Father, Son Graduate Law School Together

Utah's Tom and Ryan McLelland, father and son, are set to open up their own law practice. At first blush, it's a common story: Son aspires to be a lawyer, just like dad, maybe attends father's alma mater, graduates from law school and joins father to carry on the family tradition.

But in this case, the McLellands skipped that following-in-father's-footsteps part and went to law school together. The two graduated last week from Ohio Northern University, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

Tom McLelland, who holds a masters in public administration from the University of Utah, told the paper that he and his son had talked about law school for about five years and finally took the plunge.

"We took almost every class together. We could help each other a lot better," Ryan is quoted saying.

But just because the two decided to stick together through law school doesn't mean their law practice interests are identical. The paper reports that the father hopes to practice labor and employment law, while son Ryan is leaning more toward family law.

Dad tells the paper it's daunting to think about starting a new career at age 58, but he's looking forward to the new challenge in his life.