My Father is a Lawyer

 

1. I would like to tell you about my father. My father’s name is Vladimir Stepanovich. He is 45 years old. My father is a very serious man, he is a lawyer by education. He works as a prosecutor at the court, besides he is a professor at the Law University, where he teaches the Theory of State and Law. He is always very busy at the University and at home, sometimes he works even at weekends. Now let me describe his biography.

2. My father was born on May 10, 1963 in the Slutsk district, Minsk region. My grandfather Stepan Petrovich was an officer and served in different military units of our country. He began his service as a lieutenant at the age of 21 and retired in the rank of colonel. My grandfather took an active part in various combat operations in the "hot spots" and then commanded a battalion in the Soviet Army group in Czechoslovakia. His service lasted 32 years. His wife, my grandmother Elena Ivanovna, was a housewife and had much work to do about the house because there were 3 children in their family: my father, his younger sister and his elder brother. She took care of her children when her husband spent much time at his work.

3. My father’s family had to move from one place to another several times and he had to change three schools in different places. Here I should say that it was his lucky chance to study for six years at the English specialized school in Grodno. There he got a proper training in such subjects as English, French, Russian and World Culture. He usually did a lot of home preparation and he liked everything he was doing studying at school. He really tried hard at school.

4. After finishing the secondary school my father came to Moscow and entered the Law University where he studied law. As a student he was brilliant, and he passed the final examinations successfully. By the end of his study he had got a university degree in Law. But he didn’t start his professional career at once after receiving his university degree. To gain professional skills, he had to spend two more years working with an already experienced lawyer. He prepared a lot of legal documents for trying cases in courts showing great accuracy. He was able to give advices to clients and to take part in the court trials as the assistant of the counsel for defence.

5. My father had been working for 2 years as a clerk under supervision of an experienced lawyer and then he became a judge’s assistant in a court. He tried not only civil cases but also criminal cases there. For three years he had been working at his theses and by the end of 1992 he had received the degree of "Candidate of Law Sciences". He published a lot of articles on legal problems in many judicial journals. Now he specializes in arguing cases in the court and I should add that he is an excellent speaker, especially in front of a judge. Since 1998 he has been working as a prosecutor at the Court of Appeals.

6. I am proud of my father. Following the family traditions I also decided to become a lawyer and entered the judicial faculty of the military Academy.

 

Reading for General Understanding

 

Ex. 45. Look through Text A and do the following tasks.

 

Task 1. Decide which titles also fit the text.

 

1. My father’s work and studies. 2. My family’s history. 3. The professional career of a lawyer. 4. An outstanding lawyer. 5. My father’s biography. 6. Our family’s traditions.

 

Task 2. Decide where the following sentences should go in the text.

 

1. School for him was not only classes and studying.

2. He organized extra-class activities and participated in most of them.

3. And when the children got a little older, she went to work.

4. Firstly, my father is the head and the main supporter of our family.

5. He learned and practiced much and greatly improved his professional knowledge.

6. When a serviceman he always achieved the aim he set.

7. He was ordered several medals for his service.

8. My granny graduated from the pedagogical Institute and worked at school for many years.

9. His elder brother also became a military man.