Round and Round

I know I haven't posted much lately. I guess for the most part I am thoroughly bored with school and I don't see much need to comment on anything going on there. It's just the same old crap- lectures that could be completed in half the time, reading that never seems to end, annoying people that you wish would shut up! Of course, it's not all bad. It just seems that the good stuff isn't what happens in the classroom, except on rare occasion. An example is something that happened the other day in Evidence, which has become my favorite class this year even though at the beginning I felt totally lost. Anyway, when I'm assigned a case to brief in there, I do an exceptionally thorough job. I had a case this past week, and after I had finished, the professor made some comment like, "Oh, if you could all do it that way on your exams!" Yeah, I know we don't brief cases on our exams, but I took it to mean that I was thorough and well thought out in how I presented it.

The intensity of my dislike of my last year of law school is probably only matched by the intensity of my love for my internship. I would so much rather be working full time doing my job than having the annoying little chore of finishing law school. (And let's not even mention studying for and taking the bar exam!) I love what I do and I know I'm good at it. It is incredibly fast-paced, which is perfect for me because I thrive on that kind of challenge. Anything without that pressure bores me.

I was supposed to have a bench trial on Thursday. However, the defendant failed to show up. UGH! I hate that! I go through all the effort to prepare my opening, closing, direct exam questions, prep my witness, get exhibits and everything, and now it is just a file sitting in my drawer. The judge did issue a warrant for the guy though, so who knows? I guess a trial could still happen someday.

I forgot to mention that the defendant in my 2 day trial in January was sentenced last week. We were hoping for some time in custody for him. The judge did sentence him to 90 days incarceration, but allowed for home detention with monitoring. He is also on probation for 3 years and subject to some other terms, including some pretty stiff ones regarding his computer and internet usage. I think it is likely that there will be a probation violation sometime over the next 3 years and the judge did say if there were, the defendant would be spending time in custody. Nice!

An appeal has already been filed in this case with the Ninth Circuit. The defendant's brief is due in May, and ours in June. Since I'm leaving in May, it is doubtful that I will be working on that at all. I would have loved to have been able to do that! My boss predicts this case will be around for years, so I hope I can continue to follow it long after I leave.

Even with all the crazy defendants and new and interesting stuff that happens at work, a lot of it is just a cycle of the same sort of stuff over and over- more DUIs, more possession of controlled substances, more unauthorized accesses at IRS, more informations being filed, more discovery being sent, more plea agreements being negotiated, more defendants being sentenced. Not a bad thing, but sometimes it feels like it's not worth an update on here.