A Change of Scenary- 6.29

Another week and a half has gone by. It was not particularly busy at work. Susan and I went to Cape Town last weekend. We had an incredible time. The nicest part of being there was that we didn’t have to worry about walking around at night just the two of us.

Off to Prison Again- 6.20

            Went to prison again yesterday. This was quite different than the last time. TP had assigned me to an appeal matter regarding armed robbery. There were two accused who had both been convicted and sentenced to the minimum which was 15 years in prison. I had done the research and read through the record and the judgment and in my opinion there was reasonable doubt. The judge agreed with me and hence the granting of an appeal.

Appeal Issues- 6.19

I want to address the issue of appeals. Some of my feelings on it might result from inexperience or ignorance, so I want to give that disclaimer. But many of the cases I have been working on have been appeal issues and it has developed a sense of confusion and frustration towards appeals.

An Assertive Judge in the Suburbs- 6.15

It has been a while since I have written and there is good reason for that. I kept putting it off and then when I was planning on doing it, I got the horrible stomach bug that Susan had suffered just a week earlier. I didn’t go to work on Thursday or Friday and while both those times would have been good to write, that would have necessitated sitting up which was not an appealing notion at the time.

My Life at a Big Firm: Week 4

I just finished my fourth week of work. This upcoming Monday, I will change practice groups from Labor and Employment to Environmental.  I'm excited to do something different, but also a little anxious all over again.  I've spent the last three weeks getting to know the attorneys I've worked with, learning their preferences and styles and basically just trying not to screw anything up.  Now I get to start the process all over again!  I'm excited though because it will be an entirely new area of the law, with different assignments and different issues.  Also, I've met a lot of the attorneys in the group who are all really nice.

 This week was a little less hectic than last week, but I still had some pretty interesting experiences.  On Wednesday, Mayor Slay of St. Louis came to speak with the firm about the city and the issues going on within the community.  It was great to shake his hand and meet him, but I was at kind of a loss as to what to talk with him about.  Luckily, we all sat down after a few minutes and Mayor Slay spoke with us about the various programs and initiatives within St. Louis.  In particular, Mayor Slay spoke about the homelessness problem in St. Louis and the steps the City is taking to rectify the situation.  Also, he talked about everything affecting St. Louis from ballpark village to updating the mass transit system.  I already live in downtown St. Louis and plan on staying here after law school graduation, so I was pretty interested in hearing what the Mayor had to say about improving the area for current and future residents. 

 On Thursday, we had our first client service group focus meeting.  The firm tries to get someone from each practice group throughout the summer to come in and speak with us about what the group does.  This week, Greg Willard from bankruptcy came and spoke with us.  We had two hours slated for the meeting, which I thought was a little odd.  As it turned out, he spent about fifteen minutes speaking with us about the group and the remainder of the time sharing his direct involvement in planning President Ford's state funeral.  It was amazing to hear him speak about not only his interaction with the President as a White House staff assistant and personal friend, but also about the three years of work that went into planning the funeral.  It's kind of funny because a state funeral for a former president is a pretty rare event, and even in the few that have occurred recently for both President Reagan and President Ford, I never really thought about the amount of planning that would be required.  Everything from security measures to small details like the song selections are handled in secret, and the event requires coordination and notification of every major official on both levels of government.  It was great to hear about this unique experience first-hand, especially regarding the traditions our nation has for state funerals and other personal attributes that made President Ford's funeral unique.  It's just really amazing to hear about some of the things people at the firm have accomplished, especially the things that I never would have occured to me upon meeting them.

Don't Forget the Summer

As I typed a client letter today at work, I realized for the first time that it is the middle of June already! As I have sat at my desk for the past month, the warm haze of summer has set in, but I have only seen it out of the corner of my eye as the sun shines in to my office window. Granted, I am working full-time at an amazing legal services agency, and I have been taking classes at school part-time so that I have less of a load during my last school year, but I realized that I have been unable to engage in any of the frivolous activities of summer thus far! I have yet to don a bathing suit, or even a pair of shorts. My always fair skin has yet to need a substantial dose of sunscreen. This is not good.

I am sure that we sometimes feel as if we are more busy this summer than during the school year. Despite complaining all year long about the stresses of the classroom, it almost seems safe now--to hide behind my laptop screen and relax in the safety of being one student among eighty others. Now, I am one of eight clerks and there is nowhere to hide if I botch a memo or write a bad letter. I almost miss the hours set aside for studying, where I had the ability to stop for ten minutes and check Perez Hilton in between 150 pages of casebook reading. Now, I fight myself for 8 hours a day to try and bill six hours! I quickly scan assignments over dinner before my evening class. THIS is summer vacation?

And the worst of it is that my kids are having a BALL! And they should. They're kids and it's summer. They go to the pool, the zoo, our science center. But they are doing all of this with the nanny and my heart is full of jealousy when I get home and kiss their greasy faces that have been slathered with sunscreen for a day of fun without me. I love my job and enjoy the work that I do, but I can't help thinking about what kind of memories my kids will have of childhood. Will I be a part of that, or will it just be thoughts of their time with our nanny?

6/08- "Ghetto Court"

They kept telling me, "It's the Bronx times 10," but that was all speculation based on what they had seen on TV since none of them has ever actually been to New York City.

 All of the WashU kids have left for their class in Cape Town so that leaves Susan and I at the office just the two of us. Typically we were working in the board room, but because the Board is being audited, we have been working in the cubicles. The combination of circumstances has meant that Susan and I have had a great opportunity to get to know more people in the office. Most notably, we have befriended Semo and Aslam, both of whom are incredibly nice guys who are eager to teach us and have a cultural exchange. I also met a gentleman the other day who I discussed politics and current events with and I think we both walked away from the encounter knowing much more about each other’s countries and excited to learn more. He also offered to take Susan and I out with some of his friends, which we are excited to hear because we are eager to hang out with some locals.

Work has been a bit slow this week because of the audit and Susan and I have been looking for work since we finished our journal applications. We talked to Aslam about the possibility of doing some work with him. He suggested that we come to court with him which we gratefully accepted.

6/05- My first case

These next couple of posts are from last week, but I did not have internet access so bear with me on the lag. Thanks.

            I was going to wait until there was another step in the matter that I am dealing with, but so far it has been adjourned three times so I am not optimistic that it will happen any time soon and want to get these thoughts down while they are fresh.

            TP assigned me my first case. It was a double rape, which in SA has a minimum sentence of life. He handed me a file with transcripts in it and it was my responsibility to read through and find loopholes, inconsistencies, and areas of possible appeal. The transcripts are terrible. They are apparently taken by a machine that records the sound and then someone transcribes them. However, between the bad acoustics, the language barrier of having everything done through a translator and I’m not sure what else, half of what is written in the transcripts is [inaudible]. I found this made it very difficult to figure out what everyone said was happening. However, what I could piece together showed glaring inconsistencies in the story told by the victim. You see, in this case the entire case was built around the comparative credibility of both witnesses. When I read the part of the court document titled “judgment” it listed the court’s opinion on the credibility of each witness and in the absence of eye-witness testimony and forensic evidence this is what the court made its decision on exclusively. I agreed with the judgment that the accused’s story and his answers did seem a little inconsistent, however, there were some serious inconsistencies that were glaring to me. Most notably, in her initial statement to the police, the complainant had said that she was only raped once and then in court said she was raped twice. This inconsistency would change the minimum sentence from something less than mandatory life to life. I wasn’t sure at first, but after I read it a couple times, I was convinced that this guy was getting screwed.

            After this revelation, I brought this information to TP. The next day we went to prison to consult with the accused.

My Life at a Big Firm: The First Three Weeks

My name is Laura, and I recently started at Bryan Cave LLP in St. Louis, Missouri.  Bryan Cave has over 800 attorneys in 15 offices worldwide, the largest office being in St. Louis with around 275 attorneys.  My summer class consists of 22 other summer associates from a variety of schools.  All of these numbers totaled up to one feeling the night before I started:  utter panic.  How was I going to fit in?  How was I going to keep track of things like client matter numbers and billable hours?  What are client matter numbers and billable hours?!

 I was always one of those kids who wanted to be a lawyer at a very early age.  I guess I saw A Few Good Men too many times back when we all still thought Tom Cruise was normal...just kidding to all you die-hard TomKat fans.   However, as time went on, I began to love the law because it was challenging and I was constantly encountering something new.  I've always worked hard, and I wanted to work at a place that handled big clients with complex issues.  A big firm just seemed like the right fit, so I figured this was my chance to find out whether I was right or just completely crazy (or maybe a little bit of both).

 My first day was kind of a blur, and I alternated between euphoria and complete mental exhaustion.  The morning started with a meet and greet in the lobby, where I had the opportunity to meet my fellow summer associates and several other attorneys.  They really do a great job of easing you into things, but there is so much to learn in the first week.  We had a full morning of orientation, where we were given a run-down on everything from billing hours to filing tax forms to library resources...oh yes, there is a library and you are expected to at least try to use it before racking up the time on Lexis or Westlaw.  I've come to discover that Westlaw is a lot like free cable.  Law schools give it to you just long enough to get you completely hooked, and then you realize how much those premium channels cost you when you have to start paying for it, but you're completely addicted!  Anyway, after a full morning of orientation, we were taken around to our offices.  After working at a cubicle last summer where I shared one computer with three other interns, I wasn't prepared to see where I would be working this summer.  My office is located on the 33rd floor of the MetLife building downtown, with a huge window overlooking the Arch!  I had a moment similar to Melanie Griffith in Working Girl or the Jeffersons, where I had that rush of adrenalin and I was like, "I have arrived!"

First Day of Work 5.26

            Today was my first day of work. Once again I didn’t really have expectactions, but I was nervous and excited to see what was in store for us. Our supervisor, TP had indicated to the other students that he would be taking Susan and I to court to get us oriented and to give us an experience as a sort of running start for the summer. I have already described, in detail to my boyfriend John the events of my day and he can attest to my exuberance when describing the experience. I guess for sake of the written word, you will just have to take my word for it.

            Our day was to begin at 9:30. We arrived at the building where the Legal Aid Board is located, only to find that TP was standing at the other side of the street waiting for us. We walked to the courthouse about 3 blocks and we chatted for a bit. Then he gave us some information and background on both the South African judicial system and the details of the case we would be privy to. 16 year-old boy. Killed his Uncle’s girlfriend. Very troubled childhood. Felt it was necessary to protect both himself and his uncle. I have to admit I had some initial callous thoughts. A public defender trying to create a sob story for a cold blooded murder. I’ve never been gung-ho about criminal work as far as a career path and I think it is because I would find it difficult to find a balance between having a hardened enough heart such that I could deal with losing a case and being sensitive enough to feel sympathy for my clients when necessary. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the information TP gave me because I have never really had any intimacy with someone who is an admitted murder.

            We arrived at the courthouse. It was very different from an American courthouse to say the least. It had an atrium in the middle and all the different individual courtrooms could be accessed from this central atrium. With no disrespect meant, it honestly was reminiscent of a Holiday Inn. We entered one of the courtrooms upstairs and sat for a bit. The prosecutor in this case came up and introduced himself to us. I cannot remember his name but I distinctly remember his introduction. “My surname is ______.” Susan and I sat for a minute and thought of how to reply and settled on the traditional American greeting of the full name and the handshake. He was very friendly. Everyone was very friendly.

            “The accused” as he was referred to had not arrived yet.