Judicial Wisdom

My court appearance yesterday ended up being my first solo one, since my boss was unexpectedly not able to make it. Kind of nice to be sitting at the government's table alone and not feeling like I'm only there with training wheels on or something. It wasn't a big deal- the whole sentencing was over in a few minutes. But each time I'm in court, I'm a little more comfortable with the whole thing.

The judge I was in front of seems to like to share his "judicial wisdom" with the defendants before they leave. Yesterday, he admonished the defendant for the hole he had dug for himself. He advised him to climb out of it because next time the judge would be likely to throw some dirt on top of him! lol

Last time I saw this judge in court, he was checking on the probation status of some young hoodlums who had completed their community service by working at a local church. The judge suggested they keep volunteering there, even though their hours were fulfilled, as it was good for the body and the soul.

Maybe I'm just corny, but I love those kind of comments. I just wish people really took them to heart. Of course, since I'm going to be in this internship through May, I'm wondering if I should keep a little notebook of all the things this judge says like this. I think I may get quite a nice collection if I do!

Another Court Appearance

My boss came into my office this morning and said there is a sentencing tomorrow morning that he wants me to handle. Is it too nerdy to get excited ever time I get to appear in court??? I'm sure it will be over in a matter of minutes, but I still like first, being in court, and second, that my boss just lets me do all of this. Too cool.

As long as I'm mentioning court, I wanted to let everyone know that there is a "Billion Dollar Tour" going on this Saturday. The new Federal Courthouse is one of the buildings that will be open to to the public (as well as the even newer Court of Appeals building). Click the link for more details. It's the perfect chance to come down and take a look at this beautiful building!

Exotic Auto Thoughts

Yesterday on the way to work I saw a Viper. It just started me thinking about cars and made me realize that while I do miss my convertible that I sold earlier this year, mostly I miss having BOTH a sportscar AND an SUV.

I had purchased my previous SUV in 1999 and a brand new Corvette in 2000. It was ideal to have both because for normal daily stuff I could drive the SUV and when I felt in the mood or for Corvette club events, I could drive the vette. Just as I like having options and variety in other things (hairstyles, jewelry, handbags, etc.), I like variety in cars as well. When my daughter began driving in 2004, she assumed day to day "ownership" of the SUV. It was easier to just let her drive that, and still have access to it when I needed it for Costco runs or whatever than to buy a separate vehicle for her. Since we live in a gated community that limits the number of cars you can own to the number of garage stalls your house has, we would have had to sell the SUV to buy another car anyway.

Once that SUV was getting up there in miles, and my son's driver's license on the horizon, we had to decide what to do. We ended up getting him a small sedan, selling both the old SUV and my convertible I had purchased that replaced my Corvette, and buying my current SUV. Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my SUV. It is so comfortable and versatile, but I can't help but miss having something with a little more flash, more speed, more fun.

Of course, I know I don't need another car, but darn that Viper for getting me thinking about it!

It Happened Again!

I was speaking with a local attorney at school the other night and when I mentioned I want to be a prosecutor, the response was a negative one. He proceeded to tell me of a recent graduate who after having worked with him on a case, commented to him in shock about the level of impropriety she had witnessed by the government's lawyers. This attorney then made a comment about me seeing the light.

Frankly, I don't appreciate that. Everyone certainly is entitled to their own opinion, but I'm getting tired of the notion that the government is out to entrap innocent victims and send them away unfairly. I'm not saying that there aren't cases of abuse, but that happens on both sides, and surely in every profession. Considering the extensive background checks that are done on anyone who works for the government, and the lack of such checks on privately employed lawyers, I tend to think there is more chance that the people not playing by the rules are more likely not on the government's payroll.

And even if, for the sake of argument, I did agree that the government's lawyers are overzealous and use unfair tactics (which obviously I don't agree to), doesn't it make sense that it would be a GOOD thing to have someone in there who is ethical and plays by the rules?

Not that I'm privy to everything that goes on, but I have yet to see anything questionable being done by any government attorney I have worked with. To the contrary, they all seem to go to great lengths to make sure their behavior is above reproach. Yes, I'm sure plenty will think I'm naive and simplistic in my attitude. But really, if I don't condemn your choice to work on getting your clients their freedom, regardless of their guilt or innocence, can you just stop questioning my choice?

My First Conviction!

This morning was crazy! There were so many violations, cases with status checks and stuff going on that we weren't finished by noon. The judge wanted to get everything done, so when she saved the trial for last and worked through everything else first. I felt a lot more comfortable doing it all this time, as last month, I had only been working there 3 days and truly had no idea what was going on. At least now I have somewhat of an idea....

These little bench trials are basically for people who didn't want to flat out pay the fine for their violation and couldn't reach an agreement with the government on a reduction of that fine. They are allowed to have a trial if they don't want to plead guilty and pay their fine. This case was one of those, so it's not like it was a big deal. But I did have 2 witnesses (the citing officer and a ride along) that I questioned. The statute that was violated was pretty straight forward- a certain act was done on US Forest Service property. The defendant admitted to the act but tried to say he didn't really know where he was. Of course, ignorance is not a good defense and the statute didn't have any wording about "intent" or "knowingly". Apparently the guy just didn't want to pay the money. Nice try, but it was a no brainer for the judge and she found him guilty. I have no delusions that it was my legal maneuvering that convinced the judge. There just wasn't much to argue.

A couple more of the cases from today are going to be future little bench trials. I cannot even believe one of them. I wish I could post about it, but discretion tells me I should not. I only wish I could add to this person's fine the amount of court time they are taking up! Ugh.

With all this activity, I didn't even get out of court until about 1:30pm. My afternoon class was supposed to start at 2pm today, but by the time it would take me to get home, eat, change, get all my school stuff together and get across town I would have been at least a half hour late, so I decided to not bother. My professor wasn't even sure if he was going to make it today since he was having a medical procedure this morning. Didn't seem worth it to rush to maybe not even have class.

So, I suppose I need to start a tally sheet on my bulletin board at work: 1-0, I'm winning.

A Trial This Week After All

You may recall that the trial I had expected to start this Monday (for 3-4 days) was continued until January. Now, it ends up I'm doing a trial tomorrow! Once a month, there is a court day for violations in my area. People can show up, plead guilty and pay their fines, try to get a lower fine, plead not guilty and request a trial, etc. In addition to all of these, we then also see the cases from previous months for updates. One of these cases for tomorrow is a trial. The whole thing will probably last only a half hour at the most, but it will be a good one to practice on.....assuming the defendant actually shows up!

My classes are going ok. I'm just always wishing I wasn't sitting in a classroom though, so I know I'm not as motivated, at least school-wise, as much as I have been. I am reading and preparing for all my classes still (unlike last year where I only read for Tax for the first week for the semester). The only class I would probably not want to read because of no personal interest is for Wills & Trusts, but that professor is, um, well, let's just say I don't think that not reading is really an option in there. Ugh.

I'm really glad I decided not to stress about the whole Law Review thing. Yeah, yeah, I know it would have been "prestigious" to have that on my resume, but let's get real. I'm going to San Joaquin College of Law. How much prestige is there for a law school in Clovis? With my daughter's medical issues this summer, there was no way I would have been able to get that comment written anyway, so better that I didn't even think about doing it. The Advanced Research and Writing class I'm taking this semester instead hasn't been that big of a deal. We only meet 6 times and we always get out early. The papers aren't too bad (at least the ones so far anyway). I'm sure I could do better if I had more time to devote to perfecting them, but time is one thing I'm in short supply of this semester.

So, how do I rank my classes so far? Ok, it's not a class, but my internship ranks #1. After that, I'd say I really like both Remedies and Community Property (though mostly for the professors and not necessarily the subject matter). Evidence is so-so. I want to like it but I'm not sure I ever understand where the professor is going with things. AR&W is good, as I mentioned above- not hard and I like the professor. Wills and Trusts sucks. No interest and I don't like the way the professor handles the cases. (Basically, he wants you to volunteer, and if you do, watch out!) I dread that class. To make things worse, it is Thursday 6:30-9:30pm. Why is it that the more I hate a class, the more likely it is to fall in that time slot?

Guess I should run.....have a trial to prepare for!

Not a Single Repeat

I have now completed 4 weeks at my internship and my 72 hours required for my one unit of clinical hours. I completely love working there and am thrilled to have this opportunity. I really cannot even think of a single thing I don't like about it, well, maybe except for the fact that my trial is not going to be starting on Monday, but I can't really blame anything but the whole legal system for that.

This position requires dressing in a way that I must be prepared at any time to make a court appearance, because often that is required with no or little notice. I began building up my "legal wardrobe" in the spring, and have now acquired a number of suits. Because I want to make the best impression possible, not only do I make sure to do my best in the work I do, but I also wear a suit every day.

I wasn't sure I should reveal the extent of my obsessive behavior on here, but I'm liking the results so much I decided to. Before I started this position, I hung each suit and covered the shoulders with plastic covers. They were hung in color order in my closet. Then I took a 3 x 5 card and made columns for date, date of the week, and court room, and attached one to the front cover of each suit. As I wear one, I mark the day and date, and any judges I appeared before that day. I wanted to be able to keep track of what I wore when, and make sure I wasn't wearing the same suit every time the same judge saw me. And since I tend to have favorites, I wanted to make sure I didn't wear the same one too often. (I can feel the rolling eyes already!)

Anyway, after 4 weeks, I'm happy to report that I have not worn a single suit more than once. I still have some I haven't worn, but some are more summery and will probably not now make an appearance until the spring. And some are a bit heavier so may have to wait another month or so. But overall, this system is working quite well. While I've always been organized, I will admit that this is a bit extreme even for me, but it has made getting dressed in the mornings a much easier event. Oh, did I forget to mention.....before the week starts, I look through all my suits and put the 4 I'm planning on wearing that week in a different section of my closet, with whatever shirt I'm going to wear with them. So, each morning, I just pick from one of those preselected suits that is already "conflict free" and ready to go.

Sometimes obsession is a good thing.

MPRE Results

I took the MPRE test month and results were supposed to be available later this week. At the time, I tried to figure out how, exactly, the bar graded or scored the things. I needed a score of at least 79 to pass. Their explanation didn't really help me to understand how many I had to get correct. Silly me, I assumed "79" meant 79%. Apparently, as I found here, this is the explanation:

"The maximum scaled score is 150. The current 79 required for success in California is the equivalent of between 28 and 32 correct answers."

Would have been nice to tell us that before. Today I got my score online. I got a 133.

Guess I Have to Go to Classes Next Week After All

So much for trial starting Monday. Got postponed until Jan. 22. Ugh.

Dumb Defendant Awards

I highly advise AGAINST doing any of the following:

• If you are a mail delivery person, opening greeting cards you are supposed to deliver and taking money and gift cards you find in them.
• If you work for the IRS, looking up the tax returns of your friends, relatives, and ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend.
  
• (And my personal favorite) If you are at the Clovis rodeo, assaulting the Smokey the Bear character by punching him in the nose.

I'm not making any other comments- just do NOT do that kind of stuff people!

To Try or Not to Try

As you may have guessed, the fate of my trial is up in the air. It probably has a good chance of being delayed. Either way, I should know more after a hearing Tuesday morning. Nothing like going down to the wire! We're basically ready to go. We organized all the exhibits this morning, and I have my opening and closing ready, though haven't really practiced them. If we get the go-ahead on Tuesday, then I will be rehearsing those like crazy!

I'm really glad I scheduled my classes so I don't have any on Monday. It's actually nice to work a full day then and feel like I start off the week productive, as it seems like the 4 hours shifts later in the week fly by way t0o fast to get much accomplished. I'm also really glad I only have 2 evening classes this semester. Even better is that they don't meet every week. Last week, neither met, and this week only one does. I've never liked evening classes, so I'm much happier not to be at school then.

I finished my paper for Advanced Research and Writing yesterday. It's not due until Tuesday night, but I wanted to just get it done. I did a minor edit on it already and am not sure if I'll end up doing any more or not. It's only worth 10% of our grade, so I'm not very motivated to put much more time into it. I think it is decent, but I really need to get some feedback on this one so I know more about what this specific professor looks for.

In other news, my daughter IS back at school at MIT and is doing well. She does have to be careful not to get too tired, but other than that, everything seems to be normal. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers for her!

Not too much else going on. Just seems once the week starts, it is pretty much a blur until Friday afternoon. At least it is going to make this year go by quickly!

Almost Done with My Last Clinical

I only needed 72 hours to finish my last clinical unit, and after this coming week, I will have that done. Not that it really matters for anything. I'm going to keep working there until May, but I guess it just means I can stop keeping track of my hours.

Three weeks ago when I began this internship, I assumed that there was no reason it should take me more than a half hour to get from my home in the north part of town to my downtown office. I have now come to the conclusion that I have to get over that as long as I'm trying to be there at 8am. If I leave at 7:30am or any time later, I will be late. No question. I just have to leave between 7:20 and 7:25 to get there on time. It doesn't even matter if I take the freeway or city streets- I've done both and it takes the same either way. As much as I don't like it, I need to allow for the extra 10 minutes to beat everyone else to avoid getting caught in the last minute crunch.

Other than having to figure out that, I absolutely LOVE my internship. I'm working there 20 hours a week, and honestly, I so wish I was working there full time and done with school. Classes are such a nuisance.

I did finish my paper that is due on Tuesday this afternoon. So that means I actually have a free day tomorrow, well, after I put in a hour or so at work to get our exhibits organized for trial. I'm getting so used to working, being at school, or reading while at home, that is seems strange to have a whole day free. Something doesn't seem right....

Things I Hate

In no particular order:

• Classrooms that are so cold that I have to wear a sweater, even though it is 100 degrees outside!
• Realtors who show your home (and thus, make you spend hours cleaning it) when they know their client is looking for something your home is not. Damn looky-loos!
• Defendants, who think they are smarter than their attorneys, and who so frustrate their attorneys as to cause them to file a motion to withdraw from the case ELEVEN DAYS BEFORE TRIAL!
  

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I've Been Neglectful!

It's not that I've done so on purpose, but I've been soooo busy! When I am actually home, I'm either reading for school or sleeping......very rarely have any time to relax or do nothing (though I did indulge in some good old doing nothing for awhile this weekend!). My most "free" time is when I'm driving, which can be up to 2 hours a day, so I try to use that time to make calls I need to make, and swing by and do various errands on the way. And my posts on here have been during classes! Just easier to double up on things sometimes.

Here's a rundown on my classes:

• Remedies- same professor I had for Contracts. He is pretty entertaining and makes the class go by quickly. I don't think this class should be too tough.
• Advanced Research and Writing- the professor was one of the judges in one of my Moot Court rounds (who gave me good reviews!) and since she works at the Attorney General's office, I think she will be very helpful in giving us some good guidance.
• Evidence- the professor is retired from the Attorney General's office AND was a cop prior to that. Interesting. Seems more like a cop to me. I'm not quite sure about him yet. The first week I thought I knew what was going on and then last week I didn't have a clue! I hate that! I'm very interested in the subject matter, so I just want to make sure I really learn this stuff.
  
• Community Property- same professor I had for Civil Procedure, Children and the Law, and Family Law Mediation. I've actually gotten to really like him. We only have about 15 people in there, so students make some funny comments. It's quite interesting, at least more than I thought it would be.
• Wills and Trusts- the professor I can't really read yet. He doesn't like to call on people and prefers when you volunteer, yet if you do, he comes after you! And then he gets surprised when no one else wants to volunteer! It's like, get a clue buddy! No one wants to volunteer for an inquisition. Anyway, I have absolutely NO interest in this subject, but at least last week, the professor did have us laughing a lot, which I never anticipated in this class. I'm still skeptical though. We'll see.
  

I did do a lot of reading this weekend and have been maintaining my 2 week reading "buffer" (having read all reading assignments for the next 2 weeks). This coming week I don't have either evening class, so I will need to put that time towards writing my first paper for Advanced Research and Writing. I did the research for it this weekend and have the outline sketched out, so it's mostly just sitting down and pounding it out. It's only 6 pages (double spaced), so not that long. If I can do it Tues. and Thurs. night, then revise over next weekend, that will work out fine.

I really don't feel like I have too much of a life right now. It seems to consist of getting about 6 hours of sleep a night, going to work, going to school, reading, researching, writing, and trying to somehow squeeze in all the menial tasks that are still mine as part of being a (not quite stay-at-home anymore) mom. I suppose that's one reason I haven't posted much- it's not like anything really exciting is going on, or that I have time to post it if it is!

My trial is now 2 weeks away. Apparently the defendant's counsel inquired about a plea possibility this week, but nothing more happened. I will be absolutely CRUSHED if this doesn't go to trial. I'm not thinking a plea will happen here, but I guess it is always something you have to know might.

In other news, I'm trying to figure out where to go after taking the bar in July. My parents had talked about taking the whole family to Maui (they took all of us to Cabo 2 years ago), but now it looks like that won't be happening. (DON'T ASK!) So, now I'm thinking I would like to go back to Italy in either September or October 2008, which is what the original plan had been anyway. Last time we went to Rome and Pompeii, and I'm dying to get back to Rome and then on to Venice, Florence and other parts of northern Italy. Well, and I wouldn't mind getting over to Greece either, as long as we're in the area. Anyway, when I'm trying to find something to distract me this semester, I think I'll use trip planning to Italy.

For fun, a few pix from my last trip there:

Surprise! The Pantheon:


Trevi Fountain: