Not your average defense attorney . . .

I don't see this type of client advocacy in the courtroom everyday. Momma, nem may be on to something.

When Barack was like me, well almost . . .

Senator, and hopefully our next President, Barack Obama also made a pit stop in NY on their journey to becoming a legal eagle, and perhaps the next President of the United States. Read about what folks that knew him when had to say via a recent New York Times article, click here.

There are some differences between how Barack and I both wound up in the Big Apple. He is a he, and I am a she. He arrived as an undergrad that xfer'd from a west coast school. I arrived as a lawyer recently graduated from an east coast school. I didn't sleep in an ally, instead I moved into a brownstone with roommates from law school. Although I should point out that I don't think any move to New York City is an easy transition. But we both were uptown. We both arrived black. He would go on to become a lawyer, and I can only hope that I will become a better lawyer by the time I leave, if I ever leave. Subtle, but obvious intersections.

deja vu (sp?)

In a city as big as New York, its amazing how small it can feel at times.

I have ran into 3 friends randomly while out and about in NYC.

Incident #1

I was walking down 125th Street one day after work. I just got off the 4 train and walked right into one of my classmates from Georgetown. How exciting! I told her that it was such a wonderful surprised to see her. I was on the way to treat myself to a slice of red velvet cake from Sylvia's, so I invited her to join me for cake and a cup of tea.

Incident #2 & #3

I was walking down 125th Street another day, a Saturday, after a day full of errands. I visited the Studio Museum of Harlem, the Post Office, the dry cleaners. I first ran into Cornelius of Harlem Heritage Tours. A few years ago, two of my girlfriends and I visited NYC and we took a walking tour of Harlem and Cornelius was our tour mobile operator. It was at that moment that I fell in love with Harlem. So it was amazing to run into him (guiding another tour group) while on my afternoon stroll through the neighborhood. But on this same day I ran into my college friend Jenique. Jenique was my homegirl my first year at FAMU. I say first year, because she didn't return for junior year, deciding instead to start her own business, Crush Groove Cosmetics. I can't believe that I am about to say this, but I had not seen Jenique in seven years!!! I didn't know I was that old. But as soon as I saw her walking my direction, I immediately knew who she was. She lives 2 blocks from me. I wound up kicking it with Jenique the following Monday and she and I hung out until 5AM. Yeah, I know . . .Bad Idea.

But this brings me to Incident #4.

I was at the grocery store, shopping, buying my beans and rice, tomatoes and squash, pineapples and granola, you get it . . . I look up and I see another one of my law school classmates, Ashley. I knew that she was in New York, but we'd lost touch. But get this, she lives in Harlem too, about 8 minutes away from me. We chatted, caught up. She shared that she wasn't shocked at all that I am now in the District Attorney's Office. (I wondered what that means?). We exchanged numbers and vowed to keep in touch.

Isn't that weird?

and sometimes you just wanna crash

because sometimes you stand up for the people,
and the judge shoots you down.
and sometimes you make bail applications and
sometimes people are released and
you feel like you failed
sometimes defense counsel makes crazy motions
and you actually have a solid basis to oppose them
and thats when the judge denies their motion
so you celebrate, and your colleagues say, good job.
but celebrations are short lived
because the next case is called and
you can't serve notices, because your information is confusing
and sometimes people in the courtoom cry
and you wonder, what's going to happen when they leave here?
but then you try to talk to a colleague and they say,
"You did your best"
but what's best when you represent the People of the state of New York?
what's best, what's best, WHAT IS BEST???
you worry that you aren't smart enough for other people's safety to be based on your ability to make arguments straigh off the dome to the judge in less than 10 minutes.

so sometimes when you get home on a Friday, from a long week.

YOU JUST CRASH.

False Alarm

no trial today. The defense attorney decided to serve motions. Now we are going to have a hearing to determine whether or not their motions will be granted, and following the hearing, we will hopefully have a trial.

This was a bummer.

MY FIRST TRIAL

well actually it would be my second if you count the one I did as a summer associate last summer.

Anyway, I am scheduled for my first trial tomorrow. The defendant is charged with assault, and he basically got in a fight with an older man who was injured pretty bad, but not bad enough for a felony assistant to handle the case. He is facing jail time, for sure. I have worked on my direct, opening, closinng. I need to work on some lines for the cross examination of the defendant, but I am almost there.

This is how it works:

the night before an ADA has a case on we drop it in the appropriate box for the part that it is going to. Before I left work tonight, which was @ 715PM, I dropped my case. Tomorrow when the case is called the ADA in that part will make the record that I told them to make and if everything lines up--available ct room, defense willingness to go to trial, etc. etc. I will be trying my first case.

This is like the night before cheerleader tryouts. I WANNA GO TO TRIAL!

I will let y'all know what happens.

Law School Debt

ain't a joke. I have 2 weeks left to fill out my loan forgiveness application and fax it over to the good folks over @ Georgetown. It is due November 1st. I am so glad I went there, because our Loan Forgiveness Program seems to be pretty awesome in comparison to some of my colleagues. One school caps their forgiveness at $5,000. Let's just say that will prolly cover 4 months of loan payments for me.

I can't figure out how to position these loans though. Do I consolodiate or not consolidate? Do I include my GradPlus loans? I guess I'm gonna have to call the financial aide office tomorrow.

NYC on a Friday night . . .

I had an exciting weekend folks. Good times all around. I got home Friday evening around 6PM. I had plans to meet a girlfiend from Brooklyn to catch Tyler Perry's Why did I get married and to celebrate the anniversary of her 1 year presence in NYC. We were gonna meet @ 7 until I got a phonecall from my roommate offering me a ticket to see The Color Purple. I felt bad, but on a social scale, Fanny & Oprah trump Tyler Perry, so I cancelled.

I meet my roommate and her brother and his partner. We get in the theatre. We are sitting on the FRONT ROW! So I text my momma and tell her how I love NY. We open the Playbill booklet. Something falls out. The role of Fantasia will be played by Montego Glover.

WTF???

It's Friday night and Fantasia calls in. She got life messed up.

So we left. No Color Purple for me. No Fantasia for me. I was, however, treated to dinner by some pretty awesome folks, that were pretty good company too. We ate at the Eatery. I recommend the mac n cheese, the cheesecake, and the waiter we had. The waiter even put us up on game, when he informed us that Fanny is gaining quite the reputation for not showing up. I think it's tacky. While I do love Fantasia, she ain't on Beyonce status. I wonder if Oprah knows about her attendance. I will keep my fingers crossed that when I buy tickets, she will be there.

It does suck that those front row tickets we had were rush tickets, meaning my roommate's brother stood in line the morning of the show and got a special rate. They only cost @ $30.

Cleary Gottlieb has a bad hair day

I forgot to post this . . .

By Vivia Chen/The American Lawyer
August 27, 2007

It seemed like a nice frothy summer treat for some hardworking gals at a hard-driving law firm. Instead of hosting another earnest discussion about client cultivation and leadership, the women lawyers group at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton invited an editor from Glamour magazine. The topic: the dos and don'ts of corporate fashion.

First slide up: an African-American woman sporting an Afro. A real no-no, announced the Glamour editor to the 40 or so lawyers in the room. As for dreadlocks: How truly dreadful! The style maven said it was "shocking" that some people still think it "appropriate" to wear those hairstyles at the office. "No offense," she sniffed, but those "political" hairstyles really have to go.

By the time the lights flicked back on, some Cleary lawyers -- particularly the 10 or so African-American women in attendance -- were in a state of disbelief. "It was like she was saying you shouldn't go out with your natural hair, and if you do, you're making a political statement," says one African-American associate. "It showed a general cluelessness about black women and their hair."

The episode also produced a "mixed reaction" along racial lines, says this associate. "Some [whites] didn't understand what the big deal was ... but all the black associates saw the controversy."

Cleary Gottlieb's managing partner, Mark Walker, who heard about the incident from some of the attendees, also saw trouble. Soon after the event, Walker issued an e-mail that denounced the hair commentary as "racially insensitive, inappropriate, and wrong." Calling the beauty advice "appalling," Walker says, "You don't tell people that their physical appearance is unacceptable, when certain characteristics are associated with a racial group." He asks, "What's the alternative? Straighten or bleach your hair?"

As for the identity of the editor, neither Cleary Gottlieb nor Condé Nast Publications Inc. (publisher of Glamour ) would say. Indeed, almost all of the half-dozen Glamour editors contacted for this story professed not to have ever set foot in a law firm. "Cleary what?" asked several.

And Walker says he has no idea whether the editor who sparked all this controversy is a well-known fashionista. Not that Walker would know, even if Anna Wintour herself crossed his path. "Who is she?" Walker asks. "I really don't know people in the fashion industry." (If you have to ask, she's the editor of Vogue.)

So did the Glamour editor realize how many feathers she ruffled? Walker says that the speaker was "spoken to by one of the women partners" and that she sent an e-mail apology. "I assume she was oblivious; I doubt she's racist," says Walker. "She wasn't thinking and said something hare-brained."

Or is that hair-brained?

No Checks and Balances in NYC -- my social life

I heard that one of my friends told another friend that New York is scary. My initial reaction was yeah, but you have to be safe right? s

Except she wasn't fearful for her safety. She was fearful of the possiblities.

You see according to her there are no checks in balances. Apparently a man ran dow nthe street in a Batman costume and no one even looked at him. She thought this was strange. Cuz anywhere else folks would've laughed at him, pointed, or whispered at least. Not so here. People got stuff to do. And that's the thing. In NYC you can be yourself and there is something for everyone because no one is really worried about what you are doing

So . . . I've been trying to get in where I fit in, except I don't remember anymore. Law school can change you. I think i've become boring. Or gained an appreciation for the finer things in life . . .like sleep, good friends and sleep. Before law school I was cool, or at least I thought of myself that way. I had hobbies. Things I enjoyed. I don't remember what they are, and that's tough.

Things I know I don't enjoy:

Clubs
Long Lines outside of clubs or anywhere
Boring people
Expensive food that tastes bad
snobby people w/no personality
people that have stopped growing
dry conversation
Expensive bar tabs
self-important people
too much rap music

The first weekend I was here, my roommates and I hung out at a rooftop bar/lounge of a cool hotel downtown. BEE A YOO TIFUL, except a cocktail started @ $20. I guess you pay for the ambiance sometimes. But I decided not to and kinda worried about that being rude, you know not having a drink when everyone else is drinking. But, I quickly got over it.

Another weekend, we hung out with a Swedish man that owns art galleries. We hit up a ultra-exclusive lounge, so exclusive that I don't know the name. Ooooh, I saw Solange and a WASP-ylady that had to be 7o years old. She was decked in her Chanel suit, complete with those crazy glasses. I felt as though I was at the center of a Vogue social hour. Except it wasn't vogue to me. The art collection was spectacular. Several Picassos and some other notable artwork. I forgot the names of the artists. The music again was that European techno stuff. I can only take it in doses. Next spot that not was another place full of rich, self-important people. The Swede had friends there, that had a table w/bottle service. I met Oprah's alleged godson/stylist. That was how he introduced himself to me. I politely introduced myself to him too. "I'm __________, I'm an Assistant District Attorney." He loved it. He loves women doing their thing. I told him, that he must be in love with me then, huh? Also @ our table -- Evan Ross and a bunch of other dudes and beautiful girls that no one was talking too.

to be continued . . .