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 . . .

I am a brand new Assistant District Attorney.

So, this blog is supposed to be about my journey to becoming a legal eagle. I really haven't been talking about the legal stuff too much lately. See, the thing is that after one sits for the bar examination, all they wanna do is fall asleep. And that's exactly what I did. Then I took the MPRE, resigned from my job, and moved to NY.

Did I mention, that I love NY? And not in the revive New York City Tourism way. I love my neighborhood, the potholes, the people that live outside on the corner of my block--although I hate the stench of urine. The guys that sit on the other corner and play spades. My neighbor that walks her dog everyday at 830AM. The folks that I pass and greet with Good Morning. New Yorkers are really nice--at least the ones in Harlem USA anyway. but I digress . . . back to my legal journey.

I am an Assistant District Attorney.

I started work the beginning of September, along with 53 other . Well, I started training. It was probably pretty much like the way it feels to graduate law school and then start studying with Barbri. You're excited but you really don't feel like sitting through class. But all the information is useful because now you need to know it because its better than being thrown in front of a judge and getting chewed out. I finished three weeks of training last week and I received my bureau assignment -- Criminal Court. This means that for the next 2 years or so I will be working in the complaint room--charging crimes, interviewing cops and witnesses, arraigning criminal defendants, handling misdemeanor cases and perhaps going to trial. There is never a dull moment.

So far so good. I definitely do not regret not showing up at the law firm. In all seriousness the money could be better, but fortunately Georgetown's LRAP program is pretty good, so it will work out. I have everything I need to make it work -- roommates.

A Belle takes a Bite out of an Apple

Sorry folks. I have been without internet access. I haven['t been able to update you on NYC. I finally made it, and boy is there a lot to catch up on. i will try to be brief, because I am going to a Poetry Slam with my roommates, and I need to get ready.

I've been here since September 1st. I live in Harlem and I LOVE IT. It feels just like Alabama. Well not quite, but almost. The similarities are nice neighbors that are very helpful and everyone on the block speaks to one another. Like no one looks at you weird if you say, "Good Morning." They actually respond back. This is different than DC in my opinion. Also, we can get a full church service without even leaving the house. All that is required is opening a window or two and we can get the sermon, the choir, the music, and the shouting. It's really neat. There are t4rees oin our backyard and actually grass too. The dissimilarities would include the smell of urine the moment you turn down my block. To be fair, though I now know exactly when to stop inhaling so as to avoid the stench. There are a few people that don't have the luxury of housing that have made the corner of the block their home, hence the bathroom smell. No fear though, I am in a safe neighborhood.


We are getting settled in. I need to get a few more things for my bedroom, but we hope to have a housewarming soon to have friends over. Again, that's the thing about New York.

In other news, I love my job so far. We have been in training for the past two weeks, but training ends on next Wednesday. I have learned so much, but there is so much more to learn. I have been getting home around 530PM evevry night. I catch the subway to and from work most days, unless I am running late. Then I just get a sedan ride to work. It's not expensive. When I am on the train I only make 3 stops before I arrived at my final destination. Then I walk a few blocks before I arrive at work. Not a bad commute at all.