And so far I'm good at it. Got a lot more free reign today. Was pretrial day so I was explaining a lot of plea paperwork to clients. The attorneys pretty much just threw the files at me and I found the clients and explained the offer. To get around my not being an attorney I introduce myself by saying "Hi I'm Petition and I work with Supervisor at the PD Office." That way they just assume I'm an attorney.
Dealt with one client today who when the attorney was talking to him he just kept crying. When I talked to him he was calm, collected and very polite. He asked me if I was his new lawyer now. After I explained that I was not he wished me good luck with my final year of law school. He cried when the judge got to sentencing. No jail time though so I guess his blubbering worked.
I'm astounded by the number of people who don't show up for their court dates, and the number of people who can show up to a 8:30 court calender reeking of booze.
Two clients shook my hand and thanked me after they were sentenced today. That was pretty cool. Starting next week I get to appear in court. I have a pretrial case for next Friday I intend to confirm for trial.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
My one complaint
Actually I have lots of complaints (no pay, no office, 40 mile commute, no pay, court at 8:30AM, no pay), but the one I wish to focus on is the excellent working relationship my office has with the prosecutors. Everyone is pleasant and friendly. The prosecutors seem reasonable for the most part and don't do all the dickish things I read about on other blogs. Dammit part of the PD experience is supposed to be dealing with asshole prosecutors. At this point I think I have to start apologizing for some of the awful things I thought about them before starting.
My latest client had a really bad day. Was driving his car home from the club after having a couple of beers when some jackass in a rental car ran a red light and t-boned him. State Patrol shows up and gives my poor client who's car is now totalled a DUI. What a sucky sucky day.
I was supposed to sit through a bunch of client interviews today. I sat through one and it was interesting and I learned a bit about how to conduct an interview. The remaining clients couldn't be bothered to show up for the interviews. Now I understand why clients will walk up thinking I'm their attorney at court, they never bothered to actually meet their real attorney beforehand. I think I dislike the clients more than the prosecutors so far. Thank god for the poor ensure guy who more than makes up for all the other asshole clients.
My latest client had a really bad day. Was driving his car home from the club after having a couple of beers when some jackass in a rental car ran a red light and t-boned him. State Patrol shows up and gives my poor client who's car is now totalled a DUI. What a sucky sucky day.
I was supposed to sit through a bunch of client interviews today. I sat through one and it was interesting and I learned a bit about how to conduct an interview. The remaining clients couldn't be bothered to show up for the interviews. Now I understand why clients will walk up thinking I'm their attorney at court, they never bothered to actually meet their real attorney beforehand. I think I dislike the clients more than the prosecutors so far. Thank god for the poor ensure guy who more than makes up for all the other asshole clients.
Friday, May 23, 2008
I actually did something today
Today I went over plea paperwork with clients. Asked their age and wrote that in, asked how far they had gone in school (most were college graduates) and wrote that in. Then I explained the elements of the crime. Then I explained the rights they were waiving. I often make the claim that I learn nothing in law school. Today forced me to acknowledge that I have actually learned something when I found myself explaining the waiver of rights for memory (thank you Crim Pro II) and not looking at the form. Once that was done I explained the maximum penalty and the offer (usually suspended sentence and a couple hundred dollar fine, with conditions of probation including no similar violations, no refusal of a breath or blood test, etc). Then I asked if they had any questions. One guy unfortunately took me up on my offer to answer his questions and must have been disappointed when I had no idea. Fortunately for me the interpreter working with me at the time knew the answer and told him for me. It wasn't my fault that I didn't know, his question had to do with how he got his bail money back. They definitely don't teach that in law school.
The pretrial calender was insane today. Court started at 8:30, so I was there at 8:15 and I didn't get to leave the courtroom until 1:45. I can't remember that last time I was so hungry. A granola bar and coke is no longer going to cut it as breakfast.
Next week I get my first five cases and in June my provisional license will arrive so I'll actually be able to do something with my cases.
I guess I must have a look that says "I know what's going on" because at two private attorneys asked me questions about the docket today. I can understand the clients thinking "oh look a dude in a suit, he must be a lawyer, I'll ask him what's going on" but other attorneys should know better. I really thought I was conveying a look of terror at the beginning. Most of my thoughts were "please don't ask any questions, please don't ask any questions, please don't ask any questions" originally I didn't want questions out of fear that I couldn't answer them. Towards the end of the day I didn't want questions still, but because I wanted to get the freaking show on the road and get some food. It really wasn't our clients slowing up the courtroom today, it was the god damned pro se clients who should have gone and gotten evaluated but were too freaking lazy to take the elevator 2 floors down to get a free freaking attorney. One of them didn't even learn her lesson since the judge just appointed my supervisor to advise her right then and there.
My first client was pleading and the state offered him a suspended sentence and fine, leaving no jail time to serve and $300 to pay. The judge gave him no jail time and $200 to pay. I told my supervisor is was due to the excellent job I did explaining the form to him. She mumbled some bullshit about the "judge always does that." Whatever, we all know it was all me.
My other clients were less exciting. The DUI client who told the cop he smoked crack after being pulled over wasn't that nice. The client who was bitching about having to be at work and wanting his case to go first was also an asshole. If you don't want to be late for work, try not drinking and driving, just a suggestion, otherwise shut up an wait your turn patiently like everyone else. The homeless client that was starving in the woods and stole some Ensure from WalMart was really, really nice when I helped him understand his waiver of jury trial form. He stole like $6 worth of Ensure and now WalMart is sending him a form demanding $200 in exchange for not suing. Just another reason to hate WalMart.
I continue loving this externship and can't wait to start doing shit on my own.
The pretrial calender was insane today. Court started at 8:30, so I was there at 8:15 and I didn't get to leave the courtroom until 1:45. I can't remember that last time I was so hungry. A granola bar and coke is no longer going to cut it as breakfast.
Next week I get my first five cases and in June my provisional license will arrive so I'll actually be able to do something with my cases.
I guess I must have a look that says "I know what's going on" because at two private attorneys asked me questions about the docket today. I can understand the clients thinking "oh look a dude in a suit, he must be a lawyer, I'll ask him what's going on" but other attorneys should know better. I really thought I was conveying a look of terror at the beginning. Most of my thoughts were "please don't ask any questions, please don't ask any questions, please don't ask any questions" originally I didn't want questions out of fear that I couldn't answer them. Towards the end of the day I didn't want questions still, but because I wanted to get the freaking show on the road and get some food. It really wasn't our clients slowing up the courtroom today, it was the god damned pro se clients who should have gone and gotten evaluated but were too freaking lazy to take the elevator 2 floors down to get a free freaking attorney. One of them didn't even learn her lesson since the judge just appointed my supervisor to advise her right then and there.
My first client was pleading and the state offered him a suspended sentence and fine, leaving no jail time to serve and $300 to pay. The judge gave him no jail time and $200 to pay. I told my supervisor is was due to the excellent job I did explaining the form to him. She mumbled some bullshit about the "judge always does that." Whatever, we all know it was all me.
My other clients were less exciting. The DUI client who told the cop he smoked crack after being pulled over wasn't that nice. The client who was bitching about having to be at work and wanting his case to go first was also an asshole. If you don't want to be late for work, try not drinking and driving, just a suggestion, otherwise shut up an wait your turn patiently like everyone else. The homeless client that was starving in the woods and stole some Ensure from WalMart was really, really nice when I helped him understand his waiver of jury trial form. He stole like $6 worth of Ensure and now WalMart is sending him a form demanding $200 in exchange for not suing. Just another reason to hate WalMart.
I continue loving this externship and can't wait to start doing shit on my own.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
First impressions
Work is awesome. Being at work at 8AM sucks. Say a mistrial on my first day. Was tons of fun. The prosecutor was pissed. Day 2 was just training, boring but required. My work last year doing appeals has helped me a lot in knowing the issues and some of the state law. Mock trial as an undergrad has helped me know a lot of the rules for running a trial. Voir Dire was new to me and a little confusing. The thought of doing it myself is a little scary. Tomorrow I get to go see the courtroom I will be working in and possibly see some of the cases I will be assigned. To start I will be given 15 or so cases. The goal is that one of them will go to trial. My provisional license hasn't shown up yet so I still can't do anything. Once I do one jury trial under supervision I can do trials on my own, without my supervisor even in the building. I didn't realize I would be trusted so much.
I've learned very quickly that life as a PD is kind of hectic. Every fifteen minutes or so my training is interrupted by another attorney stopping by with a question for my supervisor. Part of that is that she is the supervisor for all the misdemeanor attorneys and there are a lot of new misdemeanor attorneys.
Learned a lot about DUI cases and driving without a license cases. Learned about plea offers and what to expect from the prosecutors. Fortunately my office has a good working relationship with most of the prosecutors. A couple of them a real douche bags, but for the most part they seem nice. One of the attorneys is even dating a prosecutor.
I usually look for any excuse to wear a suit. Suiting up is awesome. I knew that this summer the requirement that I suit up fairly often would cause wearing a suit to lose its novelty. I didn't realize that it would only take one day for it to lose its novelty. My biggest problem is that my dress shoes are cheap pieces of crap and dig into the back of my heels. I put bandaids on the back of my heals to prevent this problem (and just bought some moleskin to see if that works better) but they can slip and fall off during the course of the day.
It has only been two days but I already know that I've chosen the correct career path. Enough pressure and excitement to keep my interested, but not the insane crazy cutthroat pressure you get at firms (or so I'm told). Everyone in the office smiles a lot and has been very friendly.
I've learned very quickly that life as a PD is kind of hectic. Every fifteen minutes or so my training is interrupted by another attorney stopping by with a question for my supervisor. Part of that is that she is the supervisor for all the misdemeanor attorneys and there are a lot of new misdemeanor attorneys.
Learned a lot about DUI cases and driving without a license cases. Learned about plea offers and what to expect from the prosecutors. Fortunately my office has a good working relationship with most of the prosecutors. A couple of them a real douche bags, but for the most part they seem nice. One of the attorneys is even dating a prosecutor.
I usually look for any excuse to wear a suit. Suiting up is awesome. I knew that this summer the requirement that I suit up fairly often would cause wearing a suit to lose its novelty. I didn't realize that it would only take one day for it to lose its novelty. My biggest problem is that my dress shoes are cheap pieces of crap and dig into the back of my heels. I put bandaids on the back of my heals to prevent this problem (and just bought some moleskin to see if that works better) but they can slip and fall off during the course of the day.
It has only been two days but I already know that I've chosen the correct career path. Enough pressure and excitement to keep my interested, but not the insane crazy cutthroat pressure you get at firms (or so I'm told). Everyone in the office smiles a lot and has been very friendly.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
I'm back
I start work tomorrow. Not doing anything tomorrow, just watching a trial. I did a practice drive to work today just to see how long the commute would be. I'm working at an office that is located North of the major metropolitan area closest to my parents house. This means in the morning all the traffic is southbound, while I am going northbound. It took me 20 minutes to get to work (20 miles) and nearly an hour to return home. I'm so glad that my normal return commute will not be that bad. Going against the flow of traffic rules. I'm mostly just excited to not be riding the bus anymore.
I've probably spent more time picking out my suit, shirt and tie combo than anyone should. I'm going plain white Polo Ralph Lauren shirt, with a DKNY tie and a cheap ass J. Ferrar suit from JC Penney with Stacey Adams shoes with a buckle on the side. That $110 suit has lasted me 3 years so far. I'm amazed it hasn't fallen apart. It doesn't fit exceptionally well, but its better than my Haggar suit from when I was fatter. For Thursday I will probably break out the blue suit with purple pin stripes, or my grey suit with tan pin stripes. Decided against cufflinks and a pocket square on the first day. Going to slowly build up so I don't set the bar too high in the beginning. Might even through in a tie bar as a final coups de grace.
I got an interview working for the a couple hours a week maintaining the brief bank for the state Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. I could use the 15-30 bucks a week. I got a grant for my internship and if I work the entire summer, 40 hours a week I will make $9.30 an hour. Every time I leave work early I get a pay raise.
Had some car trouble on the drive home. Middle of nowhere America at midnight my headlights stop working. Scared the piss out of me. Turned on my four way flashers and my headlights started flashing as well. Finally turned the car off and back on the the lights started working. Fortunately I was only a mile from a town with a hotel. Got to spend the night at world's finest Super 8. Took the car into the shop today to have it looked at (needed a couple other things done as well). $52 got me "We can't recreate the problem and everything looks fine. We can replace the light control stick for $340 plus labor." I declined. Time to make sure my AAA membership is up to date. Probably should put a flashlight in the car as well.
The drive took 2.5 days, including one 16 hour day when I drove 991 miles (average of 61 mph and I wasn't speeding). I don't want to even think about how much I spent on gas.
The last month of school was pretty brutal. I had a take home final in a class that I paid passing attention in at best. It wasn't taught by lawyers so some of the questions were difficult to answer. For example: "Which of the following was true of State v. Perry? (no citation given)" I don't know, which of the more than 3000 State v. Perry's returned by Lexis do you mean? I had some paper classes for the first time as well. I of course did no work on the papers during the semester. I was done with finals on Thursday and didn't finish my last paper until Thursday after finals had officially ended. Not optimistic about those grades (or any of my grades for this semester).
Things have gone really well with the latest girlfriend. I thought the whole divorced thing would be more of an issue. Hasn't really been a problem. I'm more worried about the long distance for the next 3 months. Long distance relationships suck. She comes to visit in less than a month though so that should help.
I've probably spent more time picking out my suit, shirt and tie combo than anyone should. I'm going plain white Polo Ralph Lauren shirt, with a DKNY tie and a cheap ass J. Ferrar suit from JC Penney with Stacey Adams shoes with a buckle on the side. That $110 suit has lasted me 3 years so far. I'm amazed it hasn't fallen apart. It doesn't fit exceptionally well, but its better than my Haggar suit from when I was fatter. For Thursday I will probably break out the blue suit with purple pin stripes, or my grey suit with tan pin stripes. Decided against cufflinks and a pocket square on the first day. Going to slowly build up so I don't set the bar too high in the beginning. Might even through in a tie bar as a final coups de grace.
I got an interview working for the a couple hours a week maintaining the brief bank for the state Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. I could use the 15-30 bucks a week. I got a grant for my internship and if I work the entire summer, 40 hours a week I will make $9.30 an hour. Every time I leave work early I get a pay raise.
Had some car trouble on the drive home. Middle of nowhere America at midnight my headlights stop working. Scared the piss out of me. Turned on my four way flashers and my headlights started flashing as well. Finally turned the car off and back on the the lights started working. Fortunately I was only a mile from a town with a hotel. Got to spend the night at world's finest Super 8. Took the car into the shop today to have it looked at (needed a couple other things done as well). $52 got me "We can't recreate the problem and everything looks fine. We can replace the light control stick for $340 plus labor." I declined. Time to make sure my AAA membership is up to date. Probably should put a flashlight in the car as well.
The drive took 2.5 days, including one 16 hour day when I drove 991 miles (average of 61 mph and I wasn't speeding). I don't want to even think about how much I spent on gas.
The last month of school was pretty brutal. I had a take home final in a class that I paid passing attention in at best. It wasn't taught by lawyers so some of the questions were difficult to answer. For example: "Which of the following was true of State v. Perry? (no citation given)" I don't know, which of the more than 3000 State v. Perry's returned by Lexis do you mean? I had some paper classes for the first time as well. I of course did no work on the papers during the semester. I was done with finals on Thursday and didn't finish my last paper until Thursday after finals had officially ended. Not optimistic about those grades (or any of my grades for this semester).
Things have gone really well with the latest girlfriend. I thought the whole divorced thing would be more of an issue. Hasn't really been a problem. I'm more worried about the long distance for the next 3 months. Long distance relationships suck. She comes to visit in less than a month though so that should help.
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