palallison

Well, sort of both. I was doing private criminal defense work in Texas and I HATED running my own business and having to charge for representation. I saw the Palau job advertised on a list-serv for defense lawyers one day and decided to apply, almost as a joke. I really didn't think I would get it, and kind of forgot I'd even applied. Five months later they emailed me and asked me if I was interested in a phone interview. At that moment, I decided that I wasn't going to agonize about this, I was going to do the phone interview, and if they offered me the job, I was just going to take it. And then I did the phone interview and they offered me the job about ten minutes into the call and it just didn't even seem real. Still doesn't.

EDIT: When I say I applied almost as a joke, I don't mean that I didn't take the job seriously. The possibility just seemed so far out. There are a lot of reasons Palau, especially, seemed appealing to me. Indigence here is a totally different ballgame from indigence in the States, and it's a pretty humbling experience.

Palau actually used to be part of the United States, and a large part of Palauan law is based on US law. Actually, that's one of the reasons I can practice here without having to take another bar exam. That said, there are still a lot of differences in the law. Abortion is a crime here, though I have not heard of anyone being prosecuted for it. DUI's are very, very serious here and jail time, even on a first offense, is mandatory. It's strict even compared to Texas.

The local food is....a mixed bag. Since it's an island in the middle of nowhere, meat and fresh veggies are hard to come by. Fish and rice are popular, and so is Spam. There are a lot of Japanese and Philippine influences- sugary tomato sauce, for example, and lots of fresh sushi. There are three small grocery stores here, and a handful of decent-ish restaurants. Most of the food is just ok, but the bakeries here are aaaamazing. One of the local specialties is "fruit bat soup." It's basically a whole fruit bat covered in coconut milk. I have not partaken.

I read an article about how several years ago it was noticed that there's a hugely disproportionate number of neurological problems and Parkinson's disease in Micronesia, and after studying it, the people who study these things figured out that it has to do with eating whole fruit bats. The bats eat a certain type of grain or something that's a neurotoxin to humans, and then when the bats are cooked and eaten whole, the residual grain in their bellies leaches out into the broth/meat/whatever and can cause problems. I'm sure it takes more than eating it a few times to develop a disease, but that's my excuse for not trying them. Call me a chicken. Also, they look like rats and they're served whole and unskinned/unbutchered. I just...can't. Hats off to you for being so adventurous, though!

Yes. Actually, they're very nice, generally speaking. They are very friendly and love to laugh. Everyone is related to each other here, and there's a general attitude of everything being everyone's business, but it's not rude, it's just cultural. For example, my assistant will say things like, "I saw you walking down the main road yesterday at 6:00, where were you going?"

I am a public defender, so I only defend people. :) There are two lawyers in my office- me and my boss. There are about ten prosecutors, so we're a bit outnumbered. My boss handles most of the serious felonies, and I handle juvenile cases, misdemeanors, and some of the less serious felonies. It's a lot of cases, but not nearly the overload that I understand a lot of public defenders in the States have. There are not a lot of terribly violent crimes here, guns are illegal, and most of the assaults seem to be either teenagers fighting or domestic disputes. I handle a LOT of DUI's and a lot of cases involving minors drinking alcohol. There are a few thefts, but not a whole lot. Most of my clients want to plead guilty, apologize, and accept their punishment, which is a HUGE change from my clients in the States. In fact, sometimes I have to really encourage my clients to go to trial because they are not guilty, or because I know the prosecutors are not going to be able to prove it at trial. Very different.