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Connecticut Law Tribune: "5 Questions With Small Law Blogger Adrian Baron"
Attorney Adrian Baron. Photo credit: Robert Storace/ALM
As a law student, New Britain's Adrian Baron aimed to work for a large corporate law firm. But his career plans changed after he went to work for an environmental litigation clinic run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Baron, now an attorney at the three-lawyer Podorowsky Thompson & Baron, came away with the belief that working for a smaller firm would mean more flexibility and more opportunity to tackle important issues. It's also allowed him to work with a broad range of clients. "What I like about the small law firm I work for is I was thrown into it and had the opportunity do different types of law," said Baron. "I have a friend who worked for a large law firm and he wasn't allowed to have much contact with clients and the only time he was in court was for his own divorce."
Baron recently sat down with the Connecticut Law Tribune to discuss his mixed practice of criminal defense, personal injury and real estate matters, life in small law and his legal blog, "The Nutmeg Lawyer."
You had planned a corporate career in law but then began working for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. How did that experience change your focus?
I began working for the litigation clinic at the Pace University School of Law. Because it was a full-time job, I took law classes in the evening. Working at the clinic provided a tremendous education for me. I served as an assistant to the co-directors Karl Coplan and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Karl had come from a white-shoe law firm and had once clerked for the Supreme Court. Bobby came from the Kennedy dynasty and was a nationally recognized environmental law expert. Both men seemingly had their pick of Manhattan's most prestigious law firms. Despite this, they decided to teach law in the suburbs.
Each semester they would take on 10 law students to teach them the craft of litigation. Their environmental clinic primarily defended working-class fishermen against corporations that were polluting the Hudson River. Bobby and Karl devoted their lives to helping the little guy and I really admired that about them. I realized that with a law degree, you have many avenues open to you. Why not use those skills to help those in need? When I moved back to Connecticut, I began working for attorney David Thompson. He was the son of the former Wisconsin attorney general and came from a long line of successful attorneys. Like Kennedy and Coplan, Dave seemed to follow the path of helping the little guy. I decided to stay with the firm and was lucky enough to make partner a few years later.
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