Interview with Bernard

WHAT DREW YOU TO LAW AS A PROFESSION? BARMANN: My father was a lawyer and I was curious about what he did. The intellectual challenge of the law intrigued me, so in high school I joined the debate team and found I really loved the activity. Debate involves a lot of the elements of the legal profession—research, logic, persuasion, thinking on your feet and the possibility of winning (and losing). I wanted to continue in that vein as an adult, so I went to law school.

HOW DID YOU COME TO SELECT YOUR LEGAL SPECIALTY? BARMANN: When I went off to law school I assumed I’d come back to Bakersfield and work in the DA’s office as a prosecutor. Soon after starting law school, however, I learned of the world folks now call “Big Law,” and applied to those firms for work during the summers. Being a summer associate with major Los Angeles law firms was both challenging and fun. I discovered through those two summers that I much preferred the litigation side of the practice to the transactional side, so I joined the litigation department at O’Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles after graduating from law school. There were about 90 lawyers in that department just in the LA office. It was an amazing environment in which to learn and practice law with a group of stellar attorneys.

IF YOU DIDN’T BECOME A LAWYER, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE PROFESSIONALLY? BARMANN: I would have become an electrical engineer. Math was always my strongest subject in school, and I was very interested in computers and how they function.

WHAT IS THE MOST REWARDING PART OF YOUR CAREER? BARMANN: The most rewarding part of my career is when a client tells me that they are happy with the results we have achieved for them. When a client appreciates and values the work you do for them, that makes the long hours and the mental toll of this profession worth the effort.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU DEAL WITH REGULARLY IN LAW WHERE YOU HAVE TO TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND STEEL YOURSELF TO START WORKING? BARMANN: Drafting interrogatory responses. They seem like such a waste of time. The other side usually already knows the answers to their own questions, and people rarely disclose anything of any real value in an interrogatory response. Interrogatories in general have only limited value, not zero, but not much.

WHY ARE YOU A MEMBER OF THE KERN COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION? BARMANN: I joined KCBA so that I could connect with other lawyers in the community and to participate in giving back to the community. KCBA does a lot to benefit Bakersfield and Kern County as well as to promote the interests of its members.