The Differences in Job Security in Book Five: Working Through the Maze 2018

There are some things that happen equally in Prosecution and Defense. However, how you respond to them demonstrates perfectly the kind of person you are.

For example: losing a case.
As a Prosecutor, if I lost a case I had two simultaneous thoughts. (1) People like that usually give you plenty of chances to prosecute again; (2) I just hope that he doesn’t escalate or do anything worse.
As a Defense Attorney, if I lost a case I had two simultaneous thoughts. (1) Dumbass should have taken the plea deal; (2) At least he won’t be able to fuck up someone else’s life for a while.

Now, I’ve been given the opportunity to see what happens with a “Frequent Flyer.”
When I was a prosecutor, when I would have someone back month after month after month for the same offense… my thought process was as follows:
1: Is this drug or alcohol related? 2: What more can we do to get him help to change his behavior? 3: What were the last pleas/sentences? 4: Can I legally demand treatment? 5: Can I legally enhance the offense to get him more jail time? (Then because it was Tiny Town, I would think 6: Telling him to pay a fine he will never pay is NOT going to do anything, so I’ll see him again next month. God dammit!)

As a defense attorney though? I have a kid, Chinese of course, that breaks the law month after month after month after month for the same offense. My thought process is:
1: sonofabitch fuck! Go home. Just fucking go home. If you don’t want to obey the laws of the United States, get the fuck out and go back to China where your wealth gives you the ability to bribe police so you can do whatever you want. Go. The fuck. Home.
2: We have done everything we could for you the last 8 times. We’ve set it up so that you only have to NOT DRIVE and PAY A FINE. You can’t even do that. You can’t do the minimum expectations of Exchange Money and Follow the Law. Mother fucker!
3: Every time I get this case, I work with the prosecutor to make sure you can still get your license “soon” provided you start behaving. Every time I get this deal for you, you wait approximately 3 weeks, then break the law again. I can’t sacrifice my reputation for you anymore; and if this firm wasn’t so obsessed with helping “every Chinese person” they would cut you off, too. You are poison to the reputation built up by any attorney because that attorney loses face every time you fuck up within 1 month of your last sentence.

So, I suppose… one more glimpse into why I’m especially not the person for Chinese Defense Work and likely not the person for Defense Work.

And of course… every day is a new Rose to remind me why leaving is not just good for my health, it is good for my career.

I received a Plea Offer from a Prosecutor. I copied it and e-mailed it to Chinese Boss so that she could communicate it to the client and White Boss as he would be at the meeting. I even sent along the original version to cover my ass with “NOTHING I HAVE SAID IS INCORRECT, IT IS ALL DIRECTLY WHAT THE PROSECUTOR SENT!” So… White Boss reads the plea and, despite the plea not saying Probation, sees that the plea is constructed as though probation were implied. Chinese Boss reads it and sees literally the words on the page. So as they talk with Client, they are saying different things. Since Chinese Boss’ perspective (as she has detailed before) is to not trust White Boss until she has proof she can; this created an issue. One in which Chinese Boss wants to know if I fucked up. Thankfully, White Boss was able to take Chinese Boss through some gorram logic. Both I and Chinese Boss read the plea. We communicated the wording of the plea. He, in his experience, noted that this particular prosecutor only uses “Civil Penalty” when a particular sentence is being offered. Therefore, the fact that such a sentence was not offered means that the specific word “deferred” was probably missed as a typo. AND NO, YOU CAN’T BE MAD AT CK FOR NOT KNOWING THAT. Ga-rumph.

Shitty environment that is far from professional. I can certainly say catching up on sleep, working out… hell, honestly (as immature as this sounds)… getting competitively good at a video game would be a better use of my time than this some days. So… APRIL COME TO PAPA!

Considering the word “April” is often used as the name of a female human… that last statement felt a little creepier than intended.

At present, I have fifteen minutes before a Hearing. This, according to billable hours, is a vast expanse of time with which I could (likely, though reluctantly… the ethics of this location) bill up to 15 0.1 billable hours. Yes… that would mean if I did 60 seconds of work on 15 different cases, according to how this firm bills… I could, in this fifteen minute time span, accrue one and a half hours of billable time. Fifteen Minutes of Work, some creative billing, and I am raking in 1.5 hours of pay. But that isn’t me. Even if I were genuinely able to do 15 60 second items. But instead, I wish to put quality and genuine time behind my work. So technically… there is little I feel capable or comfortable doing in these fifteen minutes before my hearing. And this little gap of time works as a proper metaphor for my time here in the Now. I have X amount of time before Y happens. I would like to use X in the best way possible. But I do have to acknowledge that Y puts certain limitations on what I can do with X.

I have approximately 5 more Mondays, 5 More Tuesdays, 6 More Wednesdays, 6 More Thursdays, and 6 More Fridays. In some ways… a vast expanse of time. But in other ways… particularly when it comes to The Courts… that is like an extended weekend of time. Hell, Simple matters that are to be heard quickly prove how little time that is. A man arrested in January has his Magistrate Trial in April. So between arrest and Trial that is 8 weeks. That is the quickest that something can be done if no plea is reached. Now, if all I did was plead when I got cases… I could easily do another dozen cases in the next 6 weeks. BUT even that is couched by reality. The Senior Partners are still “working with the builders.” I gave them through the month of March so that, while we were all moving stuff, they could rest easy knowing they had a lawyer who could help them take care of things. But… frankly, that isn’t how it has worked even so far. We went from moving at the end of Feb to moving in the middle of March. Senior Partners keep being out of the office for long periods of time to deal with Building Stuff… but apart from that, none of us know what is going on. So… we’ll see what happens as I continue to turn in my billable hour worksheets. As my cases get wrapped up and withdrawn from since I’m leaving… all in an effort to help the firm transition to a new building and me to transition to not working here… I am going to be turning in less and less hours. And I really hope that these people can accept that, not as me slacking before leaving, but as the natural progression towards no longer working here.

How is this for “good news?”

Today I told a client that I would be able to schedule their next court date, but I would not be present as I was leaving my position before then and would not be able to be there. They instantly asked me how they could retain me privately. I told them I was flattered but that, due to the laws of the state, the case would be returned to the Attorney Pool for re-assignment as I would no longer be an active attorney. It was… good. I mean… I have a client that knows I’m doing my best, that knows I’m doing a good job, I have a client who believes in me… even when I’m telling her things like “If you don’t prove to the court you’re clean, they will permanently remove your children.” So… important re-affirmation that I CAN do this job… I can be a good attorney. I just… need a better environment and a healthier me before I can really give it my best.