Today we’d like to introduce you to Rick Oliver.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m originally from Pasadena, Texas; one of five children to working class parents. Neither of my parents went to college. As a result, neither of them had much guidance to offer in terms of where I ought to go to college. So, I went to one of the few schools that recruited me to play football: Trinity University (Div. 3), in San Antonio.
In the beginning, I had hoped to pursue a degree in English, and become a vaunted and celebrated fiction writer. A teammate on the football team talked some sense into me, and eventually I changed my degree to Accounting. Still, I didn’t want to become an Accountant at that time. I wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to be John Grisham (I hadn’t entirely given up my childhood dream and first love for writing). A professor I respected talked some sense into me, and I remained on campus until I had completed the masters program in Accounting.
After that, I went to work for Arthur Anderson, one of the “Big Six” accounting firms at that time. In 2001, the Enron scandal truncated my career in public accounting, and I subsequently found a job with Continental Airlines doing Internal Audit. I flew the friendly skies for about three years doing that. I enjoyed getting to see a lot of the Country and some of the world. But auditing was just a job; it wasn’t personally fulfilling in any meaningful way. So, in 2005, I finally decided it was time to pursue the old goal of becoming a lawyer. And, in a sense, I was very lucky. I already knew what I wanted to do within the law. I didn’t need Erie Railroad v. Tompkins to intimidate me out of White Tower law and into the trenches of the criminal justice system. The trenches was the only show in town, as far as I was concerned. I was too hopeful and stupid to be much troubled by the fact that I didn’t really know any lawyers in town, had no mentors, and no real desire to work for the District Attorney. I graduated from law school a semester early and hung my shingle in mid-2008.
In the beginning, I handled only trial work. I joined the local and state-wide teaching organizations (HCCLA and TCLDLA), went to the conferences I could afford, paid close attention to what information I could glean from email list servers, asked a lot of dumb questions, and did my best to gain experience in the courtroom doing actual lawyer stuff; and, in the beginning, probably narrowly avoided committing malpractice. Over time I gained confidence and felt respected by the peers whose respect I coveted. A few years into my career, a colleague asked if I could write an appeal for a client of his. I told him how I felt and still feel. I said, “I can write anything but sheet music.” His client hired me and I wrote and submitted the appeal-a Petition for Discretionary Review-with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and won.
From that point, I held myself out as a trial and appellate lawyer. In 2015, I leveraged the knowledge and experience I had accrued to apply for Board Certification in the specialty area of Criminal Law. My application was reviewed and approved, and I took and passed the exam on the first attempt. I focused on criminal matters until 2020, when I partnered with a dynamic and talented young lady named Christine Cockrell, forming the Cockrell & Oliver law firm, to handle the needs of clients facing criminal charges, as well as those with personal injury, wrongful death, and other civil matters. Despite the passage of time, I still haven’t abandoned the dream of becoming a novelist, and have made several attempts over the years, to varying degrees of relative (relative) success. Clearly, I’m just waiting for the talent to catch up to the dream. Fortunately, I’ve found a great deal of purpose and meaning in the work I’ve engaged in and done for clients, since 2008.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest hurdle for me has always been financial. I borrowed an insane amount of money to go to a private school for college and graduate school, and later law school. That kind of money doesn’t resonate with a seventeen or eighteen year-old kid; at least it didn’t with me. Twenty years after finishing a master’s degree in Accounting, I’m still paying for the privilege on a monthly basis.
As you know, we’re big fans of Cockrell & Oliver Law Firm. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Cockrell & Oliver is a boutique law firm specializing in personal injury and criminal defense. To be sure, there are a lot of law firms out there that offer the services we provide. We just don’t think there are many other firms out there that provide those services with the same level of honesty and care as we do. Indeed, what drew Christine and I together professionally is a common approach to our clients. We work hard as hell for them and we’re both very good at what we do. But we don’t ignore them and force them through a gauntlet of assistants to get basic questions answered, or keep them in the dark with respect to the progress of their case, and we don’t lie to them. Christine and I have both been in practice long enough to know too many lawyers treat their clients like widgets or cause numbers.
Additionally, a lot of lawyers, in my opinion, simply assume their clients aren’t sophisticated enough to understand the subtleties of the law or their precise legal situation. I have always rejected that particular canard. I tell clients that, in addition to advocating for them in court, I am a purveyor of information. And it is my belief that information is clarity, and clarity is comfort. So Christine and I both go out of our way to provide that to our clients upon request. Bottom line: we treat all of our clients with the dignity and respect they deserve.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I’ve learned that discussing Covid-19-related revelations is a lot like discussing politics or religion at the dinner table. Personally, I spent a great deal of my pandemic downtime writing a 460-page fiction manuscript (still chasing the dream) and learning to play acoustic guitar.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: CockrellOliver.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/CockrellOliverlaw?utm_medium=copy_link
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CockrellOliverlaw/
Image Credits
Bryan Andersen Photography
Farrell Gjesdal Strategy Group
