My Background
My career spent practicing criminal law started out of the
blue with an unexpected phone interview as I was about to graduate law school
at the University of Iowa. I got a call
from Paul Canarsky, who was the head of the Public Defender’s Office in
Fairbanks wondering if I’d like to interview for a trial attorney position in
his office. Serendipitously, I got the
job and ended up flying to Fairbanks soon after I graduated from law school.
I got off the plane at 1AM to bright daylight not knowing a
soul with only two small suitcases to my name. At that point I had never been
north of Toronto. I ended up remaining
in Fairbanks for over six wonderful years. I met and married my wife there, and
as an outdoor enthusiast my evenings and weekends were packed with trail
running, cross country skiing, backpacking, canoeing, hunting, and fishing.
Immediately, I realized that I had happened upon a great
job. I was surrounded by amazing and accomplished trial attorneys and was given
a robust caseload with a lot of responsibility right off the bat. For instance,
within approximately a month after getting off the plane, I had already first-chaired
a felony jury trial.
In time, I took on more responsibility and proceeded to
represent a number of high profile clients in a series of complex and difficult
cases. I was also given the opportunity to serve as the Public Defender for the
Galena-Koyukuk region. This region consisted of seven largely Native Alaskan
villages along the Yukon River that were "off the road system." I
consider my time spent serving the people of the “Galena Koyukuk” region as one
of the greatest privileges I’ve ever had.
By the time I had left Alaska in the fall in 2011, I had
represented literally thousands of clients on a wide variety of charges ranging
from murder to underage drinking. While
I loved my job, and my wife and I loved our life and friends in Fairbanks, we
wanted to start a family back in Eastern Iowa.
The decision turned out to be a good one. My wife and I now
have a beautiful baby daughter and have settled into life here in Iowa City. I
practice at Hayes Lorenzen Lawyers PLC, which is located in the Pedestrian Mall
in downtown Iowa City. While a lot of my
work at Hayes Lorenzen involves personal injury cases, I still have a criminal
practice.
As I noted earlier, I hope this blog will prove informative
and add to the discussion on current topics related to criminal practice in
Eastern Iowa. If you have any comments or need to contact me I can be reached
at (319)887-3688 or mbiderman@hlplc.com.
