The Money Shot: Evan Schaeffer, Weblog Author

Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm Evan Schaeffer, the author of this weblog, as depicted in my new photo for the pictorial directory of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. After 750 posts, I thought you deserved to know a little more about me. I'm a lawyer who practices in various courts around the country, but primarily in the St. Louis metropolitan area, including Madison County, Illinois. That's where the offices of my firm, Schaeffer & Lamere, are located. Although I have described myself on this weblog as a "plaintiffs' lawyer," a "trial lawyer," and a "class action lawyer," and began this post with a line from "Sympathy for the Devil," I'm best described simply as a lawyer. Back in law school, I was the managing editor of the law review. After I graduated, I worked as a defense lawyer at Thompson Coburn for nearly seven years. (I'm now a proud member of its new "alumni program.") As a defense lawyer, I was in the litigation department, and did commercial, tort, and criminal litigation. Primarily, I worked on the defense of medical malpractice and admiralty lawsuits. I was also lucky enough to get lots of trial experience, which included second-chairing a three-month criminal trial in the federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, with the mentor whom I most respected. (He knows who he is.) The trial involved charges that the defendants had falsified tests of a fire retardent that was used in nuclear power plants across the country. We won.

My more recent professional statistics are catalogued on my firm's website. Is there anything else to say about me other than that I'm a lawyer? Well, yes, there is. It's not unusual for lawyers to have other interests. The one I've divulged over and over on this weblog--for example, in this post--is writing. In the years before I was able to invest my writing energies in weblogs, I was published in many different newspapers and magazines, including Runner's World, the Chicago Tribune, the Houston Chronicle, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. You can read many of these Op-Eds and essays here and here. Recently, as a direct result of my weblogs, I got a book deal. Unfortunately, it's a non-fiction book for a specialized audience. I'm still having fun with it, but my main interest is fiction. The fiction publication to date about which I'm most proud is a long story in the literary magazine Artful Dodge titled "Artwork," which is included in the limited material from the print publication that the Artful Dodge editors have made available online. Other fiction efforts are in the works.

So that's a little about me. Welcome to my weblog, where you'll read now and then about my wife and law partner, Andrea Lamere, and the four children making noise in our home, ages 15, 12, 8, and 7 months. If you promise to return from time to time, I'll do my best to provide you with something worth reading.

Related post: The Money Shot: Joe Simon, Mass-Tort Lawyer

Comments

[David Giacalone]

Nice photo, Evan. You clean up pretty well. Almost didn't recognize you without your six-pack showing (no, not that kind of six-pack).

Seems to me, you should have given a little more space in this post to your Senior Partner, whose tolerance makes so many of your (ad)ventures possible.

[Mike]

Seems to me, you should have given a little more space in this post to your Senior Partner.

My wife would kill me if I blogged about her.

[Evan]

David: You're right. Andrea is highly tolerant and deserves more space. But Mike is right too. Anything I write in which Andrea figures prominently must then be bowdlerized by Andrea. In most cases, she'd rather not show up on this weblog at all. But she's behind the scenes nonetheless: she serves as this site's Senior Editor, reads most posts before they are posted, and knows that all her contributions to my (ad)ventures are appreciated more than I can easily put into words, especially if those words are for public consumption.

[Christopher Cross]

You should go with the moniker of "Sexy Lawyer"

Judges love that....

[David Giacalone]

Of course, I meant that you should have grovelled far more at Andrea's feet, and made far more clear your "Junior Partner" status.

[CM]

Hi Evan! If you're still having readers copyedit your posts, I think I found an error:

the defendants had falsified tests of a fire retardent

I'm pretty sure the correct spelling is retardant.

[Mike]

Of course, I meant that you should have grovelled far more at Andrea's feet, and made far more clear your "Junior Partner" status.

Aha - that is rather wise. My wife does gush when I say nice things about her.

Anyhow, I really liked this "post," Evan. Looks very professional and it's understated. It's a good picture too: You look rather handsome in it.

[Evan]

CM: Yes, I'm still paying $20 for typos and $10 for grammatical errors. Although I think I should have spelled the word as you suggested, "retardent" is a synonym for "retardant," so it's not wrong. I checked it before I posted, and checked it again just now. But the way you suggested is the more common spelling.

[Andrea]

To CM: FYI - the updated copyediting rules prohibit proposed corrections from appearing in the comment section. Use e-mail instead. Signed, the Senior Partner

[Evan]

CM: Believe me, I'm as surprised as you probably are that Andrea knows anything about the updated copyediting rules. She's right, but don't sweat it. I know your intentions were good. I'll get her calmed down.

[JR]

I think this guy is the attorney:

http://riverbendlaw.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/schaeffersmall.JPG


I think this guy is the blogger:

http://riverbendlaw.typepad.com/illinois_personal_injury_/photos/photo2.JPG