Happy (Very Belated) New Year,
readers! The year 2019 has sunk into the
abyss of time, with 2020 coming out to take its place. Time for a new year of hard work, eating
dairy/seafood, exploring Tillamook County, embarrassing myself in front of
judges, dealing with pleasant clients, dealing with difficult clients,
blogging, finding bold new adventures, skip tracing, picking up old/new
hobbies, spending more time in jail than in court, trying to keep calm, and
continuing to grow.
As the year begins, now feels like
an appropriate time to reflect on my position and realize that I’m doing things
I never expected to do in my career.
Namely, I didn’t expect to own a car until late last year (I figured I’d
be the kind of urban dweller to always walk or use urban transportation), and I
never thought I’d be opening my own law office right out of law school (I’ve
always considered immediate private practice to be risky, and I figured I’d
start at a public defender office or the like).
If anything, events in 2019 have shown me that the future is
unpredictable, unknown, and f***ing crazy.
I look forward to seeing what the future holds (though with current
events being what they are, I’m a little anxious too). My career as a lawyer has only just begun;
who knows what will change in 2020 alone.
In the grand tradition of years
past, I’ve spent the turn of the year thinking up of New Year’s resolutions. Overall, there are two things I want to focus
on: (1) getting healthier (whether by eating better, working out, or getting massages
to deal with my constantly aching neck) and (2) finding a better way to balance
work and the rest of my life (I have no idea at the moment how to do so, so I’ll
have to experiment). Time will tell how
these noble-yet-vague goals will be met this year.
My first day of working this
year (January 2) certainly went well. I
had a suppression hearing scheduled that I had been dreading for some
time. This would be my first real suppression
hearing, and it was set in front of the toughest judge in Tillamook
County. I read the law and felt that I
was in the right, but one never knows how these things will go. Two hours before the hour of judgment, I
stopped by the courthouse to serve a motion regarding an unrelated case and
checked my mailbox at the DA’s office (which is how I receive discovery, plea
offers, and service of motions from prosecutors). There, I found…a filed motion for dismissing
the case in question. The prosecutor was
dropping charges against my client, and the hearing was cancelled. It was a day-after-New-Year’s-Day miracle (or
my motion to suppress was just that good)!
This meant a happy client and one less trial in January, so I felt
pretty good for the rest of the day.
Sure, I then had to stay at the county jail until 8:45pm to talk with other
clients in preparation for their cases, but it was still a good day. Here’s to more days with dropped charges,
happy clients, and a relieved defense attorney!
To finish this post off, it’s
time for another installment of…
GREAT MOMENTS IN TILLAMOOK JURISPRUDENCE
*insert sophisticated music*
Episode III: Jumping the Gun
Judge: Ma’am, will you be
applying for court-appointed counsel?
Defendant: No, I think I’ll represent
myself.
J: Ma’am, I read the advice of
rights to the last defendant who wanted to represent themself. Having heard all of the ways an attorney can
help you, are you sure you want to represent yourself?
D: Yeah, it should be pretty
easy to represent myself. I mean, I’m
totally guilty.
[awkward pause; it is worth remembering
that everything in court is audio-recorded and admissible as evidence]
J: …Ma’am, that may be so, but a
lawyer can help you navigate the system and help you get the best possible
sentence.
D: Alright, I’ll take the
court-appointed attorney.
J: Good choice. You’ll need to fill out the paperwork in the
lobby, but I’ll appoint Mr. Fischberg from the Tillamook County Defense
Consortium as your lawyer.
[Defendant is now my client.]
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