September 22, 2004

holy shit. could i be more tired?

well, probably. but not much. because i'm freaking exhausted.

it turns out that being a public defender is not so easy. in fact, it's the opposite of easy. and i haven't even really started yet -- i'm still only training.

training in the comfort of the defender offices, surrounded by friendly faces. i can't even imagine what it's going to be like when the cases i'm preparing for are real, not training exercises. and when i'm preparing 25 a night, not 3. and when i'm going to put my law-talkin' skills to work in a courtroom, not around an office conference table. and when i'll be surrounded by people who are for the most part hostile toward me (the judge, the d.a., the cops, the complaining witnesses, and yes, even my clients), not teaching me and cheering me on.

and all of this happens -- by "all of this" i mean the end of training and the start of my career in real courtrooms -- in a week and a half. that's right. on october 4, after 3 short (long?) weeks of training, i'll head out to a stationhouse "courtroom" at one of philadelphia's police districts, with another brand new attorney at my side and maybe a supervising attorney nearby. and i'll fight the good fight in felony preliminary hearings.

at the prelims, before the hearings start, i'll frantically speak with 25 or so clients, try to squeeze information out of the assistant district attorney, spend some time kissing the asses of various courtroom personnel, and look over the court's paperwork in my cases.

then the hearings will start. bench warrants will be issued for the arrest of any of my clients who fail to show up in court. cases will get continued when the a.d.a. informs the court that the commonwealth witnesses are not available (no bench warrants for them, of course), unless i can convince the judge to discharge those cases due to the commonwealth's repeated inability to go forward on the charges. then i'll make motions for line-ups in cases where we doubt the ability of the commonwealth's witnesses to identify my client. then i'll cross-examine police officers and complaining witnesses (some would call these people the "victims"). then i'll make arguments to the municipal court judge, urging the court to kick out charges when the a.d.a. fails to make a more-likely-than-not showing of the relevant elements, or to reduce the gradation of the charges (for example, from felony to misdemeanor, or first-degree felony to third-degree felony). then the judge will usually ignore everything i've said, hold the case for court, and set a date for formal arraignment.

after disposing of my 25 cases in 3 or 3 1/2 hours, i'll return to the office, do some paperwork, and get ready to do it all over again.

so yeah. this is going to be hard. really, really hard. there's a ton of shit to remember, a ton of pressure knowing that you could fuck up someone's life by forgetting to say 3 words at the beginning of the proceedings, and a ton of animosity directed at people who do the work i'll be doing.

but there's no job i'd rather be doing right now. i'm finally doing the thing that i'm most passionate about, my new coworkers are amazing, and i couldn't be more psyched. i also couldn't be much more stressed at the moment. but i guess that's not always a bad thing.

my brilliant legal career (as well as my quest to empty philadelphia's county jail facilities) is finally off and running...

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