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 :)
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 :)
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