The legal profession is a family tradition with Missouri Southern alumna Danielle Garrity.

She is an attorney at Garrity and Jones in Joplin. Her father, Michael Garrity Sr., is a partner at the firm and has been practicing law for 20 years. Her older brother, Michael Garrity Jr., also works in the office, doing the books and accounting, while her other brother Jamie, a political science graduate from Southern, just started law school in Kansas City.

The family business began when Garrity's father left his position as head of Legal Aid of Western Missouri in 1994. Partnered with attorney Susanna Jones, the firm built a good clientele in the Joplin area.

Garrity came to the firm after she passed her bar examination in 1998. Since then, she's been working in several fields, including criminal law, personal injury, and family law, which deals with divorce and juvenile court.

"I like the courtroom," said Garrity. "I like working with other attorneys and judges."

Garrity graduated from Southern in 1994 with a degree in elementary education, specializing in special education. She attended law school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City for three years. Prior to taking the bar, she took a study course in Columbia that spanned eight weeks, but said, "it still just barely touched on a lot of the topics." However, she was successful and received her juris doctorate in 1998.

She said she has enjoyed her time at Garrity and Jones. She likes working in her own office and having a great deal of control over the flexibility of her schedule. However, she said there are long hours and high stress due to the needs of her clients.

"You always have everybody else's problems on your mind," said Garrity.

But one of the things that helped Garrity to decide to pursue law was there was more money to be made than in education.

"Starting off you have a ton of student loans, but you're making good money," said Garrity. "You're just paying a lot back for your loans."

Garrity is happy with the position she currently holds, but alluded that there was something more she wanted from the field.

"I like what I'm doing now, but the best case scenario every attorney wants is to end up being a judge," said Garrity. "I'd really like to do that."

She said it is difficult to become a judge. Lawyers must have years of experience and, in many cases, must be elected or appointed.

Garrity also said that her dream of becoming a judge wasn't merely motivated by financial rewards.

"It's not so much that you're making more money than being an attorney," said Garrity. "It's mostly prestigious and that you have a staff working under you."

She said she likes living and working in the Joplin area. If she were to move to a different city, she said it would be more difficult.

"If you move somewhere else and you're trying to be an attorney, you have to work for a firm and then you won't have as much control as having your own practice," said Garrity. "Once you build up in a place, you kind of want to remain there."

Garrity enjoyed her Southern experience. Some of her biggest influences were her adviser, Dr. Michael Banks, professor of teacher education, and Annetta St. Clair, associate professor of political science. St. Clair helped Garrity with her plans for law school.

"She was very helpful for looking at different schools and the requirements for getting in," said Garrity.

Garrity appreciates the assistance the instructors at Southern provided. She also liked the fact that a smaller state college can provide more intimate instruction for students.

"The good thing about Southern is if you plan on going to graduate school, there's smaller class sizes and you get more attention from the teachers, which ultimately leads to better grades," said Garrity. "You get that higher GPA and it helps you get into a graduate program."