Member Profile
Michael Barrett - Director of the Missouri State Public Defender System
Barrett’s office provides representation for indigent clients with 33 Trial Division offices, as well as the Appellate/Post-Conviction Division and the Capital Division, each with three offices across the state. The lawyers and staff of his office handle nearly 90,000 cases each year, in every Missouri jurisdiction.
Why did you decide government practice was a good fit for you?
I learned that I could get paid by the government to fight the government.
What is one decision that you made that changed the course of your career?
Quitting a law firm, taking a pay cut, and joining the public defender’s office.
Name one person that helped with your career development and explain what he/she did?
Judge Dan Conviser was my boss when I worked as a staff counsel for a legislative committee in Albany, NY. Toward the end of one legislative session, a legislator started yelling at me publicly for something that was beyond my control. That got back to Mr. Conviser, who could have ignored the incident, or just told me to keep my head up (that it’s just part of the job). Well, without my knowing, he put himself at some degree of professional risk by confronting that legislator and letting him know that such conduct would not be tolerated. Lots of bosses know the right thing to do, but can’t bring themselves to do it. Mr. Conviser taught me the importance of standing up for those I rely on to get the job done, regardless of what circumstance it might create for myself. To this day, I think of him when I have occasion to stand up for one of MSPD’s 320 attorneys.
One thing that you do to relax?
I enjoy endurance competitions. Marathons, ultra-marathons, obstacle course racing, and triathlons.
What do you know now that you wished you knew when you first began practicing law?
You can take your work seriously without taking yourself seriously.
If you were not a lawyer, what would you be doing instead?
Writing.
TechTip:
How to Make an Email into a Task
Do you get a lot of emails that require follow-up action? Do you have trouble keeping track of those action items? If so, consider turning those emails into tasks. It’s very easy using MS Outlook.
- From your inbox, select the email you want to turn into a task. It does not need to be open.
- Drag that email to the task bar (it may look like a little clipboard with a checkmark in the middle, normally found on the bottom left hand side of the screen). Outlook will copy that email and make it into a task. The original email will stay in your inbox
- Change the subject line to whatever you wish. You can also set a start date, a due date, and set reminders.
- You can change the status as you are working on the project (not started, in progress, completed, waiting on someone else, deferred).
- You can also change the priority (low, normal, high).
- Click save and close and the task will now be saved, with reminders and due dates set.
- If you want, you can archive the original email or even delete it since the content was copied into the task.
- If you right click on the task, you can mark it as complete, assign it to someone else on your team to do, rename it, categorize it by color, or delete it.
Want More TechTips? Visit the ABA’s Legal Technology Resource Center