Case Open, Case Shut

I stumbled into work the next Monday morning, large coffee in hand as I muttered a low toned ‘morning’ to the receptionist before ignoring everyone in the office to make my way to my cubicle. The receptionist gave me a weird look, looking almost offended that I wasn’t my cheery self, but the other defence lawyers understood.

My first call out was on Sunday morning at three am. As I was on a salary and not an hourly rate I still had to come into work this morning to do some paperwork and tie up some loose ends. I also had a meeting with the boss and the senior defence lawyer to discuss how my first call out went, and to evaluate everything. As the newest lawyers had the worst call outs, all my co-workers understood as they had been through the exact same. I even had a few pat my back and congratulate me.

I wasn’t able to go back to sleep Sunday morning, too excited about my first case. Therefore although I did crash early last night, I was still behind on my sleep and I was exhausted.

Just as I turned my computer on and started building a file for this new client, my boss Steve called me into his office.

I gulped, picking up the notes I took in the interview and the paperwork before heading into my Steve the boss’ office, with Blake the senior defence lawyer standing behind him. I shut the door behind me, butterflies in my stomach.

I felt so silly being so nervous. I had received nothing but praise from these two, and I had done nothing wrong in my client’s interview. The fact they weren’t able to arrest him shows I was able to hold the fort on such short notice for the case.

Maybe it was a particular detective that made me nervous about the whole thing, as well as the fact this was the first time I was doing it solo.

“Firstly, how was your weekend Audrey?” Blake, the senior lawyer asked me.

“Not too bad, I guess. Went out for drinks Friday night, so I already had a quiet night in Saturday night, so the call out didn’t ruin plans or anything.” I weakly smiled, to show I wasn’t too fussed with the call out.

“That’s good. When I spoke to you, you said you would be forty-five minutes away from the precinct. Did you make the time limit? Of course no one blames you if you didn’t, we usually give our lawyers sixty minutes if it’s a late night call out, or if they have to travel a long way.” My boss asked me.

“Actually, I made it in about thirty.” I shrugged, trying to remain modest.

“That’s great. So I see no arrest was made, that’s great. I mean, the only evidence they have is circumstantial but it seems you managed both the interview and the client well enough to stop any silly arrests going ahead.” Blake said to me.

“Pass me the paperwork please, I’ll just quickly scan through it to finish off our evaluation.” Steve the boss said, and I passed him the paperwork and notes I had taken.

I watched as Steve went through the paperwork and the notes I had made, with Blake looking over his shoulder. I saw he had paused on the page about the interview, which showed the time the interview commenced and ended, and who was present during the interview.

“FUCK!” Steve swore loudly, slamming the folder onto the table in front of me.

I jumped loudly, not expecting my boss to shout after calmly reading some files, as well as the profanity that was dropped out of nowhere with no explanation. Had I already made a fatal mistake with this case?

He passed the documents to Blake, who had a similar reaction, although he skipped the profanities and was much more mild in dropping the documents onto the table.

“Do you think we should take her off the case and replace her with someone more senior?” Blake asked Steve.

I bit my lip, trying not to show any more body language that showed annoyance. From the paperwork they had read it obviously appeared that they believed there was something there I couldn’t handle on my own. Why give me a murder case if that’s they believe this? I was going to lose another case just because I wasn’t experienced enough, at this rate I’d never receive any experience.

“Audrey, how did you find the two detectives in the interview?” Steve asked me, ignoring Blake’s question.

“Um, I’m not sure. In the other interviews I’ve been to where I shadowed another lawyer, the cops were never overly friendly but they were usually at least civil. Detective Briscoe warmed up a bit after I was polite, but that Logan guy is the rudest detective I’ve ever met.” I remarked.

“See, we were hoping you wouldn’t land those two. There’s a lot of detectives in NYC and it’s rotten luck out of every single one you wound up with that partnership.” Steve informed me.

“You see, Briscoe is a brilliant detective. He’s been on the force for years and gathers evidence, both stories and physical evidence very well and very quickly, resulting in a faster arrest and faster court proceedings. Logan, as you pointed out is less than friendly towards lawyers, and most of the clients too. Whilst I’m sure it’s his boring personality for the most part, it also intimidates both the lawyers and the client. Together, they make a pretty tough team.” Blake, the senior defence lawyer explained to me.

“I see. Well you’re the bosses, you decide whether to keep me on the case or not.” I flatly replied, trying my hardest not to sound like a sooky three year old, and kept my hands planted firmly on the other side of Steve’s desk, instead of leaning back and crossing my arms.

“What we’re trying to ask you Audrey is do you feel comfortable enough taking this case? We’re more than happy to assign somebody else to it, or have you shadow this one like you did when you were an assistant. It’s a bit unfair throwing you into the deep end this way, and no one would be angry if you stepped down. There’ll always be more cases coming up for you to take on.” My boss asked me.

“There will also be more brilliant and arsehole detectives in the force throughout my whole career. I’m not going to let these two spook me. Besides, it’s the DA’s office that’s going to be the main thorn in my side should this case make it to court. The detectives are nothing.” I responded.

“Good. I can’t stress this enough, the number one tool in this profession is confidence. It seems like you have that down well. I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Blake said to me.

“Is there anything else you’d like to say?” Steve, the boss asked me.

“Um, nope. I guess I’ll go back to finishing this file.” I smiled, grabbing the documents off his desk and leaving his office.

I felt a lot better after that chat. Even though it may be a difficult case if an arrest is made, my two bosses believe I have the ability to do well. I even got praised. In the lawyer business praise is so rarely given, as there is a belief that you won’t work as hard should you receive praise and not criticism. But I knew I’d be fine in this case.