My little pro bono criminal case was heard today and I can safely say it wasn't my best work. For starters, I should have prepared my written mitigation a lot sooner than working on it till 4.30am last night.

When I'd first met my client after being assigned the case, I was convinced that I would be able to write a powerful mitigation for him to show the court how he was a victim of his circumstances and had strayed into crime by mixing with the wrong kinds of people. I completely believed in my client, that he meant what he said when he wanted to change and was remorseful for what he had done. But when I finally got down to writing the piece, I wasn't so sure anymore. At the end of the day, being poor isn't an excuse to be a thief, especially when the proceeds weren't going towards helping your family but being spent on yourself.

As I tried to draft the piece, I felt my heart sink more and more as the mitigation just sounded weak to me. I tried to cover my angles and think around the situation, hoping to camoflauge my client's bad deeds with redeeming traits but they were scarce to begin with.

Today at the hearing, I feel like I didn't try hard enough. A part of me felt that I had already judged my client and limited my mitigation to a sentence that I thought would be appropriate for someone with his background. And when we were before the Judge, even though I had tried to put my best case forward, I felt like the Judge saw right through it and sentenced him based on what I was secretly thinking he deserved.

I felt like a crummy lawyer after that. Like I didn't do my job properly to get my client as light a sentence as possible. But as NG said, in the end, the client did get the "right" punishment. And it was supposed to be part of the oath that I took when I was called to the bar that I was there to assist the court in the pursuit of justice.

Its kind of reminded me of that question I always get when I'm at a dinner party with older folks and they love to ask whether I could sleep at night after successfully defending an axe murderer. In all honesty, I don't know if I can answer that question.

I knew what the policy considerations were for today's hearing and even knew that my client was not going to get of easy. Secretly though, I still think I feel safer knowing that he's being sent for reformative training rather than being let off with a stern warning.

A lot of people know that my dad is a bit of a big cheese in the medical fraternity here. People fly in from around the world to get treated by him and in turn, people offer to fly him around the world so that he can give lectures to others. A lot of people who know him professionally are usually a little afraid of him because he runs a tight shift but no one disputes that he is one of the best doctors in South East Asia. (uh huh, thats the whole damn region!)

Anyhoo, what a lot of people don't know is that my dad is actually one of my favourite people and is a really funny and silly when you get to know him.

The third thing which no one knows as yet (and in telling you I'm letting you in on a little secret), just the other day, my dad was called back to the hospital one evening to attend to a patient that had just come into A & E. Picking up the fact sheet and glancing at the patient's name, my dad couldn't help but joke, "Mr. _______? You wouldn't by any chance be related to your namesake would you?"

The patient looked confused. He was probably doped up on medication. "Which MR. _____ are you refering to?" he asked slowly.

"How many Mr. ______ do you know?" My dad returned.

"Err..." the Patient scratched his beard, still very much puzzled by my dad's line of questioning.

"Hang on a minute," a light bulb seemed to go off in my dad's head and he pointed a finger at the patient. "Are you a lawyer?"

"Yes," the Patient nodded slowly.

"Oh my God!" (Yes, my dad really says "Oh my God") "Are you the Mr. _____?"

"I suppose so," the patient nodded.

"My daughter works are your firm," my dad couldn't help but blurt.

"Oh?" the patient appeared interested. "Who is she?"

And thats probably why I was summoned to the CEO's office this morning and told that my dad had a very pleasant bedside manner.

Yesterday, an intern at the Firm popped by my office to say hello. I found it strange because I am no where near the top of this corporate structure such that I'm in a position where people want to meet me. And yet, this little intern had hunted me down specifically. But what was even more surprising was the fact that we'd actually met before, about a year ago, in a court room, when I was just a lowly pupil slaving away under the Ex-Boss and she was an even lowlier intern for zouk Boy (who coincidentally is now a High Court Judge-in-training). We met during a hearing while we were both seated in the public gallery. And of all the random things, we started chatting and I think possibly even exchanged numbers (though the note pad where I had scribbled it onto has long since disappeared...)

Promptly after the meeting, I forgot all about it until yesterday when the intern popped up. The poor child is presently interning under the Ex-Boss. I felt it was my civic duty to warn her right away. But then I remembered why I had even joined The Firm in the first place: Four years ago, when I too was just a lowly intern, I had interned at the Firm under the Ex-Boss. And at that time, he was lovely. (To be fair, the man does possess the capacity to be nice to people who aren't working for him) On top of that, the Firm has a policy to sugar-coat everything for interns to lure them into a false sense that the Firm is an awesome and happy place where everyone gets to leave at 5.30pm and go out for drinks afterwards and entice them to apply for jobs at the Firm when they graduate. Admittedly, I too was suckered in this way.

So instead, I kept my resentment towards the Ex-Boss to myself. Now that the dust has almost settled (and after I heatedly told D2 last week that if I ever saw the Ex-Boss's extension number flashing on my little phone screen again I would explode) and I am in a happier place now, I guess there's no need to slander the guy anymore. What was done was done and what was said was said. His number has not flashed on my phone for awhile, nor has a little window appeared on my computer screen proclaiming an email from him. I don't even see him around the Firm as I'm ten floors away from the man. For what it was worth, he taught me alot. But I'm thrilled that lesson is finally over and I've moved on to the next class.

I find it cute that Number Two also calls her husband "the Boy". Not to say there's an age limit on these things but she's at least 10 years older than me. Perhaps love makes people feel youthful.

First off, Happy New Year all!!

I know I'm about 2 weeks late but things have been busy. For starters, I've finally finally FINALLY transferred to my new team and I couldn't be happier, aside from the few calls I've received from the Boss which were beginning to make me think I'd never be rid of the evil man. But those have since died down and now, even though my hours are longer and I have more work to do, my disposition is generally happier and I find myself getting to work earlier and not complaining about working later. I feel like that self-motivated drive I once possessed has come back and in part, I do have the Boss to thank for it. Working for him kept me on edge all the time for the past year because I was terrified that I was going to get screwed for missing out on a detail. The result is that I now make an extra effort to cover all my angles just in case. I'm not great yet and still mess up, but I do think I pick up things faster than I did before.

The people on my new team are so nice! They have all made me feel incredibly welcome and VJ, a director and the team's Number Two, seems to have taken me under her wing and taken it upon herself to fill me in on the team's eccentricities so that I don't feel left out. As a smaller team than my previous one, the workload on each person is a lot more but everyone is just generally more chilled out here. I've been moved to a new office and have a new Office Roomie (though I miss my old one terribly for no one else would randomly start humming the theme tune to Indiana Jones in the middle of the afternoon!). Its still early days and I really hope that, if the past two weeks have been anything to go by, moving to a new team was the right decision to make.

Workwise, I've also been assigned my first pro-bono criminal case. Its a pretty small matter but I was incredibly excited nonetheless because somewhere in the law society, someone thought about asking me to take on the case amongst hundreds of other new volunteer lawyers for the pro-bono scheme and again, I have the Boss to thank for this. On one of the last weeks when I was working for him before I went on holiday, he introduced me to a couple of his friends at the criminal bar and really bigged me up. When the pro-bono people called me, they mentioned that they remembered me from when they met me with the Boss and asked if I was interested in taking the case. And I took it because the Boss once told me that he started taking pro-bono cases just to get on his feet and practice trial advocacy. It was a great opportunity to stand up and argue a case before a judge and get some courtroom experience.

As in almost every other profession, its who you know that helps you get a leg up. I've been putting myself out there for various criminal law related activities and meeting people who are at the top of the field. I'm starting to get recognised, even though they don't know my name yet, they know my face and nod a smile in my direction when they see me in court. Its an amazing feeling, I must admit.

Blogwise, I'm not sure how much I'll get to update this in coming weeks but I will try, especially with the number of cases I have coming up, I'm sure there will be funny stories to tell about how I messed up in front of a judge. I realised that my blog was becoming less corporate and more personal of late but then, the two do go somewhat hand in hand. I am just an ordinary twenty-something at the end of the day, struggling to carve out a career while trying to maintain some semblance of a social life. I'm still in the middle of the epic battle that is Mother vs. NG (though I think there's a bit of a ceasefire at the moment which is a relief!)

Anyhoo! Happy New Year bloglanders! I hope 2009 is looking bright for you too :)