For assistant city attorney Robert Moses, no two days are ever the same. From drinking water to storm water conservation, Moses supports the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management in developing ordinances and policies to help improve the city’s infrastructure. He also provides legal advice to the Atlanta City Council.
This is familiar territory for Moses, who practiced zoning, land use and environmental law for 12 years in his native Australia before moving to the U.S. He won a green card in a lottery after meeting his now husband, an American citizen who was working in IT in Australia. Once they resettled in Atlanta, Moses felt the urge to get back into law. The LL.M. program at Georgia State Law provided the perfect opportunity to make that happen.
“The classes are taught by the same professors who teach in the J.D. program, so I felt confident that I would get a good education,” said Moses. “I wanted to find a program that was cost effective, had a high bar passage rate and a good location. Georgia State stood out.”
The LL.M. program offers a bar track where attorneys licensed in other countries can take courses that prepare them to take the bar in Georgia. Moses says he knew he made the right decision when he took Civil Procedure with professor emeritus and former director of the LL.M. program, Roy Sobelson. He says that Sobelson’s real world examples, drawn from his experience as managing attorney at the Brunswick office of Georgia Legal Services, enlivened the lessons.
Moses passed the bar in fall 2017. He made a point of continuing to attend College of Law events in order to network and he connected with the college’s Center for Professional Development & Career Services. He says that they helped him develop a job search strategy and stuck by him throughout the year that he spent looking for a job.
His advice to future LL.M. students, “Be persistent and have a plan of where you think you want to work and what areas of law you’re interested in. Put yourself out there. Go to events and meet people. One introduction can do wonders, because you never know down the track who you might have a matter with or against.”
He has continued his education by auditing the land use law class. This semester, he also gave a guest lecture on water law in Dean Rowberry’s Natural Resources Law class. He notes that Atlanta ranks among the best cities in the country for clean drinking water.
“People are willing to go out of their way to help you here,” said Moses. “All of my professors had an open-door policy. The collegial atmosphere is a great environment to learn in.”
Written by Kelundra Smith