Closing statements: How has your legal career surprised you?

“Accomplishment. I have accomplished so many things in my legal career that I would never have imagined. Forty-one years ago, I started my professional career as a police officer, serving 22 years on the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. After returning to school and obtaining two master’s degrees and several promotions, I attended law school. I never dreamed I would be an attorney, prosecutor, candidate for public office, bar association president (Mound City Bar Association), ABA Delegate, Supreme Court [of Missouri] Disciplin[ary] Committee member, hearing officer, now municipal court judge. WOW!”
-Hon. Steven L. Harmon, Municipal judge for St. Louis County, Pasadena Hills

“My legal career has greatly surprised me because, never in my wildest dreams, did I ever think it would lead to me co-hosting (with my wife and law partner, Dana) two nationally syndicated daytime television courtroom shows — ‘Couples Court with the Cutlers’ and ‘Cutlers Court.’ I still practice law full-time as a civil defense trial attorney, but the TV part of my legal career still has me shaking my head at times in disbelief.”
-Keith Cutler, Attorney and partner at James W. Tippin & Associates, Kansas City

“The changes that have occurred over 47 years are astounding. We have gone from onion skins on copies to pdfs. What used to take me a day in a medical library now takes 30 seconds with medical databases and AI. A one-day trial now takes four due to artificially increased complexity of issues. Things keep getting more efficient and faster.”
-Alvin Wolff, Lawyer at Wolff Trial Lawyers, St. Louis

Answers have been edited for length, clarity, and style.

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