that time plaintiff's counsel walked away with no money

I was scheduled for a trial which was supposed to start today. It was pushed back to next week-ish. Plaintiff's lawyer kept calling with lower demands until finally, today, he was willing to just give up and dismiss the case with prejudice and our client doesn't have to pay a penny! Say what? Not very common, but this is the second time I've seen it at my firm. 

I'm a real person now

I celebrated my work anniversary two weeks ago. I've been a second-year ever since I started getting paid like a second-year, but I never really stopped to think about it until now. There was a barrage of work, which thankfully let up recently, so now that the dust has settled, I can type some words of reflection.

I spent most of my first year prepping for arbitration on a big case. We actually went to arbitration, which was exciting to see. My first year of practice was mainly spent just learning how to do things. It's true that you don't really learn the mechanics of practicing law in law school. We practiced writing memos and briefs, but I never learned all the possible pleadings and how to use them. Legal strategy never came up either. That's the exciting part, picturing the ways a case can go, but I wonder if the novelty will wear off.

The most valuable thing I learned this past year was how to write a clean brief. In law school, all our prompts kind of had a close universe of facts. In practice, the universe of facts ends up being closed after awhile, but at first, there are just so many facts out there for the culling. It's a challenge not to get lost in the thicket, but when you're around experienced, talented attorneys, you get to see how they keep their head straight when so many things are going on.

I've been to court a bunch of times for hearings, getting used to being addressed as "Counselor." I still kind of hate suits, but my most recent purchase actually feels comfortable to me now. I love running into friends in court; it's happened quite a bit. I was really nervous before a hearing, but having my friend around before having to go in front of the judge for oral arguments soothed my nerves. (I won that one btw. Woot.) I'm still trying to figure out where I want my career to go---working on that 5-year plan. So far though, everything seems to be falling into place.

Trial mode

The days past so quickly now. Remember when I described my mental state as one of captivity? I'm doing a mental sprint. My work day starts at 6 PM now. That's when we all reconvene for the day and start prepping for tomorrow's trial. We have to get exhibits ready, witnesses ready to go, make sure witnesses and experts are flown in. There are a ton of moving pieces, all the time, and it's pretty cool to watch everything unfold. I heard I missed some fireworks today with one of our witnesses. I'm still a bit incredulous that I get to experience this pretty early on in my career.

I used to love the American Girl series when I was younger. Every single book ended with "Changes for __" and took place in the winter time, I guess that's when changes happened. Molly's dad came home. Felicity's grandfather died. Kirsten made it across the Oregon Trail or something. Did I make most of those up?

Changes for Anh.

I turned 2__ on Sunday. 

KMak is back.

It's my first time being on a trial team and we're going to trial tomorrow. Well, technically, it's a final arbitration hearing, but it's essentially a trial. I can't believe it's finally happening. 

mental captivity

There have been a few times in my life that I experienced what can only be described mental captivity.

Mental captivity is a state of mind that is reached when you are focused on a long-term project. Every bit of output is focused around this one, possibly ginormous project. You are unable to think of anything else. Every bit of new information you learn is for the sole purpose of advancing this project.

When I was a 2L and I wrote a "note" for my journal, I was in a mental prison. My sole reason for existing was to describe and criticize a singular immigration policy. As the due date neared, I kept a page counter on my gchat as I plodded steadily to the 35 page minimum.

Last year, I studied for the bar exam, the most important exam of my adult life. Everyday, I was obsessed with memorizing every single rule that I could. It was my sole focus. It was my life.

Right now, I am on a trial team. We are going to trial in 13 days. Every thing I've worked on for the past month revolved around this case, this set of facts. I stay up at night researching, drafting, review production for possible trial exhibits. I can't think of anything else. Can't wait to escape my mental prison after all of this is over.

Blame it on the Economy

The meeting with my Career Counselor was downright depressing. She asked me what I was doing in terms of networking. Umm, nothing? Collecting business cards? Making small talk with people that I probably won't see again? She told me that networking sucks, but I just have to suck it up and do it. Two hours later, wandering through Century City mall, I thought, alright, fine. I'll make an Excel sheet with every person I've ever met. FINE. Is that what it takes to be a winner? Do I even want to be a winner??

You know I never thought I'd be in this position. Everything in my life has been pretty linear. Now graduation is around the corner. Everyone is so excited for me and I am just like: 0_0 As much as I would like to blame it on the tough economy, I have to something instead of assuming that a job will turn up. It was good that I had that terrible meeting.

Although, I won't forget that she suggested I join South Asian Bar Association and then I pointed out that South Asia = Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, etc. She's Vietnamese too. I hate it when my own people make that mistake (which thankfully is not very often). Until my next emo post friends.