Professional: Hooman Kazemi

Current Occupation: Trial Attorney at Los Angeles Public Defenders Office

I interviewed Hooman Kazemi, a Trial attorney at the Los Angeles Public Defenders
Office, who I found through LinkedIn. Hooman was one of my mutual connections because of our
hometown area in Southern California, so I was actually able to conduct an in-person
informational interview with him about his career when I went home for Thanksgiving break.
The first questions of my interview that I asked Hooman involved his job, field, education,
and the nature of his work. I learned that Hooman went to the University of Southern California
for both undergraduate and Law School, where he majored in International Relations. At USC, he
was heavily involved in the schools Mock Trial team (which was a point of great conversation
because I also do Mock Trial) and this is what inspired him to pursue law and go into the legal
field as a profession. Hooman described the job functions of a trial attorney as essentially
representing clients involved in litigation, both civil and criminal, and persuading a jury of the
facts in a case, and to display them in a way that best supports their client's position. Hooman told
me that his job requires a lot of organization because there are days when multiple cases come into
his office, and that he heavily relies upon interpersonal skills to deal with difficult and demanding
clients. Overall, Hooman told me that his job constantly keeps him on his toes because there are
numerous cases he has to deal with in a week, and the individual cases always have moving
variables and new discoveries that makes the job busy until he leaves the office for the day.
Hooman has been working for the Public Defenders Office as a Trial Attorney for 5 years.
He described his typical day as entering his office at 9:00 AM and usually leaving for the day at
5:00PM. Typically, he will come to his office in the morning and work out paperwork for the day,
including signing judicial and civil agreements, recording the results of trials from previous days,
filtering through request for new clients, and more. After he is done with his paperwork, he
usually has 1-2 clients that he has to meet with to discuss issues regarding a case, potential
settlements, and simply hearing about evidence and testimonies from witnesses. For Hooman, a
trial usually takes place at 2:00PM every day, depending on how busy the month is. Most of his
paperwork and trial is done in his office in the Public Defenders Building, but he also
occasionally has to go to clients homes or coffee destinations to interview and gather more
information.
When I asked Hooman about what made being a Trial Attorney meaningful to him, he said
its the fact that he is doing something he is passionate about and is truly interested in. He told me
that throughout high school and his undergraduate years at USC, he had a great interest in policy,
and that public speaking and debating made him feel invigorated. He finds his job meaningful
because everyday he gets to stand up in front of jury to speak and argue about something he is
passionate about- public policy and civil cases- which leaves him content and enjoying his job.
Furthermore, the fact that he gets to interact face to face with clients and see their gratefulness and
improved lives after he wins a case or gets a good settlement makes him feel fulfilled about his
work because he gets to see his profession make direct positive impacts.
In terms of preceding jobs, Hooman has actually always been in the legal field involved in
trial attorney situations. Hooman went directly to Law School after his undergraduate studies, and
his jobs in between the summers of Law School involved him being a paralegal for a trial attorney
and then working as an intern in a law firm that help prepped trial attorneys at the law firm.
Eventually, this experience and interested got him his first job as an attorney for the LA Public
Defenders Office which he has kept ever since. So, I learned from this interview that Hooman
always knew he wanted to be a Trial Attorney, and he took the necessary steps through graduate

school and getting summer internships and jobs to achieve his dream job without any side
tracking. Although he had miniscule experiences or unpaid jobs before his current career,
everything was related to the trial attorney field that he aspired to which allowed him to gain
experience and networking connections.
After my informational interview with Hooman, the main piece of advice that I took away
from him is being able to pursue internships or job experiences that will let me know if a certain
career of industry is the right fit for me and makes me happy. Hooman told me that it is good to
have an idea about what you want do in the future, but then test it out in an actual work setting and
see if that fits your personality- like what he did as a paralegal. Furthermore, the best advice I got
from Hooman was in terms of networking. He told me that I should be willing to enter smaller,
thankless jobs in the industry and work hard in order to make networking connections and
reference opportunities to give me a better chance of landing a more desirable job.
Overall, I believe the field of law is something I will definitely attempt to pursue because it
has always been a dream of mine to be an attorney and attend law school, and the information I
learned from this interview further intrigued me. I have always been interested in the law and
public policy, shown by my major in Political Science and involved in Mock Trial at school, so
this interview really opened my eyes to first hand trial experiences an what I would expect to see
on the actual job. I am definitely interested in learning more about the legal profession, and
specifically about being an attorney, so this interview gave me more of an incentive to explore
things such as law school and paralegal opportunities.
After I had my informational interview with Hooman, I was able to see that the position of
being a Trial Attorney aligns with what I know about myself. I consider myself to be a very
analytical and organized person, and I am very passionate about areas in public policy and voicing
my opinions through arguments and public speaking. Furthermore, I love to interact with people
and work towards compromises in-group projects and my extracurricular activities. Everything I
heard from Hooman about the skills necessary to be a Trial Attorney and the job functions align
with my interests and the skills that I am good at and have been developing ever since high school.
I know that I want a career where I can make an impact on society and people directly, while also
being kept busy doing something I am interested in, and hearing Hooman talk about his
experiences helping clients and actively learning more about the law is something that I want to do
when I have a legal career. These aspects of being a Trial Attorney clearly aligns with my personal
goals and interests, and is why I am more intrigued than ever to pursue such a field as look at my
options for a professional career.
Hooman was definitely a good source of information for me because he provided me key
information about the legal profession I want to pursue: tips on how to get into a good law school,
the daily expectations and work of an attorney, and the necessary skills I need to develop in order
to be successful in the field. When we talked, I was able to tell that Hooman and I had similar
interests and personalities mainly because of our passion for public speaking and debating, as
shown by our talks of Mock Trial. We also had similar lifestyle expectations, because we both
want to live in a big city like LA or Washington D.C, as well as similar values of making an
impact on society and doing something we are passionate about.
After this experience, I want to research more about the different law schools and see if
certain programs are more tailored for different jobs like being a prosecutor or a trial attorney for
civil and criminal cases. I also just want to learn about law school admissions in general, and the
test scores and recommendations needed to get into a top program. I also want to do more research
on stepping stone jobs before becoming a trial attorney, and how to get internships or jobs as a
paralegal in order to learn more about the legal field and job duties from a first hand experience.