Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Intro to Professions in Criminal Justice
8/7/09
Criminal Justice Interview Report
My neighbor Doug Blomgren has lived across the street from my family for as
long as I can remember. Him and his wife are adament gardeners who throw parties on
Bastille Day and drive matching green cars. I always knew they were lawyers, but until
semirecently that fact never mattered to me. I have known Doug since I was born, but I
realized that in all that time, I really never learned anything about him.
Doug Blomgren grew up in Nebraska, where after graduating high school he
attended the University of Nebraska as a Freshman. He received his BA there and
moved to Chicago where he finished his JD at the University of Chicago. It was
mentioned in passing that he did more work in law school in the first week than he did in
his entire U of N career. He eventually moved to Minnesota, where he worked for the
Attorney Generals office in a branch known as Solicitor General. There he did work
involving the enactment of state laws, and defending the challenged constitutionality of
those laws. He told me that the dynamics of that job presented him with the opportunity
to get a glimpse into the world of the appellate courts. Each trial involved two to three
hours of arguments by both sides presenting evidence, showing charts and presenting
affidavits. This job was just about the last time he step foot into a courtroom.
He eventually moved out west to Portland where he got a with the Department of
Justice. He continued to practice criminal law and was involved in a major case
surrounding the intended construction of seven power plants in Oregon. The state
borrowed seven billion dollars, but when it was finally realized halfway through the
construction that the need for power in such large quantities was on the steady decline,
the project was halted, creating the world largest bond deficit.
After the Department of Justice job he began working for a private law firm and
has been there for the past seventeen years. Bateman/Sidel is a law firm that houses
many types of lawyers including real estate, finance, business, tax, litigation,
environmental and affordable housing. Doug practices the latter. He apparently has
explained his job to his parents numerous times but their eyes just end up crossing after
the first sentence. The short version is that he aids in the process of building affordable
housing. Very rich corporations invest money to build these housing developments and
essentially end up getting a tax credit. He advises, draws up extremely large contracts
and is generally their legal voice during the whole process. As you can imagine he is
wonderfully knowledgeable in the areas of real estate law and federal tax law. Typical
clients include everyone from big corporations to small non profits that fundraise to get
the houses built. His current main client is Wells Fargo who invest in low income
housing all over the west coast.
Doug thoughtfully told me that he remembers the exact case when he decided to
switch to civil law. A high profile client of his started recommending him to people who
wanted a lawyer who could do business work instead of courtroom work and he had a
sort of epiphany. He lost sleep the night before a trial; is everyone going to know what to
say, will I be prepared enough...it was like the high school play every day of his life. He
finally made the choice and has honestly never looked back. I asked him what the
rewards were of working at his current job and he had a heartfelt answer right away. The
people who eventually get those houses are the reward to him. A little boy at one of the
openings stuck in his memory, pulling at his pants leg and shyly saying "Thanks for the
nice house Mister." These restored living spaces are tangible, three dimensional
evidence that you are helping someone; where as in a courtroom, all you can do is hope
that this trial goes your way.
The statement that stood out for me the most during this interview was this;
"Court is intense. But it by no means, now that I have lived it, conjours images of Perry
Mason making witnesses quiver with fear." This spoke to me mostly because one thing
rings true to me the images I have of courtrooms come straight from pop culture. Law
and Order type shows and movies such as Erin Brockovich and A Civil Action have
inspired me, but one thing I will have to very carefully consider is exactly what Doug
said. The drama of these productions is exactly that entertainment designed to hook
the audience. To experience the courtroom will be to understand I guess. But it was a
very good thing in my opinion to have talked to someone from the other side of what I
am trying to acheive. I have always been a big believer in wide angles.