plan b

criminal trials always remind me of the tv series "the practice," about a criminal defense law firm whose famous tactic was "plan b" - where they would accuse the prosecutor's star witness (usually the victim's close friend/relative) of committing the heinous crime. their brutal cross-examination of the fragile witness would often shed reasonable doubt on their client (and sometimes even reveal the true perpetrator of the crime!).

anyways, i spent the entire day yesterday in the courtroom, assisting our attorneys with setting up some technology for the opening of a new trial. although the brunt of the day was setting up computers and then babysitting it while the attorneys wrapped up jury selection in a different room, watching the opening statements by the attorneys was a great experience. instead of the old, crotchety judge, we had a pretty funny (albeit still old) judge, a deputy decked out in '70s style suit (too many yellows and greens), and a boring female prosecutor whose opening argument was interrupted twice by a false fire alarm. my personal highlight was when the deputy acidently kicked and unplugged the projector during our attorney's opening, and i had to crounch and run past the jurors and in front of the judge to turn the project back on, all while the firm partner was giving his argument!

i've never seen myself as a litigator, but i've discovered that i do love making arguments. howeverm, arguing over dinner about how blockbuster.com is better than netflix (it really is) is a big step from arguing in court with someone's life on the line. i guess we'll have to see how i feel about litigation after law school.

after work yesterday, i was pooped (i know pooped is funny, but it's exactly how i felt). tuesdays are wednesdays with my sun-thurs schedule, and i had worked nearly 36 hours between sunday, monday and tuesday. even though most of the day was spent reading a book while waiting in the courtroom, i was still wiped out by the time i got home. i'm just glad i forced myself to go to bed early and get a good night's sleep.