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30 Pass It On: Newsl. Gov't & Pub. Sector Law. Div. 1 (2020-2021)

handle is hein.journals/passit30 and id is 1 raw text is: By Melissa Mahan any government lawyers begin their careers in public service in order to gain valuable experience before moving onto private practice. However, others find an entire career serving the public to be very fulfilling. After 43 years at the Henrico County (Virginia) Attorney's Office, Joe Rapisarda cleared out his office in June. As county attorney, Rapisarda's practice centered on serving as a legal adviser to the locality. This meant anything from defending public employees in a civil suit to litigating a zoning dispute or examining tax law. County attorneys may also offer advice when the county is considering an ordinance or nego- tiating a deal with an outside entity. He summed up his legal career in a simple state- ment: I've been able to tell a lot of different stories. I'm a people person, and this was a way to help people. Only Change Stays the Same Rapisarda's staying power stemmed from his appreciation of the intellectual challenge and the opportunity to untangle complicated issues for clients. We become lawyers because we like people, and we like to solve their problems, he said. While a firm lawyer or solo practitioner may develop a specialized practice over time, a county attorney must stay abreast of the evolving legal field across a wide variety of issues. You have to keep up, he said. It's a lot of reading, but I always was the bookworm type. Rapisarda says that his one career regret is that he never served as a judicial law clerk. Calling them smart and well-rounded, he noted that clerking provides invalu- able insight into the courtroom that simply cannot be replicated. The Impact of a County Attorney After dedicating his life to his community, Rapisarda reminisced fondly about some of his major contributions. As county attorney, his client was not one individual, but Joe Rapisarda on bottom left in B&W photo and in middle on photo on ight.

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