Potter to start private practice as soon as DA duties finished
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Potter says he will begin taking clients the moment he last turns the key to lock his office door of the past eight years.
?Right now my plans are to stay here and open a private practice, beginning immediately on Sept. 1,? said Potter, who has just over a week remaining before he is replaced by incoming District Attorney Lisa Zavogiannis. ?I have 17 years experience in criminal law so I will be doing that along with civil law, some estates and business. Until I get an office set up, my home number is in the book.?
Looking at his future in the legal community, Potter said he has seen the courtroom from both sides, serving as public defender for nine years before becoming prosecutor for the past eight.
?I?ve been on both sides so it shouldn?t be a problem at all making the transition,? Potter said. ?Plus, I believe it gives me a unique perspective that will be useful in private practice.?
As for his convincing defeat Aug. 3, Potter said he feels he made a lot of enemies in enforcing the law.
?I was sent there to enforce the law equally and that didn?t sit well with the poker machine people and the gambling business around here,? Potter said. ?If they want gambling here, they need to pass a law and make it legal. But until that time, gambling is a crime and should be prosecuted as such.?
Potter went on vacation immediately after his loss three weeks ago, a vacation he planned win or lose. On vacation, Potter said he focused his thoughts on the future and his time as district attorney.
?I don?t have any regrets about what we accomplished,? Potter said. ?Our conviction rate was one of the best in the state and our child support office was one of the better ones, no matter what my opponent claimed. We got murder convictions on people like Doug Myers in the Myers Lane triple murder, on Dorene Jones for the starvation death of her elderly ward, and in the Pimentel case with the burning death of Gina Thompson.?
Potter said he feels his administration will be viewed as the district attorney who brought prosecution into the 21st century.
?We were pretty technically advanced with the use of computers in the presentation of our cases,? Potter said.