The Voice of Southwest Louisiana July 2017 Issue
The Voice of Southwest Louisiana News Magazine July 2017
The Voice of Southwest Louisiana News Magazine July 2017
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Q&A<br />
M. Steven<br />
Beverung, Esq.<br />
Attorney at Law<br />
By Jessica Hunt<br />
What many people know (or think they know) about<br />
being a lawyer, they've learned from watching<br />
television. I spoke with Attorney Steven Beverung<br />
who has practiced Law in <strong>Southwest</strong> <strong>Louisiana</strong> for 35 years to<br />
find out about what it is really like.<br />
QWhere are you from?<br />
AI'm from Crowley which is a town<br />
about 60 miles east <strong>of</strong> Lake Charles.<br />
I graduated from Crowley High. I went to<br />
undergraduate school at LSU and I went<br />
to Law School at LSU Law Center.<br />
QWhen did you open your own<br />
practice?<br />
AI came to work with Mr. Fred Book in<br />
1982 after one year with the Court<br />
<strong>of</strong> Appeal. I became a partner about<br />
three years later. He retired May <strong>of</strong> 2016<br />
so I've been holding down the fort since<br />
then. I've been doing private practice for<br />
35 years.<br />
24<br />
QWhat areas <strong>of</strong> Law do you practice?<br />
AI have a general practice—general<br />
civil <strong>of</strong>fice litigation practice. I do a<br />
lot <strong>of</strong> successions, wills, collections. I also<br />
do family law.<br />
QDo you have a favorite area?<br />
AI prefer to do successions and <strong>of</strong>fice<br />
practice, some litigation and I do<br />
personal injury which is fun to do.<br />
QWhat about those areas drew you<br />
in?<br />
AGenerally dealing with people is<br />
what I like to do. Dealing with<br />
people is got a reward in itself. Family<br />
Law can be depressing because <strong>of</strong> the<br />
situations with children. I do enjoy<br />
helping people. On personal injury cases,<br />
Money cannot replace a lot <strong>of</strong> the things<br />
that you do but you can put people in<br />
the right direction. Successions help<br />
distribute property to the heirs and<br />
settling any disputes that they may have.<br />
QWhat is Civil Law?<br />
AIt's very broad. Civil law, as opposed<br />
to criminal law, is anything that<br />
is not a violation <strong>of</strong> a criminal statute.<br />
Civil law, Family Law, divorce, domestic<br />
relations, contract law, successions,<br />
things like wills and sales and real estate.<br />
Criminal law is if you are prosecuted by<br />
the District Attorney or city Attorney for<br />
a city statute or a federal crime, such as<br />
<strong>July</strong> <strong>2017</strong> WWW.THEVOICEOFSOUTHWESTLA.COM Volume 4 • Number 10
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