where he “aggressively marketed” Pizza Hut, “predominantly by reaching out to the schools. I was able to get contracts away from our competitors.”
That part of his resume also appealed to Brennan, Manna & Diamond.
“That’s one of the things we thought was great about Shawn,” said Freed. “We’re an entrepreneurial firm in terms of the clients we serve and in the way we practice.
“It was good to see that he had grown a business by leaps and bounds.”
Arnold’s wife now works in the zoning and planning area of law with Lewis Longman and Walker.
“We have complementary practices, but we won’t compete,” said Arnold.
When Brennan, Manna & Diamond decided to expand its litigation department, “It occurred to me there weren’t a lot of state attorneys hired by the bigger firms,” said Freed. “What a great, underutilized resource that is — that wealth of experience.”
Shorstein appreciates what he has lost and Freed has gained. He finds some solace in the number of applications that keep coming in from top graduates around the country.
“They really get a wonderful feeling when they go home at night, knowing they tried to do what was right and best for society,” he said. “People love that. We have a lot of difficult obstacles in our job, but they love that.
“They are tremendously dedicated and talented and well-educated. And most of them would stay if we could give them an acceptable salary.”