It's not unusual for a new attorney to become an assistant public defender. The pay is low, but the experience is excellent.

When the fledgling defender is 54 years old, however, and has been a farmer for 30 years and president of two school boards, that's news.

Dennis Barnard of Blue Mound became more famous than he already was when the Decatur Herald and Review featured his career transition in an April article.

In addition to his law practice with James P. Brinkoetter Jr., Barnard is a part-time assistant to Macon County public defender Jon Clark Baxter. His first assignments have been in traffic and juvenile neglect cases.

Although that is his “day job,” Barnard's workday really begins at 3 a.m. That's when he checks on the 6,000 hogs he is getting ready to market from his farm near Boody. In addition to maintaining his hog operation, he leases farming acreage to a neighbor for additional income.

Besides running a farm, which he calls “a great life,” Barnard served a total of 14 years on the Blue Mound-Boody school board and its successor, the Meridith Board of Education, after a 1994 consolidation. He headed both boards.

A marriage dissolution in 1999 led Barnard to begin considering a career change. He settled on law, a decision supported by his four children, and scored well on the entrance exam.

He was admitted to the Southern Illinois University School of Law and graduated in May 2006. He was admitted to the bar last November.

Barnard earns high praise from public defender Baxter, who marvels at the work ethic of a hog farmer who arrives for duty in his office at 7 a.m. in suit and tie, and frequently works into the night.

“He brings a depth of experience to the role that you normally don't have with a new attorney,” Baxter told the newspaper writer. “He has seen the world, more so than the average law school graduate. He's more mature and serious.”