Howard Veregin is the official state cartographer of Wisconsin. As avid users of maps both old and new, we were enchanted by his descriptions of maps as weapons, the “Google revolution,” and what makes the post of “official state cartographer” such a unique job.

Where did your interest in maps come from?

We moved a lot when I was young, and I lived in some pretty isolated communities, so I learned early on that where you lived at any particular time might just be a historical accident. I entered college with the idea that geography was a subject I might like to major in (which I did). I wasn’t really interested in manual (pre-computer) cartography as a profession. I enjoyed the creative, artistic side of making maps, but to make really good maps you needed to master a lot of fussy arcane skills that frankly bored me a bit. But what really got me hooked on maps was computers. In graduate school I took a computer cartography course and realized this was something I really wanted to do. This was in the early 1980s […] we used some of the earliest computer-mapping software ever written. What appealed to me about computer mapping—although I doubt I knew it at the time—was the opportunity to combine left- and right-brain thinking in the creation of something both useful and beautiful.

Read more at GOOD.

Meital Manzuri is a criminal defense attorney in Beverly Hills. Despite the glitz and glamour of her surroundings, Meital litigates for everyday people with everyday run-ins with the law. We had the pleasure of speaking with her about the cases she works on, her noble pugnacity, and her natural ability to stand-up to the Man.

How is being a defense attorney different than what we see in the movies and on TV?

People are always taken aback a bit when I tell them I am a criminal defense attorney because they assume that my job must involve representing hardened criminals who should be in jail. That is a common misconception. Very few of my clients are accused of violent crimes. I pick and choose the offenders I represent, and it is my belief that they are generally good people who have often been taken advantage of, made an understandable mistake or are people that can be easily rehabilitated and it would be a waste of time and resources to send them to prison. Most of my clients are very good people, and I am usually the first one to come down on them and show them the error of their ways.

Why defense? Why not prosecute big, bad guys?

I never considered working for the prosecution because it does not gel with my personality, political views, or work ethic. I have always been a confrontational type person with a desire to change the rules, and I always had a problem with authority. I think criminal defense was always my destiny.

What are some of your most common cases?

I often fight for people who have gotten DUIs, and people who have gotten in trouble because of a mistake, a misunderstanding, or the overzealous behavior of law enforcement. But many of my cases involve the gray area of the law that surrounds medical marijuana. That means many of my clients are growers, patients, dispensary operators, or, often times, all of the above. They can come to me in a consulting capacity whereby I try and advise them on the legal dos and don’ts of medical marijuana. All too often though, people come to me when it’s too late and a criminal prosecution has been initiated. In that case, I spend considerable time evaluating and preparing their medical defense, if any, and then fight to get them the best result possible. Sometimes that means taking it all the way to trial, and sometimes that means negotiating with a prosecutor for a plea agreement. Every case is different, but many of my medical marijuana clients are trying to operate legally, pay their taxes, and trying to help very sick people obtain medicine. Unfortunately though, they are caught in the crosshairs of a catch-22 legal situation.

This sounds like a particularly Californian legal environment.

The federal-state conflict is a very interesting area of medical marijuana law, and being in California definitely puts me in a unique position to defend these cases. Under federal law, marijuana has no accepted medicinal uses, so according to one definition, it is still completely illegal. Despite that, the Obama administration has made it clear that the federal government is no longer interested in going after patients who are in possession of a small amount of marijuana. They are only interested in pursuing those that are distributing and those that are cultivating extremely large amounts. I have defended federal cases and won when the defendant is only in possession of personal amounts. Recently, a client who owned three dispensaries was raided and faced a mandatory minimum federal prison sentence of ten years. But this person was a very compassionate provider and really in it for the right reasons. I worked on his case as the brief writer and was able to convince the judge to allow him to be the first federal defendant to present a medical defense in federal court. Previously, defendants would not even be able to utter the words “medical marijuana” in federal court, so all the jury heard was that the defendant had a bunch of marijuana – period. So his case was very huge. It’s actually been ongoing for about five years now and the trial has not even taken place. I’m not sure if it ever will.

You mentioned that you often try to counsel your clients in the error of their ways – “counselor,” of course, being another term for a lawyer. Does being so involved in your clients’ personal lives get tricky at times?

Things can definitely get tricky. I have had clients where I got too involved and tried to help too much, and I ended up in a complicated situation. For example, I had a client who is very well-known in the medical marijuana world, and she got in trouble because of an abusive boyfriend. I got over-involved and tried to help her get out of the self-destructive situation while also defending her criminally. This was too much. I have since learned that boundaries are important, and I can only do so much. I also used to baby my clients and try and make them feel better about themselves. But while I am their confidant, adviser, and defender, I am not there to sugar coat anything. I have found this to be much more effective with achieving good results both as an attorney and positively influencing my clients’ lives.

What’s one of the most exciting cases you’ve worked on recently?

One of my current cases involves a father and his two sons. One of the sons was having a beer on the front lawn and the police arrived. The police jumped over the guy’s fence, pulled the father and the other brother out of their home, and all three of them were arrested and beaten. One of the sons, a member of the Navy, suffered a fracture to his leg, his eye was swollen shut, and he was bloodied pretty badly. It appears that their only crime was being black on Friday. After getting the case thrown out for the criminal allegations, we are now suing the police department. Achieving justice for these three men is the type of work that makes me feel good about what I do.

*Interview by Arden Sherman

Can you talk about some of the issues or motivations that lead you to pursue a career in law? Weren’t you hired to be an Assistant State Attorney right out of law school?

My undergraduate degree was in Music Education, and I was going to be a music teacher. Instead, the summer after graduation I began a job with Columbia Pictures Publications. I started typing the words to the music, then doing copyrights. I then became an editor, and I began arranging children’s music books called Monica Scott’s Big Note Piano.

After five years, I left while on maternity leave and ultimately decided to go to law school. You could say a bird just flew in the window and recommended it. It took a year to enroll — prep course for LSAT, application process, going to see schools, and substitute teaching to pay the bills. So there was no big issue or motivation. I was just looking for a better profession to have enough income so my children could have a better education.

I became pregnant with my second child in my first year of school and gave birth three days before the beginning of my second year. I couldn’t take more than a few weeks off, even though my son was born blue and not breathing and was in neo-natal for seven days. Reagan was president at the time and he was threatening to eliminate student loans for graduate level and above. My husband and I were already broke. I lost all my credit, all my appliances, and almost lost my house to termites. It was a horrible, horrible time.

Then, in my last semester of law school, I enrolled in a course called “Criminal Clinic,” which was basically an internship with the State Attorney’s Office. I loved it and applied there. Miraculously, I passed the Bar exam on my first try and began working there on October 22, 1984 at $19,000 a year.

Now you’re the Executive Director! What you does that entail on an average day?

That’s a difficult question to answer because there is so much I do on any given day that may be totally different from the day before. It is by far the most interesting work I have ever done. Sometimes a day can be taken up with one major problem or twenty. I just never know what awaits me when I walk in the door and open my email.

For approximately eight years, I prosecuted cases from misdemeanors to felonies. Now I no longer carry a caseload. I am involved with our 220 prosecutors — Assistant State Attorney’s — and their cases. Sometimes I deal with decisions on hiring certain experts, costs associated with the travel of witnesses, court reporters, and depositions. And since I am also an Assistant State Attorney, I may be involved in the amendment process of a criminal statute to clarify laws or close loopholes to protect the public from criminal activity. Being a prosecutor and Executive Director means I can go from one committee dealing with criminal laws and walk across the hall to another committee dealing with state budgets.

One of the first criminal laws I was involved in was having the drug flunitrazepam listed as a Schedule I drug — the highest ranking schedule. This is a very dangerous drug that made its way into the United States and Florida right after Hurricane Andrew. You would know it by the street name “roofies.” I wrote the law, went to Tallahasee, found a House and Senate sponsor, and the legislation was filed. Then boom! The pharmaceutical company that marketed the drug outside the United States, as it was never approved by the FDA for sale here, attacked me and any effort to label the drug as dangerous. They had a lot of money and beat me up pretty bad. They managed to convince the Legislature not to do it. I was very disappointed, but I kept fighting. I went back the next year and tried again. It became the first law passed and signed by Governor Lawton Chiles in 1997. That was a real experience. I was at the bill signing ceremony, but I gave the photo to my mom.

After such bruising experiences, what sustains your continued interest in the work?

I really don’t know, actually. But I enjoy it immensely. I wake up each morning and still look forward to my job, and for that, I am very grateful. If I work on a legislative issue such as creating a better law or securing enough funds for the operations of this office, that alone fulfills my continued motivation.

Perhaps you should have chosen someone to interview that had some great idealistic ego of their work. I do not. I do not receive, nor seek credit for most of my work. I am really just hoping to retain the benefits I have been counting on for over twenty-six years when the time comes for me to retire.

Ultimately, I would like to work for myself someday and be my own boss. One of the issues I would become involved with would be the protection of the elderly, and other vulnerable or disabled adults. You can write all the criminal laws you want, which I’ve already helped with, but they’re not like child victims. Changing the diaper of an elderly adult is not the same as changing the diaper of a child. Families abandon their adults, and no one cares. They have dementia, Alzheimer’s, and strokes in their brains that can make them unpleasant and not very nice, along with a lack of personal hygiene, or no money. They can be easily taken advantage of and discriminated against. It really scares me.

I was going to ask if you have, or ever had, a desire to run for public office, but you say you never seek credit for you work, which puts you about as far away from a politician as possible.

You are absolutely correct. I have never had an interest in running for public office. I work for an elected official whom I greatly respect, but I see how much he has sacrificed for his office. All that campaigning is not easy.

Yet you help to write laws. Do you pay visits to individual law-makers and present them with charts and stats supporting the views you’re trying to get across? What role does quid pro quo play?

Because of the way the Florida lobbying law is written, I have to register as a lobbyist. If you intend to influence an elected official in any way you have to be registered. So when I go up to speak to a Senator or House member about a new criminal law, or changes needed in an existing law, I try to influence them based solely on my arguments and experiences of why it is needed. My requests do not really necessitate the use of charts, although sometimes stats are helpful when trying to explain the needs for additional funding to assist with increased criminal caseloads. I know about the quid pro quo, but it really doesn’t come into play with my issues.

Have your legislative priorities changed over the course of your time as an Assistant State Attorney?

They’ve pretty much stayed the course over the last few years. Perhaps you might say the focus has leaned more to the budget battle as compared to focusing on criminal laws. The economy has made it more difficult to retain staff while representing the state in court. State Attorneys are not a service agency. We are the state. We stand in court as the state. If we’re not there, the state’s not there. So budget issues have been pretty difficult.

Do you think about what effect you might have while working outside your official capacities? You talked earlier about how you’d like to work for yourself and become further involved in issues involving the elderly. Do you have concerns regarding your current effectiveness in that regard?

I have absolutely no concerns regarding my efforts as an Assistant State Attorney lobbying for better criminal laws and funding for the office that enforces them. I would hope my efforts would be the measure of my effectiveness, but that characterization would have to come from others.

When I do leave and hang that shingle to work independently, I won’t be concerned about working in or out of any official capacity. I’ve never been much concerned about it because my field is not part of the game, if you interpret the game as politics or something like that. I just think vulnerable adults, such as the elderly who are sometimes abandoned by their own families, need more advocates for their protection. And it is my humble opinion that if you have an issue you feel genuinely strong about, you should pursue it because it’s the right thing to do.