Week 2:
I started my second-week continuing work on the asset inventory, helping Camila, the First Justice's Administrative Assistant, update a spreadsheet which lists all of the furnishings in the courtrooms, Clerk’s Office, Judges Lobby, and other locations in the courthouse. I also began working in the Clerk’s Office where I pulled records from the records vault and helped make copies and file said copies. My supervisor this week was mainly Ann the Clerk Magistrate. One of her duties is to conduct small claims trials where people sue each other. Tuesday I was able to sit in with her and witness various trials she conducted. They were much more personal and emotion-filled than the jury trial and regular criminal and civil cases I had seen last week. I would describe Ann as very serious when she has to be, yet when she isn’t working, she is very personable and hilarious (She can also be quite hilarious while working). It was fun to hear her compare herself to Judge Judy. This dynamic of serious and informal is evident throughout all of the employees of the courthouse I have encountered, from the First Justice to security personnel.
I would say one of my biggest challenges so far in this internship is to follow what is happening in some of the cases. Many of the legal terms fly over my head, but I always make an effort to research them later or ask someone to clarify. While this is a challenge, it is also how I have been able to learn so much more about the court system. I never realized all the different types of cases a justice can see in one day, and how much they have to know to give an informed verdict. I now know how to read a docket number and open the cool doors in the records vault. Working in the Clerk’s office has also opened my eyes to all of the work happening behind the scenes that is never touched upon in legal dramas.