The Getz Files

Tuesday - after spending the morning dealing with the hundred or so e-mail addresses that bounced mail back to me -- where did everyone go? -- I got my first assignment. By now (Wednesday evening) I have 3.

The first one was a nice simple introduction: I had to incorporate judges' comments into one judge's draft (or say why they were not incoporated). Editing, checking up things, nothing too hectic.

Second one gets a lot more interesting -- and a lot tougher. It's dealing with an appeal from a trial order provisionally releasing a man who had been indicted. (The details are a lot more interesting than that, but my lips are sealed.) So I've got to read the previous decisions, prosecution and defence documents (of which there are a lot - no lazy lawyers here), go through case law (also a lot - no lazy interns, either*) and then - ulp - write a decision.

Now, I don't mind telling you that I'm a little nervous. Fully understanding that more experienced and capable hands will go through this after I have written it, may even change it around totally, I am about to write something that will determine the course of a man's life for the next couple years. It may do some other things as well, including establishing some new law on REDACTED. Also, writing a real opinion (as opposed to one for a seminar at law school) isn't easy -- you need to be rigorous, logical, cite lots of things. But that's what I've been training for and at the same time, the prospect (and the process) excites me enormously. It's also a really interesting issue, so I've been spending the last day or so thinking about it -- and thinking is a good thing†.

My third assignment is another editing job, which will also require research, fact-checking and diligence, but it's quite nice having different types of legal work to do. Also, in keeping with my experience here, all three assignments involve different regions.

Away from the job, I love the cafeteria here. Not because the food's great (although it isn't bad, considering), but for its democratic nature -- interns, security guards, judges, even the president, all eat there.

And I didn't get a bike yesterday because I got on the wrong tram. I realized my mistake instantly (by looking back at the tram stop and seeing the tram I should have taken pull up), but once I got off, walked back to the tram stop, and missed 2 (two!) trams, the bike shop was closed. Still walking.

* Slight joke. Very slight.
† Although my old acting teacher, Dick Pinter, used to make us chant in unison, "Think, think, think means you stink, stink, stink! Feel, feel, feel means you're real, real, real!"