Interviewer: Hi Mr. Callahan, how are you? Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your chosen profession?
Robert J. Callahan: Sure, sure. I’ve lived in the city of Chicago my whole life and I decided to be a criminal lawyer sometime in the middle of undergraduate university. Growing up in the city I’ve had the experience of seeing a lot of people who were given kind of a raw deal by the criminal and judicial system here and the police department at times. There are also a lot of really good lawyers in the city and criminal defense has always seemed something extremely interesting to me and it’s not the kind of job where you’re going to be sitting behind a desk all day. I’ve always wanted something where I can get more involved, get into a court room, you know actually have a little excitement in my job.
Interviewer: Absolutely, without a doubt. Do you actually go to scenes and stuff? You said you were not just glued to your desk.
Robert J. Callahan: Yeah, yeah. First and foremost criminal law is an area of law where you’re going to be able to get into court rooms and do trials like you see on TV. 90-95% of other lawyers Interviewer’t even step into a court room, or if they do it’s once or twice in their career. I’m in a court room almost every day, trying cases, litigating portions (? 3:38), arguing different aspects of the law to a judge or a jury. It’s an active type of profession and like I said, also going out to the scenes of crimes is always very interesting and it really gives us the benefit in defending the cases. I really like going out to the scenes where these things actually took place and getting a feel for how the arrest actually happened and how the arrests actually happened. It gives me insight as to what the police and what the other witnesses’ testimony is going to be.
Interviewer: So, I guess one topic that is talked about a lot in the criminal area of law is DUI? I know a lot of law has changed in the last 20 years, can you go through that with me really quickly?
Robert J. Callahan: Yeah the law has changed and starting out with just the general attitude of the public towards DUI I’ve seen change. Specifically over the last 20 or even 30 years. I just remember growing up around the city, the Chicago cops hardly ever gave anyone a ticket for driving under the influence. They would send people on their way or first they would maybe lock their keys in the trunk or call someone else but there were very few times that they would charge someone with the criminal offense of driving under the influence. I think culturally that has really changed and the enforcement of people driving under the influence has gotten harsher and harsher and more draconian and more severe.
Interview with Chicago Defense Lawyer Robert Callahan continued (page 2)