Greene native begins career as attorney at Hampton law firm

Riley Kock’s childhood walks past a law office in his native Greene have led him to life as an attorney.

Kock in September began working as an associate attorney at Miller and Miller, PC in Hampton, where he had summer internships in 2018, 2019 and 2020 while he worked his way through law school at Drake University.

Kock passed the bar exam in September, which completed the first part of his journey that he started at a young age.

“I grew up down the road from a law office and always wondered what they did there,” he said. “Through a shadowing program in middle school, I shadowed an attorney in Greene and I loved it and since then, I always thought I wanted to be an attorney and that’s the route I took.”

After graduating from North Butler High School in 2013 and then from Wartburg College, Kock enrolled at Drake Law. Needing an internship, Kock reached out to Greene native and attorney Pat Vickers, who linked Kock with Brian Miller, partner at Miller and Miller.

After three internships and passing the bar, Miller elected to bring Kock on as an associate. Kock said he’s noticed a significant increase in responsibilities since making the transition from intern to attorney but is confident his prior training will help him hit the ground running.

“Since I got licensed, I feel like there’s a lot more responsibility, which was expected, but Brian has ben really good about helping out any chance I can get to ask him a question and that’s made it really helpful in the sense I have someone there who can help me,” he said. “In law school, you learn the theory, you learn the general law but once you get into practice, that’s when you start finding out when you file a motion versus when you call the parties, so it’s more the practice pointers that are hard to learn without experience.”

Kock said he has not found himself working a solo trial yet, but has gathered a handful of clients who have sought legal assistance that have not reached the courts yet. He said, again, that his internship experience has given him the chance to see how attorneys operate in the court setting.

“I’ve got to see (Brian) do it a number of times but just doing that on my own will take some experience to see how different judges run the court and essentially seeing how they do what they do,” he said.

As he delves into the world of law, Kock said his top interests in general practice include matters with estate planning and probate and civil litigation because of the opportunity to help people in tough situations.

“Whether it be family law or personal injury, people are on hard times when they get to that point, so it’s nice to help them out,” he said.

Kock said he will continue to live in Greene with his girlfriend for the time being and commute to Hampton. Although he’s not living in the Hampton area, Kock said he feels a connection to the community and North Iowa in general and could not imagine a better place to begin his career.

“I’m excited to be in North Iowa and work not too far from home,” he said. “There’s a real lack of attorneys in rural areas and you can really see that in practice.

“It’s nice to be able to come to a place where there’s a need and help fill that need,” he added.