NAME: Richard J. Shaklee

AGE: 41

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree from Rutgers University, law degree from Boston University

HOMETOWN: Wall

EMPLOYER: Partner in the Wall law firm of McLaughlin, Gelson, D'Apolito and Stauffer LLC

JOB DESCRIPTION: I'm the borough attorney in Roosevelt, the board attorney for Monroe Township's Fire District No. 2, the labor counsel for Jamesburg, Hightstown, the Edison Housing Authority and I'm one of the assistant township attorneys in Wall.
The work of a municipal attorney can be divided among a number of attorneys; for instance, I just focus on labor issues in Hightstown and Jamesburg. But when you're talking about a municipal attorney, you're usually talking about the general counsel. The general counsel helps draft resolutions and ordinances. You typically attend governing body meetings to give legal advice. You give advice on municipal procedures, such as how you publicly bid something or how an ordinance is adopted. You review all the contracts the municipality enters into.

If you're a labor counsel, you negotiate with the unions that represent workers in the town. You deal with questions on collective bargaining, wage and hour laws, leave laws and employee discipline.

HOW DID YOU GET YOUR JOB? After I finished clerking for a judge, I got a position with a firm that specialized in public-sector labor law. It was sort of a fluke; the judge I clerked for was helping me out by sending my resumes to people he knew, and he sent one to another judge who sent it to one of his own former clerks, who had become a partner in that firm.

So, I got into public-sector law that way. I've branched out into general law as well.

SALARY: There's always a contract with the firm. The hourly rates are usually between $120 to $150 an hour, which is lower than what you'd get in the private sector.

WHAT IS A TYPICAL DAY LIKE? I don't do only municipal work; I do some private sector work as well. So, there are some days where I only do municipal work and others where I won't wind up doing any. It depends on what's going on.

Much of my time is spent doing research and drawing things up. I might have to research a question about overtime, hiring, what kind of advertising needs to be done for particular positions or interpreting a position in a collective bargaining agreement.

Compared with the private sector, the labor law is mostly the same, but there are two big things on top of it. One is more complex discipline procedures, because most private-sector employment is employment at will, whereas most public-sector discipline procedures are set up by statute, and some are grounded in the federal and state constitutions. The second thing is that in the public sector, you're dealing with unions a lot more than you do in the private sector.

The meetings are usually held at night. There may be very few questions or there may be quite a bit. You're there to answer questions and explain things. You usually have them once or twice a month.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR JOB? Like any legal thing, when I get an interesting question to chew on, something that you have to think about and do some research, that's always kind of appealed to me.

WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT YOUR JOB? The night meetings. You work all day, and then you have to work at night. You've got to be on the ball. You can't just zone out, just because you already put in an eight-hour day.

SUGGESTIONS FOR OTHER PEOPLE CONSIDERING THIS TYPE OF WORK: You'd have to look for firms that do it. You usually won't see someone appointed as a municipal attorney who doesn't have some experience in it.

Edited for space and clarity from an interview with Assistant Business Editor Dennis P. Carmody. If you are interested in participating in this feature, please write to him at the Asbury Park Press, Business News, 3601 Highway 66, Box 1550, Neptune, NJ 07754-1551 or e-mail dcarmody@app.com