Still on parole when admitted to practice, lawyer hopes to help others facing hefty prison terms
Back around the turn of the century, David Harris would have seemed an unlikely lawyer.
He served a seven-year prison term for a series of armed robberies committed in 1997, and was still on parole when he was licensed to practice law in Tennessee in 2013. But the state does not bar convicted felons from practicing and, with help from testimonials by those who know him, Harris was able to pass a character and fitness review, reports the Tennessean.
His own efforts in researching the law helped win Harris a reduction of a 40-year prison term he once faced and inspired him to try for a career in the law after his release.
But he had intended to be a paralegal, assuming that this was the best he could do. Advice from the head of the political science department at Middle Tennessee State University, where Harris earned his undergraduate degree, changed his mind and put him on track toward law practice.
“Why in the world give up without being told no?” Harris asked the newspaper.
