Michael Owens isn’t entirely sure what his job title is, considering he wears a couple of very different hats.

At first he’ll call himself a secretary, but then take it back because it’s not exactly accurate. Owens, of Gardendale, works at the offices of Carlisle and Carlisle, Attorneys at Law in Tarrant. He gets clients ready for court, serves summons and does plenty of filing.

He actually only works about 30 hours a week at the office because he’s also a criminal justice student, and he said his job is valuable experience. One of his bosses, Lois Carlisle, was actually a former criminal justice teacher at Jefferson State Community College. Although his career aspiration of being a homicide investigator doesn’t have a lot in common with the cases his office handles, which he says is about 75 percent bankruptcy cases, he said working at the office helps him “learn the language.”

“I like helping people get back on their feet,” he said. “A lot of people are scared when they’re in court because they’ve never done anything like this before. I try to make it so it’s not such a headache for them.”