PRESS RELEASE
CAMPAIGN TO RE-ELECT BRYAN CUTLER
STATE REPRESENTATIVE, 100TH LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT
Friends of Bryan Cutler
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Bryan Cutler Featured Speaker at 3rd Circuit American Bar Assoc. Meeting
Presentation addresses challenges of running for public office while still in law school
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 1, 2008
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Shelley Castetter, Press Secretary
E-mail: scastetter@electbryancutler.com
Phone: 717-824-6505 (cell)
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Bryan Cutler candidate for re-election to the 100th Legislative District, State House of Representatives,
spoke to law student members of the American Bar Association about the challenges of running for
public office while still in law school. The meeting was held at one of Cutler’s alma maters, Widener
University, where he graduated from Law School in 2006.
In November of 2005, the then 29 year old Cutler was about to enter his final semester of law school
when he announced his intention to seek election to the 100th District House of Representatives seat in
Lancaster County. A poll done just before his announcement showed that Cutler had only 9% name
recognition. Political analysts dismissed him, particularly since he was an untested candidate who was
running against an incumbent in a state where incumbents were re-elected 98.9% of the time. In
addition, the incumbent had not directly voted for the controversial legislative pay raise which had
become an issue earlier in the year.
After a hard fought political battle, Bryan Cutler solidly won the House seat with 58% of the vote. The
Primary was held May 16, 2006 and 4 days later on May 20th, Cutler graduated from law school.
Between the Primary and the November 7th General Election (Cutler was unopposed) Bryan Cutler
took and passed his Bar exam.
Bryan Cutler's journey to law school was not a direct one. After deciding to be a lawyer at a young
age, unexpected life situations meant putting that dream on hold. A series of twists and turns in his life
ultimately delivered him to the door of Widener University and the realization of his childhood dream.
He felt the experience of attending law school was crucial in helping him to launch a successful
campaign and has proved invaluable in his legislative work.
Relating school experiences that had left a lasting impression on him, Cutler told the story about
something one of his professors from his first year of law school told the students. “Take a good long
look at who you are today. When you’re done you will not be the same person and the way you
approach life will be changed forever.” At the time Cutler thought that his Professor may be
exaggerating, but found later that, as promised, he was looking at problems from an entirely new
angle. “I found that I was more analytical--a fixer.” Cutler said, adding that he felt that this was a
critical skill for a lawyer or legislator.
His legal training has also helped him to understand the power of words and punctuation, while
strengthening his public speaking skills. “When you are on the House Floor (Pennsylvania House of
Representatives) the sessions are being broadcast live across the state. At any given time you may
have 12 million viewers watching what you say and do.” Cutler said.
During a question and answer session, Bryan Cutler was asked how many of the 203 members of the
House were also attorneys. The answer? 38 or 19%.
Cutler expressed hope that the students would “continue to work to make our society better" and
encouraged them to get involved in local politics. He pointed out that much of the public did not realize
how much Pro Bono (for the public good) work the average lawyer engaged in. Pro Bono work is
done on a voluntary basis at no pay to the legal counsel.
“Our founding fathers, many of whom were lawyers, created the greatest experiment ever known to
man--our country. We must commit ourselves to continuing this great experiment and keeping their
hope and dreams alive.” Cutler said.
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