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Biography  |   WHY I BECAME AN ATTORNEY

In some ways I am a Marin native.  I was born in southern California but I was adopted at a very young age by a Marin family and raised in Corte Madera, California.  When I was 19, I left Marin to join the Navy.  I went to basic training in San Diego and then was stationed in Guam for two years.

After the Navy, I attended St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland for four years.  After graduating in 1997, I moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma where I worked as a software developer for a large credit card processing company.  I moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas for three years to attend theological seminary while still working part time as a software developer. In 2004, I moved to San Francisco to attend the University of San Francisco School of Law.   In July 2006, during law school, I moved to Novato with my wife and our three young children.

I graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law in May 2007 and took the July 2007 California Bar Exam, which I passed.  I was sworn in as an attorney in December 2007.

WHY I BECAME AN ATTORNEY

Why did I become an attorney?  There are two main reasons: because I take pleasure in helping people  to overcome crisis and suffering, and because I am good at solving problems.

I must confess, I do not think that these motives are particularly unique - many attorneys may cite these as their reasons for becoming an attorney.  What is unique is the path by which I came to understand and express these motives in my life.

I spent six years as a software developer and had many opportunities to use detailed technical knowledge to solve really complex problems.  Then, I remember one day going to work listening to a radio story about a foster child who had gotten lost in the Washington D.C. foster care system.  The story was still airing when I got to work, so I sat in the parking lot, completely caught up in it.  I felt sick to my stomach because I was so helpless.  Here I was, a computer programmer helping banks manage credit cards.  In no way was I in a position to help this child or others like him.  I remember feeling disconnected and disappointed that day, but I didn't know how I should respond to my feelings.

I thought that my experience might have been a religious calling and I worked out a solution with my employer where I could attend seminary while still working part time.  This lasted about three years.  I found that working as a pastor and pastoral counselor I could help people find strength to face their problems, but I couldn't really exercise my own problem solving skills.  I realized that I wanted to be in a position to prevent or correct injustice, not just to help people cope with it.

The solution of becoming an attorney was not so apparent to me immediately, but gradually I realized that being an attorney would allow me to use my problem solving skills while preventing and correcting injustice.
  
     
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Admitted to State Bar of California, December, 2007

University of San Francisco School of Law, J.D., May, 2007

Software Application Developer, 1998-2003.

St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland, B.A., May, 1997 

US Navy, 1991-1993, honorable discharge

  
     
Luke Trares Attorney at Law | 4040 Civic Center Dr., Suite 200, San Rafael, CA 94903
E-mail | Tel: 415.898.1653 | Fax: 415.532.2426 | Privacy 		   
This is attorney advertising in California - not legal advice for a particular case. If you are not in California, please consult an attorney licensed in your state for advice appropriate to your individual situation. Nothing on this website should be interpreted as creating an attorney client relationship. Please do not submit any confidential information unless I invite you to do so. Just because I link to a website from my site does not mean that I endorse that site or make any claim about the validity of information on that site. Copyright 2007-2009 Luke Trares.

Discount Initial Consultation fee is $175 for the first hour and is available through September 1, 2010. Regular billing rates apply for additional time. I reserve the right to limit these discounted initial consultations to one per business day at my office.  Additional fees may apply to consultations at a location other than my office in Novato.  Limit one consultation per household.