Emma Fryer

COMM 1010
Professor: Steve Haslam
Preliminary Research
My Interviewee:
I am going to interview Robert Flores. He is a professor of Law at the University of Utah. He
teaches courses in civil procedure, litigation, property, civil rights and real estate transactions. I
am interviewing him at the Law School on campus, I am very interested to see the building,
because I am definitely considering school at The University of Utah. I also chose him because
he teaches Civil Rights law which is the law I am most considering.
Career Research:
The courses I have taken in high school have really sparked my interest in Civil/Human
Rights law. I have really enjoyed my sociology, humanities, ethnic studies, and psychology
classes. I also really enjoy debate.
I think the skills I am learning can really prepare me for a successful career in law. I have
a real compassion for human rights, and an attitude that makes me a leader. I feel I can talk to a
wide variety of people and The outlook for a career in this field is about 6% growth, which is
about average growth. The average salary is $60,274 to $74,872.
Opening: Mr. Flores, thank you so much for taking time to speak with me this afternoon. I am
looking forward to learning about what it is you do. This interview will be for career research. It
is for my concurrent communications class, but I am very interested in law. I will be asking
questions on your skills and schooling, what your job is like, and continued education. This
should last no longer than 30 minutes.
Body:
Skills and Schooling
1. First, tell me about what sparked your interest in law. (primary, open)
Which is your favorite law to practice? (secondary, open)
You have a very large variety of law you practice/teach would you
recommend being more specialized or more general? (secondary, open)
2. What was your schooling like in order to get into this field? (primary, open)
How long were you in school? (secondary, closed)
How necessary is pre-law? (secondary, open)
3. I see you did a fellowship in Mexico City, what was your experience like? (secondary,
open)
4. What skills do you feel are most important to being a lawyer? (Primary, open)
What has helped you acquire these skills?

5. As an undergrad what are some important factors to consider that might not be obvious?
(Primary, open)
What the job is like?
1. How much time did you spend practicing? How much time being a professor?
(Primary, Closed)
Which do you prefer, and why? (Primary, Open)
2. What do you like the most about your job? (primary, open)
What do you like the least? (secondary, open)
3. What is your schedule like now? (Primary, Open)
Does it give you enough flexibility that you feel like you have
enough time for family and other things you enjoy? (secondary, open)
4. What has surprised you about your career? Something you didnt expect before
practicing? (primary, open)
5. What major changes or trends do you see happening in this field in the next 5-10
years? (Primary, open)
Continuing Education
1. Once you are licensed, are there any continued education requirements? (Primary,
Open)
If yes, do you find this requirement beneficial? (secondary,
open/closed)
2. Do you do research or contribute article to trade or academic journals? (Primary, Open)
3. What do you find you learn from teaching young, aspiring lawyers? (Primary, Open)
Clearinghouse questions
1. Is there anything you wish someone would have told you in high school?
(Primary, Open)
2. Anything else you think an aspiring lawyer should know? (Primary, Open)
Well, thats all the questions I have. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy
schedule to talk with me today. I really appreciate it. I have learned a lot.

Interview Analysis Memo

Date: Wednesday September 28th
I was able to interview professor Flores, a law professor at the University of Utah. I emailed him
to set up our interview. I learned a lot of valuable information, and he has a strong love for
learning. The following exemplifies what I learned and took away from the interview.

Skills and Schooling

One particular thing that sparked Mr. Flores interest in law was that through his
community activism whenever he was trying to accomplish change, when a lawyer was present,
often times that change would happen.
I learned that law school is extremely time consuming, and difficult. It isnt for people
who do not feel dedicated to school and hard work. Mr. Flores did not do pre-law school. It was
comforting to hear that even though he discovered that he was interested in law later in his
schooling that he was still able to be successful and accomplished. He emphasized that an
undergraduate degree of any kind is important in law school. One piece of advice that was
stressed a lot was looking for opportunities to shadow lawyers. He encouraged me to see the
daily life a lawyer, television sensationalizes what it means to be a lawyer. I will certainly be
reaching out in hopes of shadowing a lawyer or professor. He also explained that with the
competitiveness of the law field it is valuable to be a lawyer with a wide range of laws that one is
knowledgeable about, he himself practices property, civil rights, civil procedure, and litigation.
Another important piece of advice was how important it is to be a good writer in the law
field. That is how lawyers communicate, it is vital that one is an effective writer. He explained
that lawyers spend a lot more time writing than anything else. He advises that whatever an
aspiring lawyer pursues in undergraduate school, that it be something that involves a lot of
writing. He also describes the first thing that gets taught in law school is how to think like a
lawyer and that is a great skill that comes with law school.
What is the job like?
Professor Flores spent 4 year practicing law, but always knew that he wanted to be a professor.
He believes that teachers change the world and finds it to be very fulfilling. This really made me
think about if that is something I would consider doing if I were to become a lawyer.
He speaks so highly of his students and all he learns from them. He claims he feels like
he never has as much time as he would like to do things the way he would like. He speaks about
the culture of the university staff as being extremely driven and hardworking, being surrounded
by that is very motivating, but also challenging. This sounds intimidating, but this appealed to
the aspect of myself that thrives on being busy and occupied most of the time. As far as
professing, the preparation to teach takes an extremely long time, the rough calculation that they
use is for every one hour of instruction there are three hours of prep. He is not only a professor
but on the administration at the university, administration is currently taking more of his time. He
works around 60 hours a week, which is long, but in watching the faculty and professors as a
student he was able to fully understand their careers and knew what he was signing up for, so he
didnt feel like there were any things he was unprepared for.

Something that makes civil rights law appealing is that it will change with the social
issues of the times and that is something that was confirmed in my interview, the fact that I will
get to hear many stories, represent all kinds of people is something very intriguing to me.
Continuing education
Licensed, practicing lawyers are subject to, what I learned in my interview, is called CLE
(continuing legal education). These lawyers must meet their required CLE credit each year
through attending seminars and other educational events. Mr. Flores finds this requirement to be
a valuable tool for encouraging lawyers to remain up to date on issues, and he explained how
actively learning is vital in avoiding complacency.
At this point he went on to explain how he is the only person to graduate from college in
his family and that he deeply loves learning, and finds it to be one of the most satisfying
experiences. It was very inspiring to hear the passion in his voice for learning and how much it
has changed his life. It made me look forward to continuing my education after high school. He
then talked about how much he learns from his students and the value he has for their opinions
and life experiences and perspectives. He also said that the class he is teaching now is only 6
students, which was contrary to what I had heard about the University of Utahs class sizes, after
the interview we walked around the law school, and again I saw class sizes that were around 2040, which are not too big for me.
As a faculty member at the University he described their three pronged career
expectations, which include teaching, research, and service. He publishes in law research books,
and editing books. However, because he is doing administrative work he hasnt been doing
research recently.
Interview Analysis
After this interview I am definitely still very seriously considering law as my line of
work. Being around Mr. Flores and seeing how passionate he is for civil rights, and also teaching
made me excited to pursue a career in human and/or civil rights. I will also take his suggestion of
shadowing a lawyer and seeing their daily work first hand. I am sure that experience would also
teach me a lot on what it means to be a lawyer. I also am taking into account the fact that Mr.
Flores did not do pre-law during his undergrad. As long as my degree involves writing it will
prepare me sufficiently for law school.
My interview itself went very well. I have always gotten along well with adults. We were
easily able to stick to the topic and I learned a lot. I printed out my list of questions and just read
them in a cohesive order. I appreciated him allowing me to record the interview, this allowed me
to fully listen and give my attention instead of frantically scribbling important parts of the
interview into a notebook.
After the interview I handed him the evaluation form in a stamped envelope and then he
took me for a tour of the new law school building which is beautiful and fresh. I really liked
learning about each part, we even got to peek in on some classes.

Mr. Flores assured me to contact him with any further questions which I will for sure do
if I want to know more about the University of Utah and about law in general. I am glad I did
this assignment and was able to learn more about the career I am considering and build my
interviewing skills.

Letter of thanks
(sent via mail after our interview)
Mr. Flores,
Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to speak with me about your career. I really
learned a lot. Your love of learning is inspiring, and listening to someone with a passion for
human rights was amazing. I look forward to continuing to learn more about the profession and
exploring it as an option. Thank you for not only meeting with me, but sending in the form I
need to complete my project. Your insight and information was very helpful for me.
Sincerely,
Emma Fryer

Works Cited
Flores, Robert. "Faculty Activity Report." University of Utah. University of Utah, 2012. Web. 20
Sept. 2016.
Margolis, Robin E. "Degrees Needed for Salaries of Human Rights Lawyers." Our Everyday
Life. Studio D, n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2016.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 201617 Edition, Lawyers,
on the Internet at [Link] (visited September,26 2016)
Flores, Robert. "Career Research." Personal interview. 28 Sept. 2016.