holy crap! arguably, roland burris was my first real boss i had in the legal profession.1 in the summer of 1993, when i was a wee 1L, just crossing over into a 2L, i got a summer internship in the office of the illinois attorney general in chicago. roland burris was the illinois AG at that time.
actually, i didn't interact with roland that much, i doubt he even knew i existed. he was running for governor at the time and didn't show up in the office much. (not that state AGs do much legal work, that's all handled by the deputy attorney generals, i.e. the staff attorneys). that summer mostly i did legal research for a three different DAGs and did some court filing for the entire general legal unit.
the most i saw of roland was when i was roped into "volunteering" for the NAAG conference. the 1993 conference was held in chicago. roland burris was technically the host. i got to serve drinks and hors d'oeuvres to AGs from all over the country, including burris himself. janet reno never showed up.
i haven't thought about roland burris in years.
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1-you can also argue that elliej was really my first boss in the legal profession. she hired me years before roland did. but roland was the first boss after i entered law school. he also wins if you disqualify jobs acquired through nepotism.
