Recent content by rapoole

Hoping Being an AUSA is still a job and you will still have bosses. It's a question only you can answer.

New Life Cleaning out the office today with a song in my heart. New life begins Friday afternoon. rapoole

Law Firm/AUSA Hello Hoping. In deciding whether to make the jump to an AUSA job, I took into account the fact that your financial position was already pretty secure. I got that from reading other forums here. I took the 90% pay cut with a grain of salt. I am retiring at the top of the...

Hi Vincent Yes, I'm a FERS retiree. I accepted an early-out offer which gave me essentially the same pension as I would have had if I had waited another 2 years to retire at 30 years of service. You are correct that my pension benefits would otherwise have been much reduced.

Clearance It's been a long time since my last involvement in the clearance process. It can take a long time, but I don't have any recent info. There may be ways to accelerate the process - provisional hire contingent on subsequent clearance - but again, no recent info.

Hoping The public defenders I have dealt with have generally been professional and competent. I respect the fact that they do a difficult and necessary job. I think their burnout rate is higher because of the difficult clients they deal with. I've dealt with a few who were over the top, but...

Hoping I can't say that I know of many examples of attorneys who moved to the government after more than a decade on the defense side. The ones I have known who moved in that direction from big firms were mostly early-career attorneys who made the move to get trial experience. The few I have...

Gworker and Hoping No, Gworker, I never worked in Super Ct. I tried one case in Federal Court in DC during the 90's, but everything else I've handled has been out of town. Life on the road has its rewards but cost me my marriage (or at least contributed to the split). I'm overdue for a...

Hoping Hi hoping- I have had a great career as a Federal prosecutor. I have handled interesting, challenging cases. I have tried cases against some of the best white collar defense lawyers. As a prosecutor, one has a fair degree of autonomy in trying cases. There is plenty of second...

Evil Empire Sorry, didn't mean to step on any toes. However they seem kinda unresponsive, and the folks I talk to are unfamiliar with the products they are selling. Which is unfortunate. R

Preparing for solo practice Hi Martha! Well, besides having cards made, I have been taking all the CLE's I can for the last four years. I have been through the basic estate planning series in DC twice, and took the NC series once. I joined the NC Bar Estate Planning section and have...

Yeeha! ;D I have been planning this for 5 years. At 55 I am taking early retirement from a job as a Federal prosecutor in the DC area, and moving to Wilmington NC where I will open up a solo practice doing wills, trusts and estate planning. Some here will say that's not really...

Info on Fers Early Retirement I have accepted an early out and will be retiring in early summer. I am planning a second career as a solo lawyer doing estate planning. For an estimate of your retirement benefits go to your employee personal page (that website maintained by D of Agriculture)...

TIPS at Treasury Auction I have purchased TIPS at Treasury Auctions through Fidelity. No commission for online purchases. Call the bond desk for details, then purchase online.

Oberlin College BA University of Michigan JD and MPP (Master of Public Policy)