Independent Component #1

How to: Case File

The image above demonstrates any ordinary case file that is kept by attorneys that organizes documents important to a case. The contents include papers that are categorized in several categories. For the purpose of this example, we will be focusing on four specific categories: 

Case Law, Attorney's Notes, Exhibits, and Correspondence.

This would be the inside of the case file with the four categories organizing all individual documents. 

These types of documents are found within the category of Case Law. This category will include all types of research concerning the case at hand. Since this case file is for the mock trial, it contains information on Missouri laws and statutes concerning murder. The homicide of the pig brothers occurred in the state of Missouri so then this information would be very useful. 

These papers are all notes that my partner and I did during the trial and prior to the trial. These papers would fall under the Attorney's Notes category. Notes can be taken during trial and prior to it. Notes prior to trial can include information such as questions you plan to ask witnesses, opening statements, and closing arguments. 

The next category in the case file is exhibits. Now not all exhibits can fit in a case file, so what can be done in those situations are pictures, as shown above. There can also be documents that are important to case. Normally the exhibits are organized into a list to make exhibits easier to access. It is also important to know that 1-100 are normally marked as exhibits for the petitioner and the following hundred go to the defendant. If the exhibits on one side exceed 100 then the exhibit number rises to 1-300 for the petitioner and 301-600 for the defendant. 

The last category is correspondence and this normally includes emails exchanged between party members (clients and attorneys) and between opposing parties. This image above is of a packet that can qualify as correspondence as it is instructions sent from the teacher to the students with information on the case. This is an exchange of information and therefore is under the correspondence.

Other categories include Pleadings (court documents such as subpoenas, complaints that have been filed, etc.) and Miscellaneous (any miscellaneous documents pertaining to the case). 

Blog 14: Interview 3 Preparation

It's Interview 3 already!?! Wow, time flies fast!

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?

I plan to interview a paralegal at my mentor's law firm. This person specializes in assisting attorneys with legal cases that go to trial. She normally helps my mentor prepare for trials, contact clients on their behalf, file and send important documents, and with any other matters concerning cases or in a law firm. 

2.  Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview.  What is the date and time of the interview? 

I plan to interview my interviewee in two weeks.

3.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.

What do you think a client needs to know when their attorney is trying to avoid a case from going to trial?

What information should a client know and understand before going to trial?  

4.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC2, possible experts to talk to, etc).

How would one go about informing the public of alternatives to going to trial, such as mediation and arbitration? 

Who do you believe I should interview in regards to avoiding trials? 

5.  Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ. 

Would you say that pre-trial motions are effective most of the time in avoiding a trial? Why or why not?

What do you believe is the most effective way in avoiding a trial?

Blog 13: 10 Hour Mentorship Check-In

Mentoring at a Law Firm

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?

I have been mentoring at the law firm known as Driskell & Gordon--Attorneys at Law. 

2.   Who is your contact?  What makes this person an expert?

My contact, or mentor, is Mr. John L. Gordon. I feel that is more than qualified to be my mentor because he has had over a decade of experience within the field of law, specifically conservatorships, trusts and wills, and estate planning. He has also taught classes on Business Law at Citrus College. Not only this, but he has given a few seminars concerning Special Needs Trusts for the mentally disabled and has drafted many of these trusts.

3.   How many hours have you done during the school year? (Summer Mentorship Hours and Mentorship Hours should be reflected separately in your Senior Project Hours log located on the right-hand side of your blog).

I have completed 57.8 Hours during the school year. 

4.   Succinctly summarize what you did, how well you and your mentor worked together, and how you plan to complete the remaining hours.


For the majority of my mentorship, I completed deposition summaries, which are basically summaries of a deposition transcript. A deposition is a questioning where the opposing counsels and a witness must meet along with a court reporter to transcribe everything asked. This transcript can then be used within a trial. I was present during one deposition and I summarized the deposition transcript for that very deposition. I have organized several case files, which are the files that keep all records, relevant documents, notes, and court documents that are involved in a certain case. I have had several discussion with my mentor concerning certain topics such as a closing argument, how agreements before trials occur, and mediation. I have completed the required 50 hours, but my mentor and I have come to an agreement that if I were to need any more hours or if he was working on something interesting that he would like to share with me, we will meet up again and continue my mentorship. 

Blog 12: Holiday Project Update

The new year is here and the senior project continues!

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?

I have already completed my required mentorship hours and I really didn't do anything towards my senior project besides work on my notebook. 

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

I had done a bit of research for my senior project and learned a bit about conservatorships and guardianships, which is the type of law my mentor practices. I also learned a bit on relationships between a client and their attorney, which is what my essential question will be based on. I plan to research a bit more on different types of cases involving attorney and client agreement and disagreement as well as the psychology of how best to serve a customer (this may seem a bit farfetched but I feel it will be necessary for my research on the client and attorney relationship). 

3.  Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ. Who do you plan to talk to and why?

For my third interview, I plan to interview one of the paralegals at the law firm I mentor at because she seems to be the closest to the clients as she is always welcoming new clients and sometimes talks to clients on behalf of my mentor. I also would like to research a bit more on paraegals and the impact they make in the environment of a law firm and the client and attorney relationship and the opposing counsel relationships, as they also interact with the opposing counsel on behalf of attorneys. 

Blog 11 - Lesson 1 Reflection

I have successfully completed my first Lesson of my Senior Project. 

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?

I am most proud of how much content I was able to teach my classmates during my presentation and the amount of real-life examples I presented as examples. I am most proud of this because I felt that it made my topic more relatable to my classmates and a bit more intriguing.

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.

I would give myself a low AE or a high P on this presentation because I did meet most of the standards outlined in the contract and I felt that I included a lot of good content that demonstrated how knowledgeable I am about my topic. My presentation was more than eight minutes long and it included information on a bit of what I did during mentorship, real-life relatable examples, I defined my topic thoroughly, and I introduced my essential questions as well as included possible solutions. I spoke loud and clear and tried to keep an even tone throughout my presentation. My hook brought up a well known topic (Britney Spears and her crazy phase, in which her parents filed a conservatorship.) I feel that I ended my presentation well with the first lesson that I learned during my first day at mentorship, and that was that the law bends not for those who are right, but those who present the best case.

3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson?  How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?

If I redo my lesson, I would include a bit more information on the solutions I have in mind for my essential question. I would also include more stastics about cases and further in depth content on civil cases as a whole such as how many go to trial on average.

Blog 10 - Interview 2 Reflection

Interviewing my Mentor

Here is a link to the Interview 2 Audio: 

https://soundcloud.com/karla-milicich/interview-2

Here is a link to the Interview 2 Transcript:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17cv7VnQcwgXuJxyfPMm73YRcZVhygj6AyH2kiDDexMY/edit?usp=sharing

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)

I am spending my mentorship time doing tasks for my mentor that pertain to some of his cases or cases that other attorneys in the firm are working for. Some of what I do is write deposition summaries, make copies, fill out subpoenas, and organize case files. There are other experts in the law firm. There are four other attorneys in the law firm, however one three are work for Driskell & Gordon. The other attorney works for his own practice. He has three assistants. The law firm also has two paralegals and myself. My mentor introduces me as his assistant.

2.  How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you?  

My mentor is my sister's boyfriend's uncle. I had met him once before at one of their family reunions and when I was looking for a mentor, I thought I might as well ask my sister if he could help me out and become my mentor. He said he would help me out, and I've been mentoring with him ever since. 

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship?  How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship/with this person?

From a scale of one to ten, I would rate my comfort level with my mentor at an 8 at this point in our relationship. I've gotten really close to my mentor and I sometimes call him Uncle Jack. He is a really neat person and I have enjoyed mentoring with him. He is a very respected individual and very professional. If ever I had any legal issues in his expertise, I would not hesitate to contact him. 

4. What went well in this interview?  Why do you think so?  What do you still need to improve?  How do you know?  How will you go about it?

This interview started off well. My mentor likes to talk in detail so I know I learn a lot from what he said in this interview. I do however feel awful that during the last few minutes, my parents had been calling me non-stop and it did affect the audio. Aside from this, the interview did go well. Next time, I will make sure to contact my parents beforehand and let them know that I'm going to be in an interview. 

I have also become more certain about my questions and a bit more confident with asking them. I try to speak clearly and ask my questions accordingly, trying to make it seem like a casual conversation. I do still have to work on the way I phrase somethings, but other than that I am doing alright.

Blog 9 - Advisory Prep 3

 

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc).

I have a mentor and I completed the interview yesterday. 

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.   

I have yet to decide on a specific area within my topic. I am currently researching the different fields within my topic, civil litigation, to understand each one and then I will decide which one I will further investigate. I have been most interested in estate planning and drafting wills and trusts, as that is what I have experienced during my mentorship. 

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?


I feel that published PDF files or documentaries will help me in the next month to gain more research depth. I will have to research which are the best documentaries in the specific areas I will be researching and use the CRAP method to determine if they are reliable or not. 

4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.

At the moment I have an idea of an EQ and it is as follows:

"Through what means, do you believe, would be ideal for a quick and easy trial?"