The dog days of summer are here, and work is certainly heating up! I’m very busy these days, but it’s the good kind of busy: the kind where I’m making a difference, helping people out, and getting paid. Most of my work keeps me at my office, the Salem Municipal Court, and the Marion County Jail. However, I found myself last week returning to a place I haven’t been to for professional reasons for a long time: the Marion County Circuity Court!
 |
| Twelve years later...and its appearance has not drastically changed. :P |
I had a routine pretrial conference (which in Marion County involves attorneys for both parties meeting in the judge’s chambers and agree on when to set the next formal court date), but it felt like returning to an old home or school. Security was just as I remembered it, and the hallways still looked exactly as I remember them looking. There was even a person from the past: the judge in this case was the presiding judge in my last trial as a certified law student (though I don’t think he recognized me; I didn’t recognize him at first). As I sat in chambers waiting for my turn (there were a lot of cases up for conference, and there was a whole lot of waiting), I reflected on the journey my professional life has taken me. Where I first got involved with defense as an intern and made my debut as a certified law clerk, I finally returned as a lawyer!
After a whole lot of waiting and a little bit of conferencing, I decided to cap off the morning with another shot of nostalgia right across the street. Less than a block away from the courthouse is the Gov Cup, a café that’s been popular with Willamette students for as long as I can remember. I haven’t been there since my move out to Tillamook, so it felt great to grab a cold brew with a donut, marvel at how far I’ve come in Marion County’s legal circle, and get ready to get back to work.
