Kristan Peters-Hamlin
If you ask Kristan Peters-Hamlin what the best job she ever had was, she doesn’t hesitate to answer: being an Assistant United States Attorney. According to Peters-Hamlin, there is simply no better training as a litigator, the cases are interesting, and the legal experience incomparable: “I cared about community service, and the job permitted me the opportunity to give back to my community and nation. I have found in life that whenever I give a lot to others I get a tremendous amount back in return. The job was very rewarding.”
According to one client, at the United States Attorney’s Office, Kristan Peters-Hamlin must have honed her cross-examination skills to an art form because he has never seen a better cross-examiner. Kristan Peters-Hamlin concedes she has heard that from other clients before and finds that the skill of cross-examination comes in equally handy for both criminal and civil litigation. “In fact,” jokes Peters-Hamlin, “it has come in handy as a mother of teenagers, too!”
In Kristan Peters-Hamlin’s view, the Washington, D.C., office of the United States Attorney’s Office offered the very best opportunity to develop as an attorney of all the USAOs in the nation. “I may be biased in favor of the D.C. office, but it was the busiest U.S. Attorney’s Office, and so there was a great opportunity to try lots of cases. Attorneys get far more trials there than in any other U.S. Attorney’s Office. Plus, you are required to handle both trials and appeals.” Kristan Peters-Hamlin believes that handling 50 appeals over her career has helped her become a better trial attorney. “It helps you know how to preserve a record for appeal as a trial attorney, and you learn from reviewing others’ trial errors what not to do as a trial attorney.”
Kristan Peters-Hamlin finds the U.S. Attorney experience helpful in another way, too: when opponents read in her bio that she is a former Assistant United States Attorney, they know she can try a case and won’t be afraid to go to trial. This helps get cases settled more quickly, too. “All in all,” reflects Peters-Hamlin, “though the job required a pay cut, it was a great investment in my future.”
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- Kristan Peters-Hamlin on Entrepreneur
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