Feb 1: Free Post Day

Since it’s a free post day, I’m going to talk about the most fun thing I did this week- going to get court records.

One of my mentors, Mike Aguirre, needed client records for a case, so he sent Courtney and myself to pick them up from court. On one of my first few days, I foolishly pointed out how close the office was to various courts. This was not an accident, I learned. We’re walking distance away for convenience, so that we don’t have to drive an excessive amount to pick up a record or file documents. Because of the rainy weather, the walk to court was cold, but once we got inside we were greeted with the warmth of metal detectors, as we submitted ourselves for screening. Once we were passed that, we got directions from a clerk near the front, and went in to get our records. At first, we weren’t sure how to proceed. We were acting on behalf of attorneys, but as interns we still counted as members of the public. Courtney went with the former, and we drew a number from the kiosk as an attorney and sat down to wait. In fifteen minutes, we were told that we counted as members of the public, and to draw a new number as such. So, we drew a new number and sat down to wait… for an hour and a half. I was running on less sleep than usual, so it was a good chance to zone out and think about how warm my bed was. When our number was called, Courtney got the information we were sent for, and we were out of the door just before it started to rain.

I learned from this experience that US government offices are terrible. During the summer, I had my first trip to the DMV to get my permit, which was a fun six hour adventure where every person I spoke to sounded as though they wanted me dead. It was a similar environment at court. Nobody wanted to be there, but everyone was stuck in line waiting. On the way back, Courtney said this was because they’re understaffed, and it was true- only three of the ten or so kiosk windows were open, and everyone staffing looked exhausted. Courtney was also frustrated by the fact that we weren’t given attorney treatment. I think that it made sense that we had to wait in the public line, but it was irritating to have to wait for so long, especially because if my mentors had been there the whole process would have been much faster. In any case, I was happy to be back in the office. And happy to eat my sandwiches.

(Pictured: the front of the court)