Day One, 10 February 2017

The first day I met with my mentor and we drove to his office in San Francisco. It was at Pier 5 Offices, a law firm filled with offices for independent lawyers in the Bay Area. He gave me a tour of the office, and introduced me to other lawyers he worked alongside. Since it was my first day, we just sat it in his office and spoke about his job. I asked him questions about being a lawyer, how he came to become one, and if it was ever his first choice. He told me the story of how he chose this career, stating it was never in his mindset to become a lawyer during his high school years. He said he initially wanted to be a musician and how throughout his college years he eventually realized he wanted to be a lawyer. He gave me insight into the process in becoming a lawyer, the schooling he went through, and the stress that comes along with the job. I always knew being a lawyer was stressful, but hearing it come from him made it seem not that bad. He told me about the different colleges he went to, and how his initial major in music eventually evolved into him graduating with a speech communication degree. In the end we spoke about his cases and made plans on my next visit to go with him to the court houses and witness the cases in person. I am excited to see what his current cases are about and how they will play out in the court house.


Time logged for this session: 4 hours
Total time logged: 4 hours


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day Three, 4 March 2017

Third day, I went to my mentor's law firm in San Francisco. He introduced me to more lawyers he worked alongside with. They were all very nice, and some looked very stressed out. My mentor told me stress is a factor that comes along with being a lawyer, but it is avoidable in some cases. He told me about a case that he had coming up involving a DUI. He was defending the man who got a DUI for the third time in nine years. My mentor told me the background information of the case and how he planned to defend him. It was interesting to see all the factors that went along with the case. For example, my mentor told me the man had just gotten a divorce and had attempted suicide. These factors all played a part in the case, and could possibly effect his sentencing. It was interesting to see how all these pieces came together as my mentor presented his defense. He told me the first court appearance was scheduled on March 10. Although we just spent the day talking with the other lawyers and ...
Read more

Day 10, 14 April 2017

For my last time meeting with my mentor, we just went back to his law firm and he introduced to more people who worked there. We sat down and he showed me his schedule, and future cases he had coming up. He said some of them were in San Jose, and said that part of being a lawyer is commuting to a lot of places for your trials. He taught me how to file some of his papers and how to make some calls to the clients. He told me communication is huge aspect of being a lawyer, and if you don't know how to communicate then you're not doing your job. He told me it's mixed with a lot of time management, pressure, and a sense of competitiveness. He said it's a lot of commitment to become a lawyer, but in the end he enjoys his job. He showed me what you need to do to become one. You have to get bachelors degree, then you have to go to law school, pass the bar exam. It's a lot of work to become one, but he seems to like it. From this I was able to learn the steps to take to actu...
Read more

Day Nine, 10 April 2017

Another brief yet interesting day. My mentor and I went back to the courthouse in Hayward to speak with one of the judges about his current case. He simply needed to make an appearance with his client and ask to reschedule some dates. The other lawyer failed to have his client show up, which is why the dates needed to be changed. My mentor, however, was busy on all available days, so the judge asked my mentor to hire someone to show up in his place. My mentor then asked me to wait inside the courtroom as he went to the back of the room to get some files. As I sat down, another trial was happening before me. It was those glass windows again, and there was an inmate in his orange jumpsuit standing behind the glass window. He was speaking to the judge directly and he asked his lawyer to hand the judge a handwritten letter. The judge quickly skimmed through the letter and put it down. The man then asked if he could say something. He said something along the lines of "I don't deser...
Read more