Elizabeth Goldman
Editor in Chief
Issue 5, Features
Government teacher and attorney Andrew Caine works part-time at both Costa and Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones Law Firm.
Caine received a law degree from University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) and began practicing as a lawyer in 1983. He specializes in Bankruptcy chapter 11 law, but practices primarily as a litigator and trial lawyer.
“I originally went into law because I thought I wanted to go into politics; I thought I wanted to serve in congress,” said Caine. “But as I started working on political campaigns, I soured on the idea of politics. I didn’t like a lot of what I saw, so I became a lawyer.”
According to Caine, as he got older, he started to think about what he wanted to do for work that was rewarding, not solely a way to make money. Similar to his mother and sister who have both worked as educators, Caine decided to pursue teaching and has been a teacher for the past 15 years.
“I have coached my whole adult life, so I thought that if I teach I can also coach, which I did my first six years here,” said Caine. “But I quickly learned that being in the classroom was what I enjoyed more than anything else.”
When Caine made the decision to become a teacher, he realized it would be a financial challenge to quit law completely, according to Caine. Resultantly, he decided to balance both, teaching during the school year and continuing to work at his law firm in the summers. After three years of that, he began to teach part-time at both places simultaneously.
“It’s difficult [to balance both] because there are times where I have demands from both at the same time,” said Caine. “There are a lot of times I’m pulled in both directions or have to rush out of here to go to a meeting when I’d like to stay for lunch and help students.”
According to Caine, despite it being difficult at times, he has figured out creative ways to balance and adapt, such as attending court virtually during the school day while physically in a classroom with his students.
“One of the things I’ve tried to do, especially after the pandemic where courts went to remote participation, [is] I asked judges if I can do court from my classroom,” said Caine. “So, I’ve had times, even last semester, where I’m sitting in front of Zoom with my coat and tie on, and the students are all watching me in court; it was really fun.”
According to Cane, Being a lawyer poses an enjoyable intellectual challenge while teaching provides the opportunity to make valuable connections,. Despite the differences between careers, they are similar in some regards, such as the aspect of performing as well as thinking on one’s feet.
“As a trial lawyer, you not only have the intellectual challenge of thinking on your feet, knowing the cases cold, and being able to anticipate what the judge might ask you, but also the fact that you have to perform,” said Caine. “It’s kind of similar to the classroom because you are rolling with whatever the students are asking or saying things in a different way – it’s almost like having a question objected to in court and you have to ask it a different way.”
Outside of work, Caine doesn’t have a lot of free time. He takes advantage of every spare moment to keep up on work or participate in productive leisure activities such as furthering his music endeavors. When Caine is not working, he enjoys producing music with his son.
“It’s sometimes [a struggle to find time for non-work things], but I just find time to catch up. [For example,] when my wife is off doing something with her friends I’ll get ready for lessons or grade,” said Caine. “But I do have a lot of outside interests – fitness, being outdoors, music, art – so I don’t have a lot of time when I’m just sitting around watching tv; I’m always doing something.”
According to Caine, his advice to students or people contemplating their future careers is to choose something enjoyable and rewarding, but to realize a career is a flexible thing – it isn’t set in stone. He believes everyone should create a life they are proud of and enjoy for themselves.
“Make sure that you’re choosing something that, at the end of the day, you’re going to say you’re glad you spent eight hours doing this,” said Caine. “But you aren’t locked into it. The last thing you want is to look back and be unsatisfied and not do anything about it because being true to how you really want to spend your time and who you want to be is the only way for life to have meaning for you each day.”
Caine is working through what he wants his career to look like in future years, but he would like to continue teaching, according to Caine. To him, teaching is rewarding and important, and he is glad to play a part in students’ lives and educations.
“I teach because I want young people to care about themselves and everybody else around us,” said Caine. “I teach because I want young people to make everyone’s lives better, both their own and the world.”
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